North Philly Notes

This week in North Philly Notes, in honor of Banned Book Week, we repost our entry from earlier this year when six Temple University Press titles were banned from the Naval Academy’s Nimitz library.

On January 20, President Trump signed an executive order eliminating all “illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government.” Federal departments moved quickly, canceling programs and services, shuttering departments, removing vast amounts of content from websites, and rewriting history.

As the Pentagon moved to comply, libraries at the military service academies were directed to remove books related to DEI from their shelves. The Naval Academy was the first to act, removing 381 books from the Nimitz Library on March 31 and April 1. The Guardian reported that Army and Air Force officials directed academy staff to compile lists of books for removal.  

Included among the books removed from the Nimitz shelves were the frequently banned How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi, and Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe. And in a stark testament to where the president and his administration may be headed, Maya Angelou’s seminal I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was pulled, but Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf remains on the library shelves.

It was a surprise—or maybe not—to find these six Temple University Press books on the list.

• Thomas Kim’s The Racial Logic of Politics
• Gregory Kaliss’ Men’s College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality
• George Lipsitz’s How Racism Takes Place
• Toby Miller’s Sportsex
• Steve Martinot’s The Machinery of Whiteness
• Samuel Roundfield Lucas’ Theorizing Discrimination in an Era of Contested Prejudice

When these authors were informed about their books being banned, many asked the question on everyone’s mind: Why? Are these Temple University Press titles that controversial, or did an AI bot snag them because their titles, descriptions, or subject categories contained one or more of the hundreds of words flagged as subversive?

It would be interesting to know what if any Temple University Press titles remain on the Naval Academy Library’s shelves. Did they have copies of George Lipsitz’ other title, The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, or Just Who Loses?, Samuel Rounfield Lucas’ second volume in his Theorizing Discrimination trilogy? What about the recent book in our Sexuality Studies series, Talk about Sex, by Janice Irvine, which shows how the American right wing used sex education to build a political movement and regulate sexuality by controlling sexual speech. And how about a copy of the NAACP Award-winning Envisioning Emancipation, by Deborah Willis and Barbara Krauthamer, which uses photos and text to reflect on Black Americans and the end of slavery? Our list is full of potential targets, including Prison Masculinities, edited by Don Sabo, Terry Kupers, and Willie London, which years ago was banned by the entire state of Texas prison system.

Themes of racial and social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion run throughout the Press’ list. We’re proud that our titles are being challenged and banned by an administration intent on rewriting history and creating a present and future that doesn’t include equal treatment for all. The authors of these banned books and many others speak to and about things the government doesn’t want to be discussed. The Press is honored to support that conversation.

Below are reactions and responses from the Temple University Press authors whose books were banned.

“I’m confused and dazed and sad and proud. Confused and dazed that my work could be so threatening. Sad because it has been censored. Proud, in rather a perverse way, to be one of the authors identified as frightening by the most risible government in modern American history”—Toby Miller, author of Sportsex

“Having my book—my ideas—censored is a direct and personal reminder that especially for higher education, there will be no strategy of negotiation and conciliation that will succeed under this regime. All that’s left is to resist and organize.”—Thomas Kim, author of The Racial Logic of Politics

“I have to laugh at the vain efforts of petty bureaucrats who think they can keep ideas from people who look for or need them. You think you can keep what is written from those who you are interesting in those ideas by suppressing them? Forget it. You bring such writings to the attention of those who look for it, and who will find it. And read it. That is the big one. So much is printed, and many don’t read it until some powerless administrator calls attention to it. And then they will read it. And all you administrators can do with your money is hire a therapist to give you excuses for your unethical behavior.“—Steve Martinot, author of The Machinery of Whiteness

“I am proud to be on a list of authors of banned books that includes Martin Luther King, Jr. and Maya Angelou. As the poet Blas de Otero observed about being censored by the Franco dictatorship in Spain, ‘They don’t let people see what I write, because I write what I see.’ Dictators throughout history have banned and burned books that invite readers to think for themselves rather than merely follow the orders issued by those in power. Book bans are confessions of weakness, of the inability of those doing the banning to refute arguments they do not like. This exercise in censorship indicates that the Naval Academy has so little faith in the intelligence—and so much fear of the fragility—of its students and faculty that it has to shield them from books that simply reveal that racism exists. This sends the midshipmen off to careers where they will be ill equipped to understand and command the troops they lead or the civilian populations they encounter. As the elders in Haiti say, breaking the thermometer will not cure the fever. The history of banning books bodes ill for the banners. Such acts almost always increase rather than decrease demand for the banned books. They also provoke authors to write more works that expose and critique the corruptions of the powerful. Like the many headed hydra of mythology, cutting off one head only enables more to grow in its place.”—George Lipsitz, author of How Racism Takes Place

“The United States, my native land, has long articulated powerful ideals of freedom, liberty, justice, human rights, and equal opportunity, and through time, sweat, tears, and blood, has haltingly journeyed toward realizing those ideals for everyone–wealthy and poor, of whatever sex, race, religion, nationality, or predicament. Thus, I am disappointed and sad that the stewards of the U.S. now seem committed to destroying that progress and erasing signposts of it, for as they deny U.S. history and undo U.S. progress, they simultaneously deny the triumph and undo the promise—and worldwide hope–of America. Their banning of my book, Theorizing Discrimination in an Era of Contested Prejudice, is one small act of many in their erasure project. But I do not feel erased. For I was but one of many channels for the expression of fundamental ideals of human freedom, and the continuation of those ideals is the point. Thus, while they can certainly ban an object–paper, ink, thread, and glue–I take joy in the knowledge that no one has or ever can have sufficient power to ban or otherwise extinguish the spirit and fundamental ideals that provided the book’s force, effect, and inspiration.”—Samuel Roundfield Lucas, author of Theorizing Discrimination in an Era of Contested Prejudice

“The U.S. Naval Academy’s decision to remove my book, along with almost 400 others, from its library’s shelves is disheartening and small-minded. No books should be removed from library shelves for political or censorship reasons, and certainly not at the college level. Our naval officers should be exposed to a wide range of viewpoints and historical interpretations before they lead our soldiers and represent our country. My book, Men’s College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality, analyzes five case studies of college sports integration from 1915 through the early 1970s. It explores how people used sports to discuss issues of equality, freedom, citizenship, and community. While the book calls attention to unsolved issues related to race, it also celebrates progress on and off the field. Learning about the past—including the history of desegregation in college sports, and the ways that athletes, fans, media commentators, and university administrators responded to changes in racial norms and ideas of masculinity—will help make our leaders more informed and better attuned to a wide range of issues in American life.

“One of the truly great things about the service academies is that they bring in students from all over the country, and from all different walks of life. There is an emphasis on learning from one another, of the benefits that come from hearing a variety of perspectives. The decision to remove these books from the USNA library strikes hard against the ideals of our military and our nation at large. Our military leaders should be modeling intellectual curiosity and a thoughtful engagement with the past. Reading more books, not less, is the way to achieve those goals.”—Gregory Kaliss, author of Men’s College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality

To the students of U.S. military academies: if you are reading this, we will be happy to send you a copy of one of these banned books for your personal library upon request.

Filed under: african american studies, american studies, asian american studies, Asian Studies, civil rights, cultural studies, Education, ethics, gender studies, History, immigration, Labor Studies, law & criminology, LGBT studies, literature, Mass Media and Communications, philosophy, political science, race and ethnicity, racism, sexuality, sociology, sports, Urban Studies | Tagged: banned books, books, DEI, Education, history, Nimitz library, politics, racism, Reading | Leave a comment »