Why do you care?

 Why do you care?

 

There is a movement afoot to ban books.  Not just any books but any books that discuss diverse populations such as LBGQT, English as not the first language, people with darker skin tones- all of these books are considered divisive and discriminatory against folks whose skin is light colored and who speak pretty good English and seem to not have any disabilities.

Maryland is listed as one of the states with the most banned books.   That is odd since Maryland is true blue and has a law AGAINST school systems banning books.   The consequence of a school district banning books is that the Maryland State Department of Education is supposed to withdraw monies for libraries for that jurisdiction.  In fact, Carroll County public schools has banned so many books that that county alone has caused Maryland to be one of the states with the most banned books.  None of the other 23 school districts has banned books.   As yet, the MSDE has failed to provide the consequence to Carroll County schools.  The State Legislature might need to pass another law requiring the MSDE to obey the laws it has already passed.  

The Naval Academy has also removed over 350 books from its library because they discussed diversity, equity and inclusion.   Odd since one would think the Academy would want its midshipmen to understand the diverse population they will swear to give their lives to protect.

One of the purposes of education is to get students to think for themselves.   In a democracy it is very important to have informed citizens.  In fact, that is the prime reason we have education funded by the public.  Probably everyone would say they support the notion that students should think for themselves; we just don’t like it when their thinking for themselves differs from what we want them to think.  So the solution to that challenge seems to be to limit the ideas kids get to read about so they don’t have the opportunity to think thoughts that are unlike the ones we want them to come to “independently”.  

As a child my parents were all in favor of my education through reading.  Our financial situation did not allow for the buying of books.  So I got to go to the public library every week and take out a stack of books.   I could pick anything I wanted and frequently picked biographies of famous people.  Some of those famous people were diverse in background.  Although at that time, there were no LBGQT books around.  I learned a great deal about other worlds of other people.  Today our nation is much more diverse.  Why would we want to deny our kids the chance to peak into the windows of other cultures?  They will be richer.

Martin Niemoller a famous Lutheran pastor wrote:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

And this is why you should care.