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> While Texas prisoners can read Hitler’s manifesto, the state banned pioneering Black journalist Ida B. Wells’ book “On Lynchings” because its examination of r

> While Texas prisoners can read Hitler’s manifesto, the state banned pioneering Black journalist Ida B. Wells’ book “On Lynchings” because its examination of racist vigilante mobs used “racial slurs.” Similarly, Louisiana bans texts by Black prison abolitionists, including George Jackson’s “Blood in My Eye” and Mariame Kaba’s “We Do This ‘Til We Free Us,” for being “racially inflammatory.” But it allows “Mein Kampf,” as well as every single book mentioned in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s round-up of racist literature. Certainly very bizarre

jen20 4y ago
> Certainly very bizarre Or just SOP for those familiar with Texas governance.
DangitBobby 4y ago
I wonder who recommends these bans and who carries them out. Guards? The state? Are they only banning books once someone tries to bring them in? That could explain why some of the books you'd expect to see on the list are missing.
- therealcamino 4y ago
  The article goes into the inconsistencies of the process, which vary widely from state to state.
  - DangitBobby 4y ago
    Yes, though not in enough detail to determine whether certain books have been omitted from bans because e.g. racism is not a concern or if prisoners have not tried to bring them in.
sonotathrowaway 4y ago
Only if you don’t know the history of the American legal system - e.g., created to capture runaway slaves, then to provide a legal system to protect slavery. Allowing convicts to understand the history of the practice would be anathema to its goals.
philippejara 4y ago
I don't think it's that bizarre when you think about it, shallow and silly reasoning for sure but it's not that weird nor does it seem to be some racist conspiracy or whatever. Talking about texas Is it really surprising US prisons are going to ban books written by prison abolitionists? Not sure i'd even chalk it up to that to be honest. Unless we know how books are added to the banned list not sure there's much to discuss, for example you'd think the malcolm X books would be banned, but they aren't(although there is one nation of islam book banned). If you need to bring the book in it wouldn't be very surprising to me that maybe nobody donated a mein kampf to the prison. From a quick look[0] it seems like there are 38 books banned for racial things in Texas, and those are the titles: BEST OF JOE R. LANSDALE, THE BLACK KLANSMAN (BLACKKKLASMAN) BLACK MANS BIBLE BLACK MESSIAH MURDERS, THE BLACK SUN BRING THE WAR HOME EVERYTHING YOU LOVE WILL BURN FROM NIGGAS TO GODS PART ONE FROM NIGGAS TO GODS V2 ESCAPING NIGGATIVITY & GREEN RIVER RISING HEBREWS TO NEGROES 2 V1 WAKE UP BLACK AMERICA HUNTER I HAD A HAMMER INTO THEIR OWN HANDS JEWS SELLLING BLACKS KU KLUX TERROR LEGACY OF VIOLENCE LYNCH MOB AND EXECUTIONS IN MAKING OF A SLAVE, THE MURDER IN PLAIN ENGLISH MY MOTHER THE CHEERLEADER NATURE'S ETERNAL RELIGION ON LYNCHINGS OUTDATED ADVERTISING PRISON GUARD'S DAUGHTER, THE REGGIN: AMERICA IN A MIRROR ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY SAPPHIRA AND THE SLAVE GIRL SON OF MR. SULEMAN, THE TAKE ME TO THE BRIDGE UN-CIVIL WAR BLACKS VS NIGGAS WATERMELONS, NOOSES & STRAIGHT RAZORS WERENIGRO, THE WHITE HOODS: CANADA'S KU KLUX KLAN WHITE MAN'S BIBLE, THE WHITER RACISM WILLIE LYNCH LETTER & THE MAKING OF A SLAVE WILLIE LYNCH LETTER AND THE MAKING OF A SLAVE WOLF WHISTLE What does become apparent is that most of these that are deemed racial deal with black people as protagonists, and while that is a problem knowing the process how they came to be there is pretty important to if anything be able to fix it. If you're gonna ban for this kind of content all should be banned equally, black sun seems to be a neo-nazi book of some sort so at least there's that. [0]:https://observablehq.com/@themarshallproject/prison-banned-books https://observablehq.com/@themarshallproject/prison-banned-b...
- philippejara 4y ago
  Somehow I missed a paragraph from the article and yeah, the books seem to be mostly evaluated as they come into the jail.
- 4y ago

jen20 4y ago

> Certainly very bizarre Or just SOP for those familiar with Texas governance.

