“I’m fighting for this book because there are so many teenagers who still need it.”
Their memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue” has been banned from school libraries in several U.S. states. Here’s why Black queer writer George M. Johnson is fighting back ...
Their memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue” has been banned from school libraries in several U.S. states. Here’s why Black queer writer George M. Johnson is fighting back ...
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00:00If you see this acceptable, you belong on a national registry and not a school board.
00:05I knew at some point my book was going to be one that touched a nerve with some parents.
00:10I just didn't imagine it would be across 20 states in the U.S.
00:22I'm not here to tell you how obscene this book is.
00:24It has made national attention because of its obscenity.
00:27Although it can be overwhelming to have literally state governments
00:32coming against you, governors reading your words out of context on television,
00:36I am fighting for this book because there are so many teenagers who still need it.
00:57I have watched students across the nation reach out and publicly say how this book has
01:03impacted them and changed their lives.
01:05Our books are not introducing teenagers to heavy topics.
01:10Teenagers are living in a world that is heavy.
01:13What our books are doing is giving them a resource and a tool
01:17so that they know how to handle those situations, not if they occur, but when they occur.
01:28So I learned about the book ban through Twitter.
01:35There was some white guy who was running to be the head of their school board in Kansas City
01:41and was using my book as his platform as to why he needed to be on the school board,
01:46because he needed to have the power to ban books like mine.
01:49I thought it was funny because it had already been out for 17 months
01:53and had already been read by tens of thousands of people and students.
01:57This book violates the law.
01:59Every single person who wants this book ban are pointing to two sections.
02:04What's interesting is the book is 320 pages.
02:07The sexually graphic parts may make up about three to four pages in its entirety in the book.
02:14And the chapter where I talk about sexual abuse, I'm actually teaching kids about
02:19grooming, teaching kids about consent, non-consent,
02:22and how to name what's happening to them when that situation happens.
02:26And in the section where I'm talking about losing my virginity,
02:29I am also in that section talking about the lack of sex education and how it set me up for failure.
02:49There are a couple things we can do.
02:55One, you have to buy the books that are being banned.
02:57More sales equals more visibility.
03:00So if they block books at high school libraries, but the sales of these books shoot up,
03:04then you will start to see that these books are being placed in airports.
03:08Then you will start to see that our books are being placed at more independent bookstores.
03:11You will see that we get shelf space at the Walmarts and at the Targets and at the big box retailers.
03:16We have to continue to fight it because our stories deserve to be out there.
03:20Our stories matter, and nobody should be able to tell us
03:22that we can't tell truthful stories about our own lived experiences.