On April 4, the United States Naval Academy removed 381 books from the shelves of its Nimitz Library.
The common thread among these titles is simple: anything which President Donald Trump does not agree with is out. This includes books that discuss racism, gender, sexuality, any non-capitalistic economic system, different definitions of maleness, Palestine, non-Christian religions, LGBTQIA+ identities and anything else which is vaguely “anti-American.” Among these books is Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” which is one of the most challenged books across America.
But what can stay? Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”
This mass-banning of books is not an attempt to remove so-called dangerous books from the Naval Academy library. This is a direct threat on American democracy, as are all book bans which are on the grounds of banning books that authentically depict non-white lives in America, depict LGBTQIA+ lives, or depict parts of life (such as rape or drug abuse) which are horrid but cannot and should not be ignored.
If the administration’s goal was to ban dangerous books from the Naval Academy, Hitler would not be on the shelves of the library.
Fascism relies on people being uninformed and uneducated. Book bans are essential to this goal, as they create fear amongst people who do not understand the content of the books.
Again, the point of this book ban was not to prevent dangerous books from being on the shelves of the Nimitz Library. There is nothing dangerous about a book which argues for reparations for slavery. There is nothing dangerous about a book about pronouns — we all use them and we must use them to speak English. There is nothing dangerous about a book about implementing diversity.
This book ban attacks the essence of what makes America so unique: its diversity. America would be nothing without diversity. Banning books which just discuss so-called “woke” topics is a slippery slope toward fascism.
There is a reason why Hitler banned so many books. Trump is playing the same game, and you can resist by going to the American Library Association’s Banned Books webpage and reading what they do not want you to be able to. If the Trump administration is scared of the book you’re picking up, it’s probably highlighting the different perspectives and sometimes harsh perspectives that do not sugar-coat or whitewash America’s history or current events.
The full list of the removed books can be found on the Naval Academy’s website.
