On Thursday, Oct. 5, Macalester hosted a virtual viewing of “Beyond Banned Books: Rising Against Fascism,” put on by The East Side Freedom Library and the University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Study as part of Banned Book Week, sponsored by the Dewitt Wallace Library.
The Lealtad-Suzuki Center for Social Justice and the educational studies department invited students to the Sounds of Blackness Lounge for the event. It was led by American scholar Robin D.G. Kelley (UCLA) and Roderick A. Ferguson (Yale) along with University of Minnesota PhD. candidate Kristen Reynolds. The panelists discussed attacks against institutions and modes of learning, including books, libraries, educators and more.
Their idea was echoed by Brian Lozenski, associate professor and chair of educational studies.
“Education is an inherently political and contested space,” Lozenski said. “All of these issues are connected. The major effect that I see for Mac is that we will have students coming to campus who were not given access to the histories of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+, not to mention labor histories, and people who struggled for justice. The continued erasure of these discourses and perspectives degrades education beyond the spaces where bans are happening.”
“The week started as a response to the political attacks on critical race theory, African American History, and LGBTQIA curricula across the country,” Lozenski continued. “The ‘ban’ or request to remove certain books from libraries and school curricula is one aspect of these attacks.”
According to Reynolds, the amount of banned or challenged books has increased by 38% from 2022 to 2023.
“So far, this year alone there have been 1600 unique titles that have been challenged … mostly in public libraries,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds, along with the other speakers, noted that although book bans and attacks on literacy have always existed, they are happening at a significantly higher rate now.
“Technology has also expanded people’s ability to rapidly ban these books,” Reynolds said. “There is a new website called booklooks.org which allows parents to quickly file and send complaints to libraries.”
Kelley called the attacks on children’s ability to read certain banned books “a weaponization of parenting made by right-wing conservatives.”
At Macalester, the importance of academic literacy has been supported and protected around campus, particularly within the Dewitt Wallace Library. Library Director Angi Faiks and Associate Library Director Katy Gabrio spoke with The Mac Weekly about their commemoration of banned books week.
“The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom was the first group to declare banned books,” Gabrio said.
“Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to the sudden surge in challenges and bans in libraries, bookstores and schools,” Faiks added.
The library began Banned Books Week with a button-making event, featuring print-outs of notable banned books and encouraged students to “wear” their favorite banned books with pride. The purpose of the event was to start a conversation with a display of banned books, according to Faiks, who saw it as ‘a way to bring people in.’
The library also supported and advertised webinars through the American Library Association throughout the week. The library staff placed a sign outside the library with a list of action items.
Gabrio said that this list may help students “to use their voice in support of intellectual freedom [and] the right to read.”
“Most of the content that is being blocked is from marginalized folks. We’re wanting to support those authors and their readers,” Faiks said.
Faiks also noted the importance of expanding access to banned books, specifically through programs at Macalester like Inter-Library Loans and partnerships with other libraries to increase opportunities.
Gabrio noted that book-banning is occuring in school boards across the country, including in Minnesota. For example, Gabrio is working with their local school board to go against book ban efforts in the suburbs surrounding Saint Paul.
“When there are threats that want to get in the way of what people want to read, we take that extremely seriously,” Faiks said. “It goes against why we chose to be in this profession … We at Macalester enjoy a lot of academic freedom, but this is not necessarily the case elsewhere.”
