By: Cheryl Smith
According to PEN America, almost 7,000 books were banned during the 2024-2025 school year, and for the third consecutive year, Florida led with 2,304. It is no surprise that nipping on Florida’s heels is none other than Texas, coming in second with 1,781, followed by Tennessee with 1,622.
In the past five years, there have been 22,810 instances of books being banned in U.S. public schools.
Sylvia Aguilar Zeleny, Becky Albertalli, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jesse Andrews, Jennifer Armentrout, Elana Arnold, Margaret Atwood, Meg Cabot, Kristin Cashore, P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast are among the many that appear to be favorites for the book police, with more than five listings.
Some of my favorites, like Maya Angelou, ReShonda Tate Billingsley, and James Baldwin, are included in a list that has other heavyweights like Toni Morrison, Richard Weight, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Walter Dean Myers, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and other greats.
What a pity if folks are unable to read their brilliant works!
Of course, The Autobiography of Malcolm X is on the list, and so many others that speak truth to power and shed light on a time in history that must not be forgotten.
Recently ,I talked with a friend who is planning for her retirement. She’s going to do something else with the rest of her life. She’s done with her 40-plus-year career and is about to embark on another journey.
I am excited for her and am glad that she is including me on her new venture and adventure!
I, however, do not see retirement in my future.
As my email address professes, I hope my pen will always be on fire as long as I have breath in me.
Now, I plan to spend some time doing what I started doing as a teenager, which is telling those stories that are missing, shedding a light on people who feel that their voices are not heard and their stories not told.
I want to keep the flame burning for those who came before me, paving a way for me to pick up the gauntlet and move us down the road.
That’s why the Black Press is so important. Publishers can use their platforms to share the stories of the valiant men and women who use their talents to educate, enlighten, inform, inspire, and entertain.
We can fight the powers that be by using what we have in this war against words.
After all, we are the soldiers without swords. We can be on the right side of history by not allowing our voices to be silent, by keeping alive the warriors whose stories should be told and whose words should be spoken.
If we don’t speak up for those authors, what happens when they come for us?
Talk about leaving generations without knowledge and information. What a travesty!
Future generations deserve better.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson tried to help us with his books, and almost a century later, we are still benefiting from learning about The Miseducation of The Negro.
What will future generations have to benefit from if the books that could help us build a better world are banned?
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