Fight Book Bans, Fight for Our Future

Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing author Isabel Wilkerson about her book Caste: The Origin of our Discontents. Her book offers a profound examination of the rigid, hierarchical structures that continue to shape American society. 

Wilkerson’s work is ever resonate especially with  Banned Book week soon upon us. Caste’s focus on the deep, often invisible systems of oppression resonates strongly with the current wave of book bans in the United States. These bans disproportionately target books that deal with race, gender, and other marginalized identities, reflecting the very systems Wilkerson critiques.

The ongoing book bans can be seen as an extension of the same caste-like dynamics that Wilkerson describes. By restricting access to stories about racial and social injustice, certain groups in power attempt to maintain the dominant narrative and suppress perspectives that challenge the status quo. This echoes the way caste systems work to entrench social divisions, ensuring that marginalized groups remain subordinate, both politically and culturally.

During our interviews Wilkerson argued that ignorance and denial of historical truths sustain these systems of inequality. Book bans function similarly, erasing or downplaying the narratives of oppressed groups to maintain a sanitized version of history. They prevent students from engaging with the uncomfortable realities of racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination, thereby perpetuating the myths of superiority that underpin a caste-like society.

By limiting exposure to heterodoxical perspectives and uncomfortable truths, those in power reinforce the boundaries of race, class, and social hierarchy, maintaining a system that benefits some while marginalizing others. 

Book bans pose not only an existential threat to historically excluded groups, but also a threat against a future where oppressive systems no longer function. Fighting book bans is truly a fight for our future.