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June 2023 Newsletter
Issue #76
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Book censorship is on the rise around the country. During the first half of the 2022-23 school year the Index of School Book Bans listed 1,477 instances, an increase of 28% compared to the prior 6 months. That is more than in either the first or second half of the 2021-22 school year.
The most common subjects of banned books are race, history, sexual orientation and gender. 30% of the titles are about race, racism, or feature characters of color. 26% have LGBTQ+ characters or themes. Other banned subjects include: politics, offensive language, gun violence or sexist content.
Among the 100 most commonly banned or "challenged" (attempts to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group) books are:
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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
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Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
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A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
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Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
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Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
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The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
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The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- The Holy Bible
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Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
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1984 by George Orwell
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
82-97% of "challenges" go unreported.
The federal government no longer bans books, but local school districts, libraries and state
legislatures often do.
Last year, book banning occurred in 138 school districts in 32 states.
This school year, instances of book bans were most prevalent in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina.
Approximately 50 groups have been involved in pushing for book bans at the national, state, or local levels. This includes 8 groups that have among them at least 300 local or regional chapters.
Historic Examples
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin about the cruelties of slavery was widely banned in the American South for being
“abolitionist propaganda.”
During the Second World War, the German Nazi party hosted frequent book burnings following seizures of property belonging non-Nazi Germans. The burnings took place in 34 university towns and cities. Works of prominent Jewish, liberal, and leftist writers ended up in the bonfires.
The Catholic Church published one of the first book ban lists with the Index of Prohibited Books in 1559, a list that was updated until 1948.
For the nearly 50-year period of apartheid, South Africa, under influence of the severe policies of racial segregation, silenced the voices of many who were critical of the government.
In 1989 the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa (judgment) against Salman Rushdie's for his novel, The Satanic Verses.
Financial Impact
When certain books are banned, many receive heightened media attention. Sometimes that media coverage has translated to a sharp increase in sales. For instance, the most challenged book last year — “Gender Queer” by Maia Kolbabe — saw a 130% increase in U.S. print sales.
The books “Maus I” and “Maus II” by Art Spiegelman saw a similar bump in sales and coverage after a Tennessee school board banned them. Sales jumped 50% within a matter of days, while sales for the combined titles have reached
1.2 million units since 2004.
Author Ibram X. Kendi also saw sales for his book, “Antiracist Baby,” increased 5,000% after it
was criticized.
After Dr. Seuss Enterprises said it would no longer publish 6 of its books due to “hurtful and wrong” portrayals, more than 10 million additional juvenile fiction titles were sold that month than the
previous month.
Other Countries
More than 50 other countries also ban books. Examples include: The Satanic Verses (Kuwait, Kenya, Liberia etc.) , The Koran (North Korea), Noir Canada (Canada), No Enemies No Hatred (China), The German Girl (Cuba), Feast for the Seaweeds (Egypt), One Day of Life (El Salvador), My Father’s Daughter (Eritrea), Such a Long Journey (India), Five Cities that Ruled the World (Indonesia), The Alchemist (Iran), All the Rivers (Israel), Little Blue and Little Yellow (Italy), The Joke in the Arab World (Jordan), Schindler’s Ark (Lebanon), The Bible (Libya, Maldives), Better to Stand and Die (Myanmar), Apocalypse Culture (Russia), Queen of Sheba and Biblical Scholarship (Saudi Arabia), Bad Samaritans (South Korea), The Devil’s Discus (Thailand), Animal Farm (United Arab Emirates), The Absolute Diary of a Part-Time Indian
(United States)
Reactions
71% of voters oppose efforts to have books removed from their local public libraries.
74% of Americans express a high degree of confidence in school librarians to make good decisions about which books to make available to children.
79% of voters and parents say libraries in their community do a good job of offering books that represent a variety of viewpoints.
Large majorities of public school parents affirm that various types of books should be available in school libraries on an age-appropriate basis. This includes works about U.S. History that focus on the role of slavery and racism in shaping America today, such as the “1619 Project” (84%); works of literature that use racial slurs, such as “Huckleberry Finn,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “Of Mice and Men” (82%); and novels for young adults that portray police violence against Black people, such as “Ghost Boys” and “The Hate U Give” (68%).
Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign promoted by the American Library Association and Amnesty International since 1982, that celebrates the freedom to read, draws attention to banned and challenged books, and highlights persecuted individuals. Banned Books Week this year is October 1 – 7 and the theme is
“Let Freedom Read!”
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The Foundation of Individual Rights
and Expression (FIRE)
One of the nation’s leading defenders of fundamental rights on college campuses through programming, student and faculty outreach, public education campaigns, individual case advocacy, and policy reform efforts. In 2022, FIRE announced an expansion initiative into off-campus free speech advocacy and legal defense. Learn more.
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Siblings All, Sign of the Times:
The Social Teaching of Pope Francis
Edited by Michael Czerny & Christian Barone. An in-depth reading of Francis's themes, tracing them to the social teaching of the Second Vatican Council. Highlights the Pope's contributions, especially in his letter "Fratelli tutti" (Siblings All) in 2020 -- a "new dream" for humanity, a call to walk together, to join forces in building a more just and united world, and generate a better future for all. From this dialectic with the tradition, the truth of this document appears as a "sign of the times" for our age, and a way for the Church to proclaim and transmit the Gospel to the contemporary world. Read more.
