Banned & Challenged Books: The Freedom to Read

Statement from your TCC Library

The faculty and staff of Tacoma Community College support your freedom to read, and the freedom to read of all. Book challenges and ban efforts are not about protecting people - they are about denying access to information and representation. They are about erasing history, culture, and identity, and they are about maintaining inequitable power structures. The freedom to read secures the rights of individuals to choose the reading materials they want and need to engage with, and holds space for individuals to be able to engage with new ideas that challenge and enrich.

Freedom to Read - understanding book challenges and bans

(Image cited below; click to enlarge)

"Book banning, a form of censorship, occurs when private individuals, government officials, or organizations remove books from libraries, school reading lists, or bookstore shelves because they object to their content, ideas, or themes. Those advocating a ban complain typically that the book in question contains graphic violence, expresses disrespect for parents and family, is sexually explicit, exalts evil, lacks literary merit, is unsuitable for a particular age group, or includes offensive language."

- From the Encyclopedia of the First Amendment (linked on this page)

Image Source: Shapiro, Paige, editor. "Book Banning is Becoming More Common." The Clarion, 2 May 2023, www.theonlineclarion.com/opinion/2023/05/02/book-banning-is-becoming-more-common/#. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025.

Book Challenge

Mead, Washington, 1984

Michael Farris, controversial political figure whose conservative social movement advocacy included serving as the director of Washington State Moral Majority, attempted to ban the book, "The Learning Tree" from Mead, Washington schools, citing, among other objections, the book's alleged advocacy of atheism. On behalf of a Mead parent, Farris sued the school district for violating the First Amendment establishment clause, claiming that by assigning students to read this book, the school district was establishing Humanism as the school's official religion. A federal judge dismissed the case.