North Kansas City students condemn efforts to ban books from high school libraries
High school students in the North Kansas City School District on Monday evening condemned recent efforts by a Northland social group to remove certain books from the school library, saying district leaders should not be swayed by attempts to censor reading that speaks to race and LGBT issues.
Several students, many of them seniors, were given the chance to speak during the public comment portion of a regularly scheduled meeting of the North Kansas City Schools Board. The speakers highlighted the books targeted for removal as beneficial works that have enhanced their lives and education.
Lynh Nguyen, a senior and leader with North Kansas City High School’s Asian Student Union, said many offer a perspective of people of color and other marginalized groups that have traditionally been kept off the shelves. Banning books, she said, is a hallmark of totalitarian governments that seek to control the narrative by eliminating opposition to certain ideas.
“When you eliminate information that cannot be used to justify a point of view and thus no opposing argument can be made,” she said, adding that “sheltering” students from historical events like the Holocaust or slavery is a dangerous practice that “inevitably breeds ignorance.”
Nationwide and in the suburbs of the Kansas City metro, parents have been showing up to school board meetings in force, arguing for their districts to ban books, often those centered on LGBTQ issues or race, that they deem inappropriate due to content they say is too graphic for students.
They include “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a coming-of-age essay collection by George M. Johnson, which focuses on growing up Black and queer in New Jersey, as well as “Fun Home,” a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, which was adapted into a Broadway musical that in 2015 won the Tony Award for best musical.
North Kansas City temporarily removed the books from its four high schools after Jay Richmond, president of the Northland Parent Association, objected to the books during the North Kansas City Schools’ board of education in October.
The Northland Parent Association, a nonprofit representing parents in Clay and Platte counties, has been on the frontline of the local book ban push. The group, which has also sued over district mask mandates, has encouraged parents to protest the books at local school board meetings, deeming some to be “pornographic.”
Another high school student who got up to speak to the board Monday night took issue with that label. She said the Pulitzer Prize winning play “Fences,” by August Wilson, was described that way by its opponents recently “despite not having any actual sex.” And she contended she and her peers are mature and intelligent enough to comprehend the complex characters and scenes depicted in the story.
“At no point did I ever think (the book) was trying to promote sex because I’m 16; not stupid,” she said.
Students in the Northland have been fighting back against the proposed book bans for weeks, arguing against such censorship, gaining the support of librarians, scholars, authors and free speech advocates. They created a petition aimed at stopping area school districts from pulling books from their high school’s libraries, which had garnered more than 1,000 signatures as of Monday.
Some in other school districts have followed suit countering the proposed bans. In Liberty last week, a parent-led group, spoke out on the topic saying the district should dismiss the alarmed rhetoric brought by others in the community.
