Annual read-in traces American censorship

Rutgers University hosted a series of events last week in honor of “National Banned Books” week, including readings and film screenings of contested or formerly banned books.  Banned Books Week, now in its 28th year, sets the last week of September to honor the freedom to read and Americans’ rights under the first amendment.The event began in the early ‘80s, in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges against including a book in schools and libraries. Educators, librarians, and free speech advocates banded together to educate the public on the importance of free speech and the dangers of restricting access to controversial literature. The majority of these books focus on controversial issues such as race, religion, politics, and homosexuality.

Locally, the events kicked off with a screening and discussion of the film, Fahrenheit 451, based on the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel of the same name. The novel was originally published in the early years of the Cold War and the rise of television as the primary mass medium. It’s set in a future where Americans have abandoned literature and human interaction, spending their days as mass media drones in front of film and television screens.

The central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a “firefighter.” Rather than extinguishing fires, Guy’s job is to burn books and other literature as all written word has been banned by the government. As the plot continues to develop, Montag learns the value of literature and becomes a renegade book distributor facing many hardships and resistance from friends, family, and the government.

Rutgers also hosted a screening of the blacklisted film Salt of the Earth, which was written by Michael Wilson and directed by Herbet J. Biberman. This film is about a difficult strike against the Empire Zinc Company, where Mexican-American miners are striking for equal wages with the white workers at the company. The movie is filmed in a neo-realist style, using actual miners to fill the bulk of the roles in the film. It is also one of the first films to touch on the changing roles of women in society.

When the film was first released in 1954, like Fahrenheit 451 during the McCarthy era, the Hollywood establishment refused to support its distribution because the American government feared it could start immigrant strikes and violent revolts nationwide. The director, producers and actors were further blacklisted from finding work in the then strictly corporatized industry The discussion following this screening focused on the government’s rights and limitations in controlling public media.

A reading from the most challenged book of 2008, And Tango Makes Three, was held to conclude the Rutgers Banned Books series. This 2005 children’s book by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, has been the most challenged book for the last three years running, and was the focal point of banned book events nationwide again this week. It’s the true story of two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who, after several unsuccessful attempts at trying to hatch a rock, are given an egg by their zookeepers and successfully hatch and raise a female penguin as a family. The book has been banned by school districts across the country. The authors say that the book was written to help parents teach children about same-sex parent families, and stand by their work as important in the constantly changing, more liberal America that we live in today.

These controversial films and books only begin to touch on the hundreds of works that have been challenged and banned through the years. Banned Books Week seeks to ensure that Americans maintain their freedom of speech, thought, and association, to prevent the dystopian future set up in Bradbury’s novel. Have you read a banned book today?

For more information about banned books week or a more comprehensive list of controversial books and literature, try visiting bannedbooksweek.org, or ask your local librarian.