DangitBobby 4y ago

I wonder who recommends these bans and who carries them out. Guards? The state? Are they only banning books once someone tries to bring them in? That could explain why some of the books you'd expect to see on the list are missing.

therealcamino 4y ago
The article goes into the inconsistencies of the process, which vary widely from state to state.
- DangitBobby 4y ago
  Yes, though not in enough detail to determine whether certain books have been omitted from bans because e.g. racism is not a concern or if prisoners have not tried to bring them in.

sonotathrowaway 4y ago

Only if you don’t know the history of the American legal system - e.g., created to capture runaway slaves, then to provide a legal system to protect slavery. Allowing convicts to understand the history of the practice would be anathema to its goals.

philippejara 4y ago

I don't think it's that bizarre when you think about it, shallow and silly reasoning for sure but it's not that weird nor does it seem to be some racist conspiracy or whatever. Talking about texas Is it really surprising US prisons are going to ban books written by prison abolitionists? Not sure i'd even chalk it up to that to be honest. Unless we know how books are added to the banned list not sure there's much to discuss, for example you'd think the malcolm X books would be banned, but they aren't(although there is one nation of islam book banned). If you need to bring the book in it wouldn't be very surprising to me that maybe nobody donated a mein kampf to the prison. From a quick look[0] it seems like there are 38 books banned for racial things in Texas, and those are the titles: BEST OF JOE R. LANSDALE, THE BLACK KLANSMAN (BLACKKKLASMAN) BLACK MANS BIBLE BLACK MESSIAH MURDERS, THE BLACK SUN BRING THE WAR HOME EVERYTHING YOU LOVE WILL BURN FROM NIGGAS TO GODS PART ONE FROM NIGGAS TO GODS V2 ESCAPING NIGGATIVITY & GREEN RIVER RISING HEBREWS TO NEGROES 2 V1 WAKE UP BLACK AMERICA HUNTER I HAD A HAMMER INTO THEIR OWN HANDS JEWS SELLLING BLACKS KU KLUX TERROR LEGACY OF VIOLENCE LYNCH MOB AND EXECUTIONS IN MAKING OF A SLAVE, THE MURDER IN PLAIN ENGLISH MY MOTHER THE CHEERLEADER NATURE'S ETERNAL RELIGION ON LYNCHINGS OUTDATED ADVERTISING PRISON GUARD'S DAUGHTER, THE REGGIN: AMERICA IN A MIRROR ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY SAPPHIRA AND THE SLAVE GIRL SON OF MR. SULEMAN, THE TAKE ME TO THE BRIDGE UN-CIVIL WAR BLACKS VS NIGGAS WATERMELONS, NOOSES & STRAIGHT RAZORS WERENIGRO, THE WHITE HOODS: CANADA'S KU KLUX KLAN WHITE MAN'S BIBLE, THE WHITER RACISM WILLIE LYNCH LETTER & THE MAKING OF A SLAVE WILLIE LYNCH LETTER AND THE MAKING OF A SLAVE WOLF WHISTLE What does become apparent is that most of these that are deemed racial deal with black people as protagonists, and while that is a problem knowing the process how they came to be there is pretty important to if anything be able to fix it. If you're gonna ban for this kind of content all should be banned equally, black sun seems to be a neo-nazi book of some sort so at least there's that. [0]:https://observablehq.com/@themarshallproject/prison-banned-books https://observablehq.com/@themarshallproject/prison-banned-b...

philippejara 4y ago
Somehow I missed a paragraph from the article and yeah, the books seem to be mostly evaluated as they come into the jail.
4y ago