The first time I saw a book banned, I was still learning how power works. When I was a student in the Katy school district, I attended a November 2021school board meeting in which a few parents and community members were pushing for a district-wide book ban. The book in question was Jerry Craft’s “New Kid,” a comic book about a Black teenager navigating culture shock at a private school. It told real, sometimes uncomfortable truths about growing up. That’s exactly why some parents wanted it gone.
If a handful of parents could decide for everyone that this book doesn’t belong in my school, I worried what else they might take away.
As the only student in the room that night, I watched as the board applauded the parents, but sat silent when I spoke for our freedom to learn. That silence said everything: If students don’t speak up, decisions about our education will be made without us. After that meeting, more books were pulled from our shelves, but as students, we fought to defend them and managed to get a few important titles returned to our libraries…