On April 3, the Samuels Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation hosted a discussion on book bans with author Julian Winters, student organizer Cameron Samuels and Dr. Tanishia Lavette Williams, a Brandeis Florence Levy Kay Fellow in Racial Justice, Education, and the Carceral State. 

Samuels is a leading activist in the movement against censorship in Katy Texas who testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2023 on the topic of banned books.  

In 2023, 4,250 different books were challenged to be banned, especially in libraries and schools, many of which included those that centered on marginalized voices or about topics related to race, religion, gender identity or sexuality. The talk, funded by COMPACT’s Maurice J. and Fay B. Karpf and Ari Hahn Peace Awards and the ENACT Educate and Advocate Grant, was planned about a year in advance.

Winters is a young-adult fiction author who focuses on Black, Indigenous and people of color and LGBTQ+ narratives. His motivation to begin writing originated from the lack of representation in his school books. As a queer Black man, he was disheartened by the lack of Black protagonists in books. When there were Black characters, they were often stricken by tragedy.  In those books, “anyone who is BIPOC or queer are just a narrative in someone elses’s narrative,” Winters said. “Those readers need to know that things like joy and growth exist … we don’t exist to be the lesson for someone else’s story.”

In the discussion, Winters credited his experience with reading as the source of his passion for writing. “That [the representation of characters with the same identity as him] was a hard weight to carry as a teen … I started writing on my own to change that narrative,” he said. “One of the greatest things in having to read those classics was that it made me angry enough to fix what I was seeing.” 

Winters explained the misconception that book bans aren’t actually preventing individuals from reading books. “Books aren’t cheap — it’s hard to watch when books are continuously pulled from [school and library] shelves,” he said. “For some that’s the only way they’re accessible.” Those who claim otherwise and are initiating the bans, he stated, are from privileged positions who have the freedom to buy a book privately at their own discretion. Young students often do not have the safe space to explore the themes of these banned books, many of which represent some part of their identity. “When you put students or readers in that position, it makes them hide away from who they are,” he explained. 

Williams touched on the impact of censorship within schools and its effects on learning. “When we censor what students can learn or read, it impacts curriculum,” she said. “This sterilization / altering of voice that has been ever present [and] it’s a moral tax that teachers have to bear.” While there are some teachers who outwardly oppose it risking legal consequences, others teach it quietly while the rest follow the regulations in place. One anonymous teacher in Texas, has a secret bookshelf in her classroom with banned books on queer and marginalized narratives. 

Williams also explained the balancing act of parents’ right to make decisions for their children and censorship. “It gets very nuanced and the law tries to make sense of that,” she said. “No matter what side we sit on, to take into consideration that every child has to go to school, every child is different and has a different upbringing, and that the child belongs to some families that also has beliefs about what that child should and should not learn.”

Winters shared his own story regarding why he believes representation is vital in literature. While he was in school, he described himself as a “very reluctant reader,” attributing this to the lack of representation in literature and shared he did not read books for himself again until his early 20s. His experiences with books taught him “who I am is wrong … I made myself smaller and smaller,” until he found books he identified with: “Books literally saved my life,” he recalls.

Winters emphasized the importance of interacting with those who are not comfortable with banned books and do not understand the issue in their censorship. While personal conversations may feel insignificant, he explains that they are the first steps to broader change. “You have to be okay with starting small; you have to be okay with being vulnerable, and then sharing these things he said.”

Samuels touched on the possibilities that they felt were represented in their school libraries. “I know that if there were books in my school library that reflected my experiences, I’m sure I would’ve been able to discover myself, learn about experiences that are also unfamiliar to me and see the world as a bigger picture, build compassion and connect with others,” they said.

Book censorship points toward a larger pattern in educational censorship that affects all Americans and can be framed as a civil rights issue. “Education is a system that touches just about everyone in this country.” Williams stated how there is a “holistic polarization” in education and explained how a diversified curriculum, such as critical race theory, is necessary to evaluate how the presence of race and racialized hierarchies in America can be examined. She further elaborated on the importance of critical race theory in schools, citing ideas such as whiteness as a property, race’s manifestation in law, and intersectionality.

Winters hopes that young writers are able to use their anger at issues they see around them. “I don’t want you to just internalize that anger. I want you to use it, to fire you to do the thing you want to do,” he said. “When the world expects you to lose … to quiet the power you already have …take that fire and let it burn.”