Something I know I've touched on in a previous post but never really expanded on was the fact that prominent black female writers are often banned from local libraries or school libraries. There are a number of reasons that this could be the case. One might say that this is because these women are more willing to deal with issues that are considered "taboo" in our society. But I think that you can't really say that without delving into why these issues are taboo in the first place. And the answer is that the people with "better guns" have taken over the media and the stories that get told.
I'm lucky enough to go to a school that does value the stories of marginalized people. Most of my friends at other schools aren't going to read The House on Mango Street or Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Still, even here, we read at least one Shakespeare play every year, because that's what you do in high school English. You read Shakespeare. And while Shakespeare definitely deserves his place as a great playwright, he also represents the kinds of people who get their stories told without censorship in America: white males.
Historically, white males have had the power. And having that kind of power means that they get their stories told often and well, to the point where it controls what we deem "controversial" and what we think of as normal. Shakespeare's tale of two kids committing suicide out of "love" is considered less problematic than works written by women of color that deal with sexist and racist issues in our country. We're more comfortable with stories about white men because those are the people who got to tell stories for years and years. We're used to it. And we get uncomfortable when other kinds of writers write about their experiences, when they write about the issues that need to get talked about.
We know Shakespeare. Shakespeare's been the standard for hundreds of years. But power doesn't control the kinds of issues that need to get talked about. It shouldn't control who gets to talk.
