Renaming A Children’s Book Award Is A Big Mistake
The
American Library Association recently announced it would rename The Laura
Ingalls Wilder Award to the Children’s Literature Legacy Award. Many people may just ignore this change while
others fully embrace it. But a strong
voicing against this decision, one that seems straight out of George Orwell’s 1984, should be made.
Has
political correctness gone too far, to the point the prestigious body that
represents America’s libraries, feels compelled to scrub clean the woman who
wrote an amazing series of books that were turned into an award winning TV
series?
Keep
in mind, nothing’s changed about the author or her books, which were initially
published in the 1930s and 40s, covering the western frontier, circa 1870’s. Nothing new was unearthed, such as secret
journals of Wilder or a long lost manuscript filled with hatred. No, the only thing that’s changed is the
spine of the ALA.
Wilder,
the first winner of her award, in 1954, died 61 years ago.
Jim
Neal, ALA president, and Nina Lindsay, head of their children’s division, said
in a joint statement, “Updating the award’s name should not be construed as
censorship, as we are not demanding that anyone stop reading Wilder’s books,
talking about them, or making them available to children.”
Bullshit.
Of
all people, the ALA should be sensitive to book bans, censorship, author
boycotts and revisionist history. If
books are to reflect and preserve the times they were written in, and if an
author’s work was celebrated at the time she lived – and for generations to come – who has the right to now demonize her work, and strip her of the award-name prestige?
Let’s
be clear. Times change and some books
may eventually fall out of favor with readers, but that should be up to the
readers to determine. When the ALA demotes Wilder’s work, it’s not being subtle
or neutral. It is unendorsing her work.
Who’s
next? Shakespeare? Some researchers say that his work, The Merchant of Venice, was anti-Semitic
and expressed homophobia.
Maybe
we look at T.S. Eliot, as some critics detect anti-Semitism in some of his poems.
Roald Dahl admits to being an anti-Semite.
Dr. Seuss drew savage depictions of the Japanese.
Novelist V.S. Naipaul, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, has been an outspoken critic of Islam and argues the Muslim culture had a “calamitous effect” similar to colonialism.
Roald Dahl admits to being an anti-Semite.
Dr. Seuss drew savage depictions of the Japanese.
Novelist V.S. Naipaul, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, has been an outspoken critic of Islam and argues the Muslim culture had a “calamitous effect” similar to colonialism.
Edith
Wharton proclaimed on her deathbed that she hated the Jews because of their
role in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Ezra
Pound used to make anti-Semitic claims during World War II radio broadcasts.
Ernest
Hemingway was seen as a chauvinist.
Rudyard Kipling was viewed as a racist.
Rudyard Kipling was viewed as a racist.
It’s
gotten silly. Recently Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn fell
under scrutiny for using the N word. Folks,
it’s part of the story and reflective of the times. The South back then thought Twain’s story was
too favorable to blacks; in later years the North questioned it for being
racist.
Look,
Albert Einstein, a science genius, World War II hero, and author, was recently
accused of expressing anti-Chinese sentiment in his private journals. We need to cut people some slack.
First,
judge people on their actions. Einstein was a
civil rights supporter. Second, his
private words, which were never published, could reflect fleeting
thoughts. He’s not here to defend
himself. Honestly, even if he was a
racist in some ways, he did such great things that you have to weigh his life
in its totality, and not disproportionately. This does not mean we should accept racism, but we can't just throw out the baby with the bath water -- or the good with the bad.
And
who amongst the accusers is so pious and pure themselves? “Everyone’s a little bit racist,” says a line
in the hit Broadway play, Avenue Q. Don’t tell me you’ve never said, thought, or did something that one can
perceive as homophobic, sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, or some other ism.
Popes used to condemn the Jews. Whites
used to enslave blacks. Women used to
not vote, work, or run for office. We’ve
come a long way and the world will become a more balanced and fair place. But we can’t go back and re-write history or
condemn people now for what they said or wrote back then.
Is
Curious George, the fun-loving,
inquisitive monkey, a wonderful children’s book series – or does it depict a white man of taking a black being against his will? I chose to celebrate what the books stand for
when it comes to George’s antics, but the backstory of how he came to be is quite
disturbing. I don’t want to see some
well-intentioned PC-driven group suddenly wipe out the Curious George series. But
it could happen. It took little for the
ALA to act on Wilder.
So
why did the ALA take such extreme action against the beloved Wilder?
She
allegedly has culturally insensitive portrayals in her books. Wilder showed what life was like for the
1800s settler. Indigenous people were
not celebrated – they were hunted or to be avoided. Of course her writings will reflect the
wisdom of those days, where people would utter “the only good Indian was a dead
Indian.”
But her books reflected kindness, love, family, education, hard work, and support of community as positive values. Anything in those books could repulse someone, such as the way women were shown to be second-class citizens to their husbands. Wilder didn’t invent nor lobby for such things – her works merely reflected life back then. To criticize her is ridiculous. She’s merely the messenger – history is history.
But her books reflected kindness, love, family, education, hard work, and support of community as positive values. Anything in those books could repulse someone, such as the way women were shown to be second-class citizens to their husbands. Wilder didn’t invent nor lobby for such things – her works merely reflected life back then. To criticize her is ridiculous. She’s merely the messenger – history is history.
If
one’s to buy into the anti-Wilder movement he or she won’t stop there. They’ll look to rewrite every book, censor
every story, and condemn every writer.
Look at the Declaration of Independence. It’s a great document that declares freedom, yet, it speaks of men, not women. It only promotes the whites and it even refers to “savage Indians” several times – a term that Facebook flagged as hate speech. Should we tear up the Declaration of Independence, too?
Look at the Declaration of Independence. It’s a great document that declares freedom, yet, it speaks of men, not women. It only promotes the whites and it even refers to “savage Indians” several times – a term that Facebook flagged as hate speech. Should we tear up the Declaration of Independence, too?
With
Wilder, how can someone be deemed so great one day and then treated like
persona non grata the next?
Nothing’s
changed but the world itself, and in this case, not for the better.
Let’s
acknowledge a key fact – many books past and present will contain ideas, terms,
or values that at the time reflected those times. It’s hard to judge them a century later.
Maybe
one day we will ban books that praise revolutions, fearful terrorists will use
them to rally anti-America sentiment, even though this country was founded on a
revolution.
Maybe
books that champion equal rights will be burned, replaced by books that call
for a non-white America.
Maybe
one day robots or aliens will really take over.
Will they purge human-centric books, believing they’ve been
discriminated against?
Perhaps
books about PT Barnum should be tossed, since they depict an animal-enslaved
circus?
Books
about anything – or by anyone – will find critics, not for the quality of
content but for the values espoused in them, or privately by the authors. One day, the ALA may have to rename its
children’s award simply because views on childhood will change. Maybe the word “children” will even fall
under criticism. Or perhaps there will
be a backlash against the ALA for issuing elitist awards. Did they really read every children’s book
this year and adequately weigh its merits?
Probably not, but that won’t stop them from issuing an award.
Perhaps
a key mistake in the award-giving process is having any award named after
someone, for once you do, you now expose the award to future criticism, as
mores change or new information is uncovered about that person.
Awards should be named not after a person, but an accomplishment. Best Teacher, Best Adult Fiction Book…you get
the idea. Otherwise, any award will fall
under future scrutiny.
Society
has a history of renaming buildings, companies, streets, hospital wings,
college dorms, and many things. But
awards seem like they should be permanent, unless that award is no longer needed. One day there may not be an award like best
actress or a genre called Black Studies.
Things change all of the time.
Things change all of the time.
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