The Racial, Gender and Ethnic Goal of Book Banning

The local paper here, the Des Moines Register, just published the results of a quite exhaustive study it did on the kind of books banned or requested to be banned in Iowa public schools. 

One important thing to note first is that there is not overwhelming support for citizen screening and banning of books. The Iowa Legislature, dominated by Republicans, passed a law setting up a procedure for people who want books banned to approach their local School Boards. Iowa's religious right Governor, Kim Rynolds, endorsed and signed the bill. So far, cranky Christians have challenged 60 books. 

To assess how "serious" the problem of "bad" books is in Iowa we can measure how many districts have experienced book banning requests. Iowa has 327 school districts. Challenges about books has happened in 36 districts. One would think if sin was overrunning the state in the form of lurid books the number of districts complaining about these books would be more than about 10%. The list of 60 books came from this small number of districts. I'd like to know if these 36 districts each have at least one preacher or priest hammering away at sinful books from a pulpit.

The Des Moines Register reporters combed over the sixty books people complained about to look for patterns of material in the books. They found interesting patterns for sure. 

A large portion of the fictional books covered topics of racial discrimination, especially black and Indian. Another set of candidates for banning were about LGBTQ. It could be assumed the reason for the ban request was simply a dislike of these groups of people. 

Most of the books were fictional stories about young people from these categories and their fictional experiences. For years there have been adults who said their lives were made better by reading in high school stories about people like themselves. Without these stories, they might have lived their lives thinking they are different than every other human on the planet. It is simply wrong the assume that no one will be made worse off by banning books. Those who want them banned will be benefit but others will be made worse off.  

Iowa is an example of a small minority which has captured the legislature and Governor's office and is make life more difficult for minorities in the state.