John Green's heroic fight vs. Hamilton East Public Library's oppressive thought control

Common decency is more than just civility. It includes compassionate activity rather than passivity. Author Kurt Vonnegut knew something about that.

After graduating high school and attending college, he enlisted in the Army during World War II to help bring an end to the killing of innocent souls and restore individual human freedoms. He was captured by the Nazis, held as a prisoner of war, tortured, and eventually released. His internationally acclaimed novel "Slaughterhouse-Five," detailing his war experience, is often banned because of its use of soldier’s language, a scene with aliens watching a loving couple mating in captivity, and a passage in which he humorously writes from the perspective of “the voice of God.”

Vonnegut stood up for banned and challenged author, Salman Rushdie, who came to Indianapolis to help us raise the funds to buy the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library building at 543 Indiana Ave. The museum, which champions free expression, has a history of supporting banned and challenged authors.

The latest: Library staff have been reviewing and reshelving books for months. Now the policy is suspended.

The staff and board of the Vonnegut Library condemns attempts to challenge and ban books. We work with free expression organizations around the country to stop censorship. Earlier this year, we engaged with Indiana legislators who confirmed they understood there were already mechanisms in place to prevent the young from being exposed to pornography and themes not appropriate for certain age groups. The outcome of our state’s law, HB 1447, “the book banning bill,” produced the result we see now — unprecedented money and time spent in reviewing hundreds of books challenged in libraries. What a waste.

Earlier this month, our friend John Green made national headlines when he referred to Hamilton East Public Library as an “embarrassment” when the board challenged one of Green’s many bestselling titles and dozens of authors who have written for young adults. Green’s efforts and public ridicule influenced the library to reverse its decision — on his book — and pause the process. The upstanding Green did not stop the pressure on the library board to reinstate other titles to their appropriate sections. The library board is now the subject of inquiry because of a meeting of certain board members at a coffee shop, bureaucratic absurdity that’s Vonnegutesque.

The Vonnegut Library continues to build our Banned Books Library to make these challenged titles available for students either by library loan or outright gifting the books and creating dialogue to better understand them.

Sponsors make it possible for us to provide free family memberships to Indianapolis Public School students and other schools but more support is needed. Join us during Banned Books Week October 1-7 for free speech hoopla and meaningful dialogue. We are delighted to be chosen for a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read Grant for 2024, when our city will host a discussion of author Jess Walter’s book "The Cold Millions."

See the replay: HEPL board suspends book review process

Vonnegut understood that banning books is a form of tyranny and has no place in a free society. He wrote about authoritarian thought control that challenged our natural instincts to explore, create, and question, the very things that make Hoosier businesses, universities, scientific research and development facilities and other organizations thrive.

Reading is not radical. Exposure to the human condition is not radical. Vonnegut said, “If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.”

Comedian Lewis Black is the board chair of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, and Julia Whitehead is the organization's founder and CEO.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What a waste: Hamilton East Public Library's book review is oppressive