Alright, listen up, ’cause I’ve got some thoughts and they ain’t polished, but they’re real. So, this dude, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, just decided to yank a bunch of books off the shelves at the U.S. Naval Academy. Why, you ask? ‘Cause they dipped their toes in the pool of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Sounds crazy, right? Well, buckle up ’cause it’s about to get weirder.
Imagine tossing out books ’cause a word in the title makes you itchy. That’s basically what’s happening. It’s like hunting history with a magnifying glass and freaking out at the first sign of “forbidden” words. And don’t even get me started on that whole skin-crawling B-29 thing at the Pentagon. They removed images of the Enola Gay just ’cause of the word “gay”? Come on, folks. It’s madness wrapped in absurdity tied with a bow of ignorance.
Here’s the rub: they act like using a word means everyone’s singing the same tune about race, gender, and all that jazz. But throw a bunch of writers in a room and you’ll get arguments over lunch, much less big ideas. These books? They aren’t preaching to a choir; they’re stirring the pot, questioning the status quo, poking holes in neat little boxes of thought.
Take Ibram X. Kendi’s “How to Be an Antiracist.” It’s not some one-sided sermon. It’s shaking up concepts of racism. Old-school thinkers say it’s all about power, but Kendi’s like, “Nope. Racism doesn’t care about your skin color or credentials—you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.” And wouldn’t you know it, even folks from opposite ends of the political spectrum end up nodding at the same conclusion.
And hey, two of my books got the boot, too. They ain’t kowtowing to any agenda. I’m knocking white guilt off its pedestal in “Tears We Cannot Stop” and taking a swing at cancel culture in “Long Time Coming.” But Hegseth and pals? They’re oblivious or just don’t care. They’re missing out on some rich, messy dialogue.
Books aren’t dogma. They’re provocateurs, inviting us to poke at our own beliefs. The cure for ignorance isn’t censorship; it’s curiosity. Dive into different perspectives, clash with ideas, expand your mind. That’s the ticket to keeping democracy alive and kicking.
But get this, the same folks railing against ideological constraints are the ones with the pitchforks and torches. The “woke” witch hunt is just a front for narrow-mindedness. They’re freaked out by science, allergic to new thoughts, and opt for the bliss of ignorance.
So here we are with a little glimpse into the mind of a wannabe dictator. It’s ugly, folks. It’s got that whiff of dissent as treason, populations painted as slackers and fakes. Demons hatching from shadows to keep us in line with paranoia and fear.
Yet there’s a silver lining here. It ain’t full-blown authoritarianism land yet. We can still flip the script with a more open and liberated worldview. There’s a world of literature—beyond those 381 banned books—that sneaks those ideas back into the spotlight.
Think those greats like James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, W.E.B. Du Bois or Toni Morrison are shut out? Nah. There’s a whole literary army ready to take up the torch. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Montaigne, Locke—they got plenty to say on human complexity.
Republican drama ain’t gonna whitewash our schools without a fight. We can keep teaching—not just in stuffy classrooms but in creative spaces—what they try to erase. And museums? Yeah, those too. They’re vaults for preserving truths they’d rather bury.
Remember, when fascism sneaks in, it’s walked the path racism paved. It’s tested on Black life and unleashed on everyone else. It’s critical we all stand together, safeguarding Black liberty as American liberty, defending our democracy from this tyranny.
You might think Hegseth’s just swatting at “wokeness,” but he’s really swinging at the heart of freedom. Today it’s those books; tomorrow it might be our very right to dissent.
Let’s keep our democracy an open book, for everyone to read, critique, and cherish. That’s where real freedom flourishes.
