{"id":5691,"date":"2021-10-14T18:45:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T18:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/?p=5691"},"modified":"2021-10-14T18:45:31","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T18:45:31","slug":"banned-books-at-the-tate-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/2021\/10\/banned-books-at-the-tate-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books at the Tate Library"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/IMG_0078.mov\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Each year, right at the front desk as you come up the stairs, The Tate Library presents its Banned Books Exhibit. It\u2019s not the usual arsenal of new books or featured books or special project books. Each one has been censored, targeted, hit with a \u201cPROHIBITED\u201d or \u201cFORBIDDEN\u201d sticker, giving the exhibit an ominous Orwellian Big Brother feeling. If you want to know what totalitarianism or intolerance looks like, this public display will give you a pretty good sense. These books are part of The Tate collection and are easily accessible at Fieldston or in New York City. But they have been prohibited in many parts of the country and the world. They\u2019ve been purged from the shelves by bureaucrats, government officials, members of local school boards, town clerks, religious leagues and even by school administrators and teachers. Somehow, they have run afoul of doctrinal purity or pure prejudice. Somewhere, people took advantage of their power, to shun ideas and voices from the reading public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But not here. As a rule of thumb, librarians tend to be champions of free expression; custodians of the right to read. The list of reasons for banning these books is extensive and multifarious. Whether it be the use of certain language, racial issues, political commentary, violence or danger, a matter of age, authoritarians outlaw books with infinite \u201cjustifications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Banned Books Exhibit at The Tate was inspired by the American Library Association\u2019s list of the most challenged books. The ALA web page has a preview of the organization\u2019s intentions. It reads as follows: \u201cThe American Library Association condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information. Every year, the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools. The lists are based on information from media stories and voluntary reports sent to OIF from communities across the U.S. The Top 10 lists are only a snapshot of book challenges. Surveys indicate that 82-97% of book challenges \u2013 documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries \u2013 remain unreported and receive no media.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As is evident from this text, the American Library Association is committed to the free exchange of opposing literary works; they encourage different viewpoints, different experiences and encourage the freedom to read altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The top ten books this year include:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><em>George<\/em> by Alex Gino<\/li><li><em>Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You<\/em> by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds&nbsp;<\/li><li><em>All American Boys<\/em> by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely&nbsp;<\/li><li><em>Speak<\/em> by Laurie Halse Anderson&nbsp;<\/li><li><em>The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian<\/em> by Sherman Alexie&nbsp;<\/li><li><em>Something Happened in Our Town: A Child\u2019s Story About Racial Injustice<\/em> by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin&nbsp;<\/li><li><em>To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> by Harper Lee<\/li><li><em>Of Mice and Men<\/em> by John Steinbeck&nbsp;<\/li><li><em>The Bluest Eye<\/em> by Toni Morrison&nbsp;<\/li><li><em>The Hate U Give<\/em> by Angie Thomas<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>This particular list is from 2020, and is linked. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ala.org\/advocacy\/bbooks\/frequentlychallengedbooks\/top10\">ALA Banned Books<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tate Library is contributing to the mission of the ALA by displaying these books here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is sometimes confusion about the exhibit. As middle schoolers see the \u201cDANGEROUS BOOKS!\u201d they think The Tate Library is banning the books, and they ask why they can\u2019t check out these works. The librarians explain the meaning of the exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms. Elwood described the interaction. \u201cThe most common reaction from students when they see the display tends to be confusion, followed by the question &#8220;Why are you banning these books?&#8221; Of course The Tate library does not ban books, so this display is a great way to show students how controversial a simple book can be, and highlights the power of reading.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ALA\u2019s Top 10 list for 2020 is fascinating, and in many ways nerve racking. Number one on the list, <em>George<\/em>, was \u201cchallenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting \u2018the values of our community.\u201d The Quran and Bible are both on The Tate exhibit, reflecting the intense desire to block the access or spread of these faiths. Other books range from <em>To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em>, which was once prohibeted because it broke down racial barriers nad is now prohibited in some places \u201cfor racial slurs and their negative effect on students,\u201d to <em>Stamped<\/em> a book \u201cchallenged because of author\u2019s public statements, and because of claims that the book contains \u2018selective storytelling incidents\u2019 and does not encompass racism against all people.\u201d Even <em>Harry Potter<\/em> was banned in 2019 for \u201creferring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses and spells, and for characters that use \u2018nefarious means\u2019 to attain goals.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, books are being banned for being too specific, for being too broad, for being too different, too \u201cnefarious\u201d and for sharing personal experiences. While it is not a complete surprise that Toni Morrison has been banned, I am utterly shocked that there are people, especially in the academic world, who might prohibit such mind-expanding literature.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Ms. Colgan explained, The Tate Library \u201cwants to shock people into realizing that there are people that want to ban these books and take them out of circulation.\u201d She also discussed The Tate\u2019s own commitment to free reading. By displaying the ALA\u2019s Top 10 list, the librarians are showing our own community the severity of this situation, and they are emphasizing and celebrating a choice we are all lucky to have. At The Tate and at Fieldston (ideally it would be all across the country), the liberty to read what you want and who you want is one that we all deserve and have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each year, right at the front desk as you come up the stairs, The Tate Library presents its Banned Books Exhibit. It\u2019s not the usual arsenal of new books or featured books or special project books. Each one has been censored, targeted, hit with a \u201cPROHIBITED\u201d or \u201cFORBIDDEN\u201d sticker, giving the exhibit an ominous Orwellian Big Brother feeling. If you want to know what totalitarianism or intolerance looks like, this public display will give you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,318],"tags":[],"coauthors":[363],"class_list":["post-5691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5691"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5693,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5691\/revisions\/5693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5691"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}