Longwood University has celebrated the freedom to read since 2001. This year, just a few weeks after the official Banned Books Week in September, Longwood continued the tradition by holding a Banned Book Reading in Greenwood Library.
Students, staff, faculty and even children of faculty stepped up to the podium to speak about their favorite banned or challenged books and read an excerpt or two.
The books covered topics from fart jokes to drug use and assault, butwhetheritwas“Captain Underpants” or “A Clockwork Orange,” each book had been challenged by a group with the intent to restrict access due to personal value judgments of the works' “appropriateness,” especially regarding children and teenagers.
Leading the discussion between the readings was Dr. Jennifer Miskec, associate professor of English.
Miskec stressed the importance of taking an active stance against the banning of books in libraries and schools. While censorship might seem outdated, the reality is that books are challenged every day in the United States. Recent attempts at censorship hit as close to home as Cumberland County and Fairfax, Va. Groups such as Parents Against Bad Books in Schools (PABBIS) actively encourage parents to judge books on “good taste” and challenge their children’s schools to remove these controversial titles – often without contextual insight.
This lack of understanding was demonstrated in August when a school board in Ohio accused “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison of being “pornographic” because of a scene in which the main character, a 12-year-old girl, is raped. As Dr. David Magill, associate professor of English, put it quite clearly in his presentation of the book at the reading that “to equate the rape of a girl with pornography is to victimize again that young girl.”
Powerfully, Magill did not continue on to read those scenes but instead read a different, non-explicit, moving excerpt from the text to demonstrate that when we dismiss a book due to one objectionable scene, readers miss out on incredible literary works.
The night was ended with a drawing of names to receive an “I Read Banned Books” tote bag, books and Banned Book Weekmug,providedbyagrant from the American Democracy Project.
Students, faculty and community members left with their stomachs filled with cookies and their minds stirring with thoughts of free speech, and a renewed fervor for the freedom to read in our schools, libraries and communities.
