“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.”–Oscar Wilde
At the beginning of this year, Arizona made headlines by banning textbooks, novels and Mexican American studies courses for promoting “anti-Americanism” by, you know, re-telling history as it actually happened. Soon after, the Librotraficante movement rallied into a caravan against this blatant violation of our First Amendment and smuggled books back into Arizona’s borders. In case you thought we were back in the 1850’s , these cases are alive and real and hundreds of “questionable” books continue to be challenged and kept from readers every year.
The American Library Association (ALA), who are the founders of the Banned Books Week happening now (Sept 30-Oct 6), have compiled lists of the most challenged books throughout its 30 year run. We have chosen the top books and Latino authors that continue to cause trouble and if anyone knows anything about Latinos, it’s that we are not easy to quiet and hold down.
But if rallying and yelling with bystanders on a dusted off soapbox isn’t your cup of tea, you can do your part of battling censorship by simply picking up a challenged book and sharing its words with others! We have the right to be empowered and full of knowledge, so let’s take it!