COLUMN: Why are books being constantly banned?

Kyla+Moton+is+a+junior+English+major+and+can+be+reached+at+217-581-2812.

Rob Le Cates

Kyla Moton is a junior English major and can be reached at 217-581-2812.

Kyla Moton, Columnist

As an English student, writing is definitely one of my strong points. I rarely ever found myself disappointed or dreading a writing assignment.
Writing is a very important part of history and culture and it can make a huge impact on many different lives. Knowing this, why is it that we ban certain pieces of writing because of the content?
Recently, there was a display in Booth Library about banned books. Books have been banned in schools and other institutions for the topics that are either discussed or that that book is surrounded by.
For example, a very popular book that has been banned in various school districts across the country is “The Hate U Give”, written by Angie Thomas.
“The Hate U Give” is a book that was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. The book has some graphic descriptions of violence, but people believe that the book is pushing an anti-police agenda due to the fact that there is a police-involved shooting written about in the book as well as protests in the aftermath of the shooting.
Instead of looking the overall message and premise of the novel, people are nitpicking with the book and preventing readers from seeing what an impact this book has had on many different communities.
The book is something that many people could resonate with. The Black Lives Matter movement has been a positive impact on communities overall, but people tend to associate the movement with events unrelated to the movement as a whole.
The Black Lives matter organization and their owners have never denounced police officers completely, but they have made it clear multiple times that there are officers in the police force who want to do nothing more than cause trouble.
This is the reason why the Black lives matter movement exists in the first place. The book was written to put the story that many families have had to go through into a perspective for those who may not have had to go through this.
The book being banned for its message is only making people more ignorant to the situation at hand.
If more people took time out of their day to find out why people support the Black Lives Matter movement, they may be more understanding as to why the movement was created in the first place.
But “The Hate U Give” is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to banned books. Another book that has been banned and challenged by school districts is not just one book but an entire series.
The Harry Potter series follows a boy as he journies to take control over his special gift as well as navigate through his relationships as well.
These books seem lighthearted to most at first, but the books have been banned from multiple school districts due to the fact that Harry Potter has magical powers.
Schools are claiming that the books, written by J.K. Rowling, are promoting witchcraft, which people tend to associate with evil spirits.
There are evil beings in the Harry Potter series, but nothing that directly suggests that witchcraft is evil.
People tend to make far reaching connections in order to tear something down and make it seem negative. Books should rarely be banned for their content.
The way in which one person perceives a message or a line in a book is different than how someone else may perceive the message, so why not just allow people to enjoy the books that they love and if it does not resonate or sit well with you, it may be time to close it.
Kyla Moton is a junior English/creative writing major. She can be reached at [email protected] or 217-581-2812.