Soul Matters : My ‘Resistance’ must oppose book censorship

As part of a “Soul Matters Sharing Circle” through my church, I receive a monthly packet to facilitate reflections around the theme for the month. Something that especially resonated for me with this month’s theme of “Resistance” actually came via my American Library Association membership.

Through a members’ forum, Tracie Hall, executive director of the ALA, highlighted the ALA’s year-end data for book challenges in 2022.

In 2022, the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources — “the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago” (Hall, 2023).

Not only that, but “A record 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship, a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021” (ALA, 2023). “Of those titles, the vast majority were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color” (ibid).

In my post last month around the theme of “Vulnerability” (the March 2023 Soul Matters theme), I expressed that “it takes vulnerability to be an autistic and queer librarian, especially with a political climate that offers increasing backlash against books that mirror LGBTQIA+ experiences” (Parkhill, 2023).

Now, here again in April, is another Soul Matters theme that, for me at least, speaks directly to my concern about attempts to remove books from libraries and even criminalize the work of librarians. Whatever other reflections I engage in on the subject of resistance, my “Resistance” needs to defend intellectual inquiry.

References:
American Library Association. (2023, March 22). American Library Association reports record number of demands to censor library books and materials in 2022. ALA News. https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/03/record-book-bans-2022

Hall, T. (2023. March 23). Book challenges nearly doubled: Meet the Intellectual Freedom Team. ALA Members: Threads. ALA Connect. https://connect.ala.org/discussion/book-challenges-nearly-doubled-meet-the-intellectual-freedom-team

Parkhill, C.M. (2023, March 23). Soul Matters : It takes ‘vulnerability’ to be autistic and queer librarian. Cynthia Parkhill. https://cynthiaparkhill.blogspot.com/2023/03/soul-matters-it-takes-vulnerability-to.html