‘Not progress’: Memphis students combat bills banning ‘obscene’ books
Tennessee Youth Coalition called on state legislators to oppose house bills 1944 and 800
As Tennessee legislators continue to debate two bills limiting what books and educational materials are available in schools, Memphis students have launched a campaign to unite youth across the state and insert their voices into the conversations in Nashville.
Milana Kumar and Salina Shamsuddin, organizers of the Tennessee Youth Coalition, called on state legislators to oppose house bills 1944 and 800. On Saturday, the two kicked off a campaign to encourage kids and adults to amplify the voices of students concerned about the potential for censorship of learning materials.
“We’re the ones that go to school. Teachers are the ones that teach at school,” Shamsuddin said. “It would be nice for (legislators) to amplify our voices in this decision-making rather than them making the decision on our behalf.”
HB 1944 would prohibit public schools and public charter schools from having books or supplementary or instructional materials in school libraries that contain “obscene materials or materials harmful to minors.” HB 800 would ban materials that “promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender issues or lifestyles.”
The bills have spurred fierce debates among legislators, parents, teachers and students across the state about where — and if — a line should be drawn between topics that may make some students uncomfortable and topics some consider inappropriate for minors. Those topics include everything from racism to nudity to sexual violence to gender identity.
Kumar and Shamsuddin were joined by other local students who asked legislators not to approve the two bills. Zeina Nassif asked legislators what part of her life, as an LGBTQ student, was inappropriate to be discussed in a classroom.
“I wake up every morning, go to school, do some afterschool activities and then homework,” she said. “On the weekends I rehearse for school plays, hang out with friends and spend some time with my family.”
Nassif pointed out the classes that have been the most instructive were the ones that forced her to consider ideas she disagreed with.
“Tennessee schools should prepare students to enter the world as adults who can both consider and critique a variety of viewpoints,” she said. “This is not possible without engaging with a variety of viewpoints and lifestyles in the classroom.”
Saturday’s press conference doubled as a workshop, giving other students and community members the opportunity to read the text of the bills and prepare statements to deliver to legislators in Nashville.
The students also launched a social media campaign with the same purpose.
Student Sophie Harms said numerous books she had read in school contained difficult topics including rape, gratuitous violence, murder and suicide, including “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini and Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” While the topics were challenging, they did not harm her.
Instead, Harms said they opened up discussions with classmates about topics like racism and the morality of war. They also allowed her to develop empathy for people living in vastly different circumstances than her own, like the Afghan characters featured in Hosseini’s book.
“Just like every student, it is imperative that I read these things because they are real,” Harms said. “We do not occupy a world free from pain and tragedy. So why would our libraries be free from these?”
Diana Nichols added history and change were not supposed to make people comfortable and removing “obscene” books from schools did not mean students would not ask questions about those topics.
Student Cay Roach said students deserved the opportunities to learn about a variety of identities, races and lifestyles in the classroom.
Removing books, she said, would not erase the topics legislators sought to ban from schools.
“We all know this is not progress. So why let this happen?” she posed to state lawmakers. “History is being made and you’re choosing to be on the wrong side.”