Just because you don’t agree doesn’t mean others shouldn’t have access

     You have probably seen guest columns in the Express written by Randy Evans with the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. Well, Evans just wrote another piece, this time for IowaWatch.org, that I had to expand upon and share… especially noting my love of reading and involvement with the Monticello library board.

     The title says it all: “Libraries should be for all, not just for some.”

     He tells the story of some parents from the Johnston School District and an Iowa Legislator wanting to censure and ban certain books from the school library. Evans says for a state that is about to celebrate the 175^th anniversary of when it joined the Union, and a state that was ahead of its time in education and legalizing same-sex marriages, this instance is taking us back to the 1950s.

     And while everyone is so divided these days on just about everything, it seems equality in reading material can now be added to that list.

     The two books in question on the shelves at the Johnston High School library were “The Hate U Give” and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” The parents claimed the books were “inappropriate, obscene, and offensive,” shared Evans. The first book is about a Black female teenager who lives in a poor neighborhood but attends a privileged school. The last book is about an Indian male high school student who leaves the school on his reservation to attend an all-white school. (I’ll admit I haven’t read either of these books.)

     The parents wanted these books removed off the school library shelf. And Rep. Jake Chapman from Adel agreed, so much so that he drafted a piece of legislation “that would make it a felony for teachers or librarians to give what he believes are obscene materials to students.” The proposed law would also allow for remedies, meaning anyone, whether a government official or not, could file a lawsuit to enforce the law.

     What it comes down to are parents and some lawmakers who don’t want teenagers to have the freedom to read what they want. They want to shelter their kids from the truth about society. They don’t want their kids reading books about racial injustice and LGBTQ themes.

     Evans shared that both of these books have been assigned reading at Johnston since 2017. So why are they all of a sudden an issue now?

     Evans quoted the Iowa ACLU chapter as saying, “Books should be judged on their overall artistic value and intellectual merit, and not just on selected passages.”

     While these parents felt the books were “inappropriate,” their basis was on a minor instance in the books. The overall themes of these books are not as they suggest.

     And why should one set, or a few parents, control what other students at this school have access to read? Even if they succeed in getting these books banned from the school library, what’s going to stop students from checking these books out at the town library or buying them at the bookstore or online? If you tell a kid they can’t do or have something, they’ll almost inevitably try to find a way to get their hands on it.

     What these parents, and apparently Rep. Chapman, don’t know is that Iowa law does not allow for books to be banned from school or public libraries.

     Banning such works of literature won’t erase the subject matter at heart. Racial inequalities still exist, and will still exist despite these books being on the shelf at Johnston High School.