Banned Books Week (BBW) is the last week of September and the Pierce College Library will be celebrating by having a display of banned books that will be opened Thursday Sept. 15 after 11 a.m.
“We need to fight for intellectual freedom and to read,” said librarian Paula Paggi.
The last week of Sept., along with being Banned Books Week, also celebrates the 1st Amendment.
The library has celebrated BBW every year during the fall for the past three years, and this year will be having a bigger event than in the previous ones, since not many people notice it.
Babatunde Keshinro, 29, from Nigeria said, “anything to do with slavery is banned,” so literature, movies, etc. are forbidden to the people living in his birth country.
He wants people to know what happened in the time of slavery so people can understand what his great-grand parents went through.
“Even if you don’t like a book it still should be allowed,” said Gabriela Villalobos, 20.
She doesn’t want reading to be taken away from people and she doesn’t agree with people burning books. She said that she wouldn’t want the U.S. flag burned just because someone doesn’t like the country.
Last year there were a total of 348 books challenged like the popular book “Twilight” even books that are required to be read in school.
People often don’t know that books that they read were once banned or challenged for issues regarding racism or religion.