Column: Fear, Ignorance Trigger Efforts of Censorship | Opinion | thepilot.com – The Pilot

Did you know that the beloved childrens book Charlottes Web, by E.B. White, was banned in 2006 in the state of Kansas?

A parents group had this childrens classic banned from classrooms because they asserted that talking animals were a work of the devil. Talking animals are blasphemous and unnatural, said one such critical parent.

Another objected to the book because a spider dying was inappropriate subject matter for a childrens book.

Defending family values, religious beliefs, political views and social norms are the main reasons for people defending censorship. As an English and journalism teacher for 29 years, I dealt with parents who wanted to censor books that I was teaching.

I detest censorship and really have little or no respect for people who advocate for it. While teaching, I frequently wore a sweatshirt once a week that said, Read a Banned Book. Under the banner were 10 books that were most often banned in the United States.

Parents who justified their actions in the name of protecting their children usually targeted the following books: Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger; The Color Purple, by Alice Walker; Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain; Black Boy, by Richard Wright; and Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. I will explain more in detail about two of these.

Regarding Catcher in the Rye, two mothers told me it was trash. Asking these women if they had taken the time to read the entire novel, their answers were: Of course not, I read enough.

Most students came to love this novel as much as I love it. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is experiencing a mental breakdown and wants to protect the innocent people in the world, such as the nuns he encounters on the bus, and all of the children little sister Phoebe who are losing their innocence as the phoniness of the world embraces them.

Dont think about censoring a book if you have not read a book in its entirety and if you dont have an understanding of the book.

Likewise, Things Fall Apart is a world classic that I taught in my World Literature class. This book, which was a curriculum-approved book, tells the story of an Igbo warrior named Okonkwo who lives in Nigeria during the time of colonial Africa. Igbo warriors beheaded their enemies and brought back the heads as trophies. There are two sentences in the book that inform the reader of this tradition.

One mothers lament: How could I expose her child to such barbarism. I asked the mother what she thought happened when the United States government sent drones to other countries to take out terrorists who were considered our enemies. Did she think those bodies were left intact, and did she know that sometimes innocent women and children were killed in these attacks? Her reply: Oh, that is completely different.

So what did I do when a parent objected to his or her child reading a book in my class? I assigned another book for the student to read. I did not get into an argument or really even a discussion with these parents, because I knew that they had not read the books in their entirety and did not understand the themes.

Recently, The Pilot reported on a contentious hearing before the Moore County Board of Education on the appropriateness of the book George, by Alex Gino, regarding a transgender child. One particularly outspoken critic of the book was Jim Pedersen. Pedersens objections to the book are based on his political views and prejudice against the LGBTQ community, which should not even be considered when deciding on the merit of a book.

His comment that little kids dont even know human anatomy yet; testicles, ovaries, proper terminology is false. Educated and nurturing parents teach their children proper terminology. My son knew that he had a penis and testicles when he was 4 years old. He asked me about these body parts while he was taking a bath one night, and I named the body parts with no further discussion.

If I had some extra money on hand, I would love to print up some sweatshirts with the banner reading Congratulations, Moore County Board of Education. George Stays on the Shelf. How many citizens of Moore County would proudly wear one along with me?

Yvonne Gale lives in Pinehurst.

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Column: Fear, Ignorance Trigger Efforts of Censorship | Opinion | thepilot.com - The Pilot