Censorship in my Eyes

This course has brought a few issues to my mind that I had not considered before. Although I had always known that censorship and book burning and other similar activities existed, I had never contemplated why. Because I grew up in the liberal, extreme-left San Francisco Bay Area, I have always thought that censorship was wrong and that the people who enforced it were narrow minded and had no business deciding what America’s youth were exposed to. After taking this course however, I can understand why some of the texts we read over the semester have been censored and why certain individuals and establishments have focused their energy on stopping youth from being exposed to certain texts.

I especially see this with “To Kill A Mockingbird.” When I read this book in high school, I felt extremely uncomfortable because I was the only black person in the class and every time one of my white counterparts used the word ‘nigger,’ I felt my spine cringe. It wasn’t because I hadn’t heard the word before; I’d even used it before. It was because I felt that myself and my feelings were not being respected in the classroom. I felt that my teacher and classmates were being inconsiderate by not asking me if I was comfortable with them using the word. Originally, I thought that if my professor had asked me if I was comfortable, I would have said no, the word wouldn’t have been used and I would have been okay with the book being taught in my classroom. After taking this course, I realize that isn’t true.

Even at 21, in a class full of my peers, I wasn’t comfortable communicating all of my emotions. This made me realize that there is no way that I would have had that comfort in high school. I’m sure that I would have told my teacher that I was okay with the use of the word in the classroom because I wouldn’t have wanted to hinder his teaching, but I also know that I would have felt extremely unhappy while reading the book.

Maybe the youth need someone to speak up for them. Even though the majority of my class may have been okay with “To Kill A Mockingbird” being on the curriculum, I wasn’t and I was the intimidated minority who wasn’t able to speak for myself. It would have been nice if someone had challenged the book for me since I did not feel I had the power to do so myself at such a young age. This causes me to believe that maybe censorship does have a place in this society. When censorship is used to protect a child’s comfort in the classroom, I think it should be exercised.