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Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace: The Rise, Demise, and Revival of Arms Control
By Michael Krepon. Provides an in-depth history of how the nuclear peace was won by complementing deterrence with reassurance, and then jeopardized by discarding arms control after the Cold War ended. Tells the story of high-wire acts of diplomacy, close calls, dogged persistence, and extraordinary success. Brings to life the pitched battles between arms controllers and advocates of nuclear deterrence, the ironic twists and unexpected outcomes from Truman to Trump. What began with a ban on atmospheric testing and a nonproliferation treaty reached its apogee with treaties that mandated deep cuts and corralled "loose nukes" after the Soviet Union imploded. However the book points out that after the Cold War ended, much of this diplomatic accomplishment was cast aside in favor of freedom of action. The nuclear peace is now imperiled by no less than four nuclear-armed rivalries. Arms control needs to be revived and reimagined for Russia and China to prevent nuclear warfare. New guardrails have to be erected. Read more.
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Toward Liberation: Building Shared Analysis to Transform Institutions
A workshop from Crossroads Antiracism that explores a power analysis of white supremacy and systemic racism in the United States. The workshop aims to fulfill the following objectives:
- Co-actively – in action together – create shared language for talking about how white supremacy and systemic racism operate in the United States society
- Explore the historical development of white supremacy and systemic racism in the United States
- Experience a sense of one’s individual and collective stake in the reparation and restoration of all creation
- Grapple with how white supremacy and systemic racism operate by applying a power analysis to systems and institutions
- Dig into the processes of racialization that misshape all people and consider how to build pathways towards antiracist co-liberation
- Practice using tools, applying frameworks, and having intentional conversations together in cohorts that build the foundation for antiracist institutional transformation.
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Anti-Asian Racism: Myths, Stereotypes, and Catholic Social Teaching
By Joseph Cheah. A comprehensive analysis of anti-Asian racism, told from a Catholic perspective. Includes relevant Catholic Social Teaching documents, comparing and contrasting the Asian experience with anti-Black racism. The heart of the book is structured around three major stereotypes: perpetual foreigner, Yellow Peril, and the myth of the model minority. These are examined from the perspectives of history, Asian American Studies, Asian American marginal theology, biblical studies, and Catholic Social Teaching. Read more.
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Teaching White Supremacy: America's Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity
By Donald Yacovone. Shows evidence of white supremacy’s deep-seated roots in the nation’s educational system through an examination of American texts, from primary readers to college textbooks, from popular histories to the most influential academic scholarship. Sifting through a wealth of materials from the colonial era to today, reveals the systematic ways in which this ideology has infiltrated all aspects of American culture and how it has been at the heart of our collective national identity. Read more.
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The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America
By Saket Soni. Tells the story of one of the largest human trafficking cases in modern American history—and the workers’ heroic journey for justice — told by the labor leader who engineered their escape and set them on a path to citizenship. Traces the workers’ escape, their march to Washington, DC, and their twenty-three-day hunger strike to bring attention to their cause. Weaving a personal journey with a tale of twenty-first-century forced labor, takes readers into the lives of the immigrant workers the United States increasingly relies on to rebuild after climate disasters. Read more.
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WomanSpeak
Believes that the key to positive transformation in the world is to support women in unleashing the brilliance of their voices. Their mission is to support women and girls in feeling free to own the value of their ideas and perspectives, and to share them authentically and confidently. WomanSpeak wants to see their ideas and wisdom spread because they know that a world and civilization inclusive of the feminine perspective is a world that is sane, healthy, and thriving. Learn more.
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Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
By Thomas E. Ricks. Offers a fresh perspective on the civil rights movement and its legacy today. Draws deeply on the author's knowledge of tactics and strategy to advance a surprising but revelatory idea: the greatest victories were won not by idealism alone, but by paying attention to recruiting, training, discipline, and organization―the hallmarks of any successful military campaign. The book narrates the Movement’s triumphs and defeats -- follows King and other key figures from Montgomery to Memphis, demonstrating that Gandhian nonviolence was a philosophy of active, not passive, resistance―involving the bold and sustained confrontation of the Movement’s adversaries, both on the ground and in the court of public opinion. Brings Fannie Lou Hamer and John Lewis into new focus, and highlights lesser-known figures who played critical roles such as James Lawson, James Bevel, Diane Nash, and Septima Clark. Offers a new understanding of the Movement’s later difficulties as internal disputes and white backlash intensified.
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Seventy Times Seven:
A True Story of Murder and Mercy
By Alex Mar. Tells the true story of a violent crime and its aftermath. Raises questions about the value of human life: What are we demanding when we call for justice? Is forgiveness an act of desperation or of profound bravery? The book asks us to consider what radical acts of empathy we might be capable of. This is a story about the will to live—to survive, to grow, to change—and about what we are willing to accept as justice. Tirelessly researched and told with intimacy and precision, this book brings a haunting chapter in the history of our criminal justice system to life. Read more.
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"Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing the evidence that they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go into your library and read every book."
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Important Dates This Month |
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Individuals Honored This Month |
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June 1st
In my empty cell, I experience a growing awareness of the communion of saints -- and of the possibility of a world where the vast chasm of violence and injustice enforced by torture and war is bridged and transformed.
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June 4th
The media seems to think only abortion and gay marriage are religious issues. Poverty is a moral issue, it's a faith issue, it's a religious issue.
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June 8th
If there is no friendship with the poor and no sharing of the life of the poor, then there is no authentic commitment to liberation, because love exists only among equals.
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June 12th
Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness.
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June 28th
Even today we don't pay serious attention to the issue of poverty, because the powerful remain relatively untouched by it. Most people distance themselves from the issue by saying that if the poor worked harder, they wouldn't be poor.
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June 30th
Dorothy was killed in El Salvador in 1980 with 3 companions by members of the military for her work with the poor.
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Since 2017, there have been more than 380,000 visitors to the Social Justice Resource Center website. We provide a wide variety of facts and figures on specific social issues as well as thousands of free resources including films, publications, links to other organizations, prayers, quotes, principles of social justice, key dates throughout the year, action ideas, Diocesan office contact information and biographies of famous people who have worked for social justice.
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