What we keep getting wrong in conversations about banned books

March 17, Jill DeTemple, professor of religious studies at SMU Dallas, for a piece advocating that community members gather and discuss shared values in a civil setting rather than create book banning lists. Published in the Dallas Morning News under the heading: What we keep getting wrong in conversations about banned books:  Bit.ly/3CRTRxK 

Judging by the headlines, it might be easy to believe that every school board in the United States is getting ready to purge their libraries of materials that some find offensive.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has directed schools to remove all books with “pornographic content.” Texas House Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, has demanded school libraries account for their holdings related to race, gender and sexuality, prompting some teachers to remove titles from classroom shelves. In Tennessee, Maus was eliminated from a junior high school reading list, resulting in the book moving to a top seller position on Amazon, and in Washington State, the Mukilteo School Board found itself defending a decision to make To Kill a Mockingbird optional due to the complexities it presents around racist language and a white hero saving a black protagonist.

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