TOWAMENCIN- The Amnesty and Rainbow Alliance clubs platformed a joint meeting in honor of Banned Books Week in North Penn High School’s library on Oct. 10. Members of both clubs came together in solidarity with this pressing issue. 

In a community as progressive as it is today, most don’t think to consider how easily representation can be stripped away. Book bans nationwide are on the rise, and clubs like Amnesty and Rainbow Alliance are its last defense. 

“If we don’t talk about acceptance in school, people aren’t going to learn about it anywhere else,” Cece Ahart, President of North Penn’s Rainbow Alliance Club, said. 

In 1982, Banned Books Week launched in response to a surge of book challenges from libraries and schools. Though there’s more resistance to censorship in the current day, it’s still a worldwide issue rampant among books concerning ideas of race and LGBTQ+ representation. Data from PEN America Index of School Book Bans claims that 41 percent of banned books concern LGBTQ+ themes and 21 percent concern issues of race and racism. Diversity, a value that is often undermined, is more important than it may seem. 

“It all stands for something and diversity between like race, gender, and like just culture it’s just so important that all those different people are represented so they know that they are not alone,” Ahart said.

For many of North Penn’s diverse youth, literature has the potential to provide visibility to their lived experiences. Ranging representation for a vast student body is a privilege that not all school districts have, yet for communities as large as North Penn it is important to make sure all students can see themselves in what they have access to read. Though the benefits of diverse literature don’t only extend to the groups represented, it can also give others the opportunity to gain a better understanding of those different from themselves. 

“See how other people view the world, and other people’s experiences,” Derek Schneider, President of North Penn’s Amnesty Club, said. “Once you can understand other people then you can treat them better and form better relationships and then treat people equally, which I feel like is the end goal.” 

Opponents of book bans argue that exposure to diverse perspectives is key to an understanding community and an understanding community is key to a healthy society. It all goes down to education, allowing youth to explore appropriate knowledge freely. It is a privilege to have clubs like Amnesty and Rainbow Alliance standing to educate and spread awareness on such pressing issues in the modern world. 

 “Education is where it starts,” Schneider said.