Banned Books De Moda?

"Luchando con Libros" is the episode Art by Luis Genaro Garcia! You can find him at Instagram @barrioprofe and his website  www.luisgenarogarcia.com 

Classics Huckleberry Finn, 1984, Animal Farm. Haven't we been here before in the United States ? With the whole banning of books thing? Parents have figured out how to ban books at a local level in school board meetings but who does this benefit? What is the point of it?

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Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:00  
Welcome to inclusive education IRL. Today's episode is going to be about banned books, why the heck are they banning our books for us what I want to know, in response to people talking about race, we had critical race theory being a thing, like more than a year is still thing. But since no one can really decide exactly what it is and what it isn't, and how to enforce it, in turn banet, that movement kind of shifted more to the local level, and parents concerned parents that are funded and backed by real corporations, like Manhattan Institute, I think like Walgreens was just like big corporations are giving money to these people to kind of lobby for it. But parents can effectively go to school board meetings and petition for books to be banned. And the biggest reason why books that are being targeted, currently are like they were fine a few years ago, like five years ago, for example, like beloved 100% Fine, right now it's one of the most like, it's it's a target, right beloved by Maya Angelou, it's a big target. It's, I it says closest cannon reading that you can get to without being like an old white man. So it's a really important book, and they want to ban it. So parents, across the nation have gone to school boards and demanded for certain books to be banned in their school, because the main concern from what I've read and seen is that they don't want their children to be harmed, and like hate themselves, because they are why or disrespect our country have the idea that America is not okay. And that it needs help. Which, if you look around, I 100% agree. And that's just not about race, like they're going after. Basically any identity any different gender identity, or like sexual orientation that isn't hetero normative, like they're going after. So there's like a bunch of children's books that are like LGBTQ IA, friendly, and they are like going after them to K through 12. So it's not just the big kids. But the main book that is really been a huge target for them has been the 1619 project, which was a series of essays that was like, funded by the New York Times. And they kind of went back and looked at how slavery as an institution came about and the effects it had in our country, and how like, it was actually a huge part of the Civil War, like trying to maintain slavery, and whatnot. So that is upsetting to a lot of people. But now, this is the first concerted effort, we have to kind of ban it from schools, which is kind of ridiculous, because I've only seen pictures of the book itself. And that book looks beefy. It looks like a textbook. And so as a teacher, if any of my students are interested in that, I'll be like, please go ahead, read that. Read whatever you need. Because it's such a struggle to get kids to read at any age level, so it's hard to kind of discourage them from reading, even if it's like, as a teacher, I've never been disappointed in what a student is reading. If anything, it gives us something to talk about besides like the flavor of the day or whatever trend is happening. So just for context, like there has been books in our glorious country, we are always trying to ban them different groups are trying to ban them left China banned recently, like Huckleberry Finn, because of like, racist is fiction. I for 1am, like, whoa, this was this happened. We need to preserve how people used to be how people used to treat each other. I'm like, It's embarrassing. It's shameful. But it's a fact. It happened. This is how we lived for decades. So Huckleberry Finn is an example of what the left was trying to ban from schools. And then one that a lot of people were upset about, because they grew up with it we including including me, but I never liked it. And now I have a reason to kind of be like, I didn't like it because of this. But I was just never into it was Cat in the Hat, Mr. Dr. Seuss,

Unknown Speaker  5:03  
I just thought it was LAME. And then this is like how it gets different. Like, it's hard for us to be like, how do you separate the artists from the work? Like, is it possible? Like, so Dr. Seuss is white man and like God knows when early 1900s Like, so he did a lot of like propaganda for like war against the axis like Japanese people and stuff. So he had a bunch of like, racist stuff that he artwork that he put out in his signature style. And he had a few interviews where he like talked about how white people were superior to all other races, from what I'm remembering. I'm sure there's other things that he did as well. So people are like, Well, is it okay to be like, this canceled culture has it gone too far. So now, currently, the right is trying to ban other books, they're like they're going after, beloved, and it's all like, at a local level, which is the difficult part, we also have to take note of, we have to take note to where these local book bannings are happening. And like, who are the people that are actually doing it, because most parents don't have enough time to go to the school board and petition of list of books that may or may not be used in the classrooms that their children are in, and then the man that they are banned, because they have other things to do. Definitely, like, the same parents behind the CRT, you know, they're wealthy, they have a lot of time on their hands, they are not, you know, struggling for money. And they can afford to do something like this, which would be awesome if they were advocating for all the students and making sure that, you know, the teachers had enough time to prepare these lessons, and that they would help the students understand the material and help them have different perspectives. But instead, you know, instead of like really deepening everyone's understanding, they're just like, No, we can't talk about race at all, we can't talk about gender, we can't talk about sexuality. So instead of learning, we're just gonna ignore, which is not it's not a great strategy. But it is a strategy that is kind of being we're kind of at a crossroads here. People are trying to figure out, what is our next step, because it's not working. So some people are trying to hold on to the old ways, back to where we were getting back to when we were really powerless and enslaved and exploited. And other people are trying to create new systems that are more inclusive, to basically everyone. So I see those two paths, those are two like opposing movements currently. So it's encouraging because people are trying things and it's going to be clear what works and what doesn't work. And I mean, students see this and they're like, you know, that's BS, or I agree with it. And then we'll see what happens then. Or I don't care, which is probably the worst result. But young people actually want to have these conversations because people keep dodging that, like adults in their life, dodge them. So if you know a young person, you know, just try to talk to them about what they're dealing with, and see what's happening because they have different perspectives. I've learned so much from Gen Z, so much. The way they put out information and just share about themselves is amazing. learned a lot from tick tock, but to kind of wrap this up critical race theory, and the banned book list movement that's happening right now. hyper local, loosely organized. It's basically man, anything that isn't conservative, like something that will be like, at home in the 1930s. So in response to that, you know, people are writing articles about it and talking about it and being like, but that's somebody's family member. They're actually doing it out of, you know, fear, like genuine fear. They feel like this is the right path for them and their families. So, hopefully, you know, they are open to discussing these books because they're actually really grateful

Unknown Speaker  10:01  
So and that's, I mean, looks, it looks like there's some books that are, are known for certain things. But actually talking about art, more than saying that it's good or bad, is a skill that we need to learn. And it's kind of hard to do. Because in our society now, you know, we scroll past so many images and hear so many different music, and just so much to kind of take in at once that it's hard to just focus and talk about, like one piece of art. I just wanted to add that the irony of there being banned books in America, which is supposed to be all about freedom of expression, is just, it's so frustrating to experience and to see. Because some of the books that are highly regarded as, like American literature are about how sometimes there's bad books and how that's bad. I'm thinking about like, 1984, and like Animal Farm, and all these other books that have similar, similar themes about, you know, being controlled and whatnot. So I think it's so wild, that that is actually the reality that we're living in now and how people just kind of roll with it. They're like, we need this, or that does not important, who cares if they've done a few books, because I, for one, highly value books, I have learned so much from them. And I want to continue learning from them. And I want to continue spreading what I learned. That's why make a podcast. Kinda just let y'all know what I've been thinking about. Hopefully, it's helpful to somebody out there. So given that, thank you for listening to this whole episode. This has been the critical race. This has been the Inclusive Education IRL podcast. We got transcripts up for this podcast, we have a Twitter account. So if you're listening to this, tweet me, it's in the show description. And please rate this five stars in Apple podcast. I would love it. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank you

Transcribed by https://otter.ai