This week, the Human Rights Program (HRP) is hosting a free banned book give away event in honor of Banned Books Week. Stop by 232 Social Sciences to pick up a free banned or challenged book. But, why is it important for programs like the HRP to host events where students can get easy access to some books banned all over the nation? I’ll tell you why: censorship kills free speech. 

What’s Been Going On?

As of 2021, the United States has experienced around 23,000 book bans, with around 7,000 of them happening in the 2024-2025 school year alone.  Some of the banned titles include: All Boys Aren’t Blue, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, The Hate You Give, and Sold. What these titles have in common is the fact that they all touch upon the complexities of race, sexual violence, gender identity, and sexuality. Public schools and academic libraries have seen the worst of these bans. This means that American youths are being denied access to diverse stories that depict the world as the diverse place it truly is. 

Why is Banning Books Bad?

When we restrict certain books from the public, we’re arguing that these stories—these people—don’t deserve to be in the public eye. We’re essentially saying that their voices don’t deserve to be heard because they don't fit in the supposed status quo of our society. The people who are imposing these bans are, I assume, trying to cleanse their communities of unwanted representation that humanize individuals of marginalized groups. 

This is inconsistent with human rights. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights describes everyone’s right to an education. However, I want to emphasize the second part of the article which states, “[The right] shall promote understanding, tolerance, and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups…” Reading books that discuss topics about racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, violence, and so forth are and should be protected by Article 26. how can we, as a society, build tolerance and understanding of other cultures and people if we may not always have access to experience those cultures for ourselves? I’ll tell you: we read about them! 

Books record the experiences the author believes are important to share. If we ban books about experiences we’re unfamiliar or uncomfortable with, we’re erasing these experiences and presenting the myth that they didn’t happen or that they don’t matter. I urge you to think back on the Nazi book burnings that were done in order to reshape German culture to fit the Nazi ideal. While the censorship happening in the U.S. isn’t as physically violent, its intention is eerily similar. By hiding the stories of marginalized communities, book bannings are trying to establish an “American cultural normality” in which non-white, non-straight, non-cis male people do not seem to belong.

Censorship, in all of its various forms, kills free speech. When one voice is exiled, who’s to say another won’t be? Who decides which stories matter and which don’t? Stories should be making us uncomfortable because that means we’re identifying an injustice happening in our world. When we bar some stories from the public eye, we’re continuously re-drawing a line on what we find acceptable and what isn’t. But, where do we stop? Trying to shut some people up opens the possibility of shutting other people up. If someone’s voice is being silenced (regardless of if you agree with the reason or not), then your voice can be silenced too. What censorship does is establish the idea that only a few, powerful people get to decide which content can be consumed; thus leaving the rest of us ignorant of the world as it truly is.  

 Banning Books Won’t Ban Our Voices

While the statistics on book bannings may seem grave at first, we mustn’t get disheartened. Book bannings haven’t been anything new, and neither have the fights against them. Coalitions have been advocating for the protection of books and free speech for decades. In fact, the event, Banned Books Week, started in 1982 as a response to the influx of book bannings of that time. Banned Books Week is supported by a coalition currently made up of around 16 organizations who share the same goal: to highlight, “the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community [...] in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.” So, while there may be a large and loud group of people who are championing against diversity, there also exists a large and loud group of folks who advocate for everyone’s right to be heard. 

But here’s the thing, people who have been oppressed in the past have a shared quality: their unwavering commitment to be authentic to who they are while standing up for their right to be heard. In spite of these bannings, authors keep writing, and we keep reading. When the Nazi book burnings happened, people did not remain silent. In New York City, 100,000 people marched in protest, American authors publicly condemned the burnings, and many institutions offered assistance to German scholars affected by the censorship attempt. This tells us that no matter what form censorship has taken, people will always fight back for their right to speak.

What Can You Do?

When you encounter a banned book, ask yourself: Why was it banned? What was the author arguing? Regardless of if you agree with the author’s argument, it is always healthy to consume different perspectives because that is how we can come closer to understand the different people with whom we share this planet. If you have the means, buy a banned book where you’re able to help support the author, or even help donate books to a library that you know are banned. Alternatively, you can check out a banned book in your local library to show that people are interested in reading these stories. 

For now, I recommend stopping by the Human Rights Program in 232 Social Sciences building on the West Bank. Pick up a free banned or challenged book and join the conversation on the right to read and learn. Free books are available 11am - 1pm Monday-Friday, October 6-10.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are the author’s only and do not reflect an official position of the University of Minnesota, the Human Rights Program, or the College of Liberal Arts. As an institution of higher education that values and promotes free speech, civil discourse, and human rights we welcome a variety of perspectives and opinions from our student contributors that are consistent with these values.