Red States’ Banned Books Reek of Racism & Tyranny

Today, I received the latest list of books banned in red states. Among them:

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) by Maya Angelou
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) by Harper Lee winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
• The Hate U Give (2017) by Angie Thomas, a modern classic
• The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker, winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award
• The Bluest Eye and Beloved by Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate in Literature

These titles join a long list that includes:

Slaughterhouse-Five, Of Mice and Men, The Catcher in the Rye, The Handmaid’s Tale, and dozens of queer-authored works—join over 100 books erased from classrooms and libraries across the states.

We are now in times similar to the period before Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, known as the Weimar Years. Weimar Germany was revolutionary in its openness toward sexual identity and freedom. The world’s first openly gay publications emerged during this time, alongside a thriving cabaret scene—hundreds of venues that celebrated color, expression, and a rejection of traditional moral codes through avant-garde art, books, and entertainment.

The cinema of the era was daring and politically charged. Films explored themes ranging from authoritarianism to gender roles. The 1929 film Diary of a Lost Girl depicted the ostracism of a young woman after having an illegitimate child, and Fassbinder’s Different from the Others confronted issues of forced sex work and conflicted sexual identity. These bold explorations provoked cultural debates that would soon be silenced when the era’s art, film, and literature were destroyed—burned in Nazi bonfires in a wave of censorship and intolerance.

Weimar had been a mosaic of ideas, cultures, religions, sexual identities, and diversity, igniting fear among reactionary forces. The simultaneous rise of political extremism and sexual liberation spurred backlash. Traditionalists saw the era’s social transformations as a threat to “German” and “Nordic” identity. Efforts emerged to purge the country of Jewish, “foreign,” and “degenerate” influences, leading to a conservative drive to reassert Christian nationalist values. The Weimar Republic’s collapse paved the way for authoritarian rule, years before the full horrors of the Holocaust were realized. The systematic dismantling of intellectual freedom, the silencing of dissident voices, and the persecution preceded the murder of millions.

Banning books is not about protecting children—it is a direct assault on freedom. It silences voices that challenge power, erases history, and suppresses uncomfortable truths. Books that explore race, gender, sexuality, and justice are not dangerous—they are essential. Authoritarian regimes have always feared free thought. These bans reflect that same fear—fear of truth, of empathy, and historical accountability. A healthy democracy does not fear difficult conversations; it requires them. Erasing stories doesn’t protect society—it distorts it. To ban a book is an act of violence against knowledge, against memory, and against liberty itself. The foundational principles of our democracy are being undermined when governments endorse the removal of books from public discourse. Intellectual freedom and critical thinking are not luxuries—they are under siege.

 Ten years before I was born, Hitler was in power. One hundred years before I was born, our Supreme Court enshrined white supremacy into the US Constitution when Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the words that denied all Black people the protection of citizenship in the Dred Scott case. We seem to be moving backwards quickly.

In the abhorrent words of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court Roger B. Taney, March 6, 1857: “They [Black people] had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

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