Aight, so check it. This new report from PEN America droppin' knowledge 'bout what's goin' on in these schools. They sayin' that non-fiction book bans doubled in the last year. Doubled, fam! That ain't no accident. They tryna hide somethin'. What's the deal? They tryna keep us ignorant? Nah, we ain't havin' that. Since 2021 they done documented over 23,000 instances of these bans. Straight up censorship. PEN America been on point trackin' all this, keepin' it 100.

The report sayin' books 'bout activism and social movements gettin' hit the hardest. Why? 'Cause they don't want the youth knowin' they power. They don't want 'em learnin' 'bout the folks who stood up to the system and changed things. They wanna keep us quiet and compliant. McKenna Samson from the report talkin' 'bout how these books help kids learn they rights and see how folks fought injustice. That's what they scared of. Knowledge is power, and they know it.

They ban books like 'Challenges for LGBTQ+ Teens,' 'Aztec, Inca, and Maya,' and even 'Night' by Elie Wiesel. 'Night' is 'bout the Holocaust, for real! So what, they tryna erase history now? Kasey Meehan from PEN America callin' it anti-intellectualism, and she right. They tryna dumb us down so we can't think for ourselves. It's all a game to keep us in check. And it ain't just history books. They ban books 'bout sex education too, like 'You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender, Puberty and Other Things.' Why? They scared of young people learnin' 'bout they bodies and makin' informed choices?

The report also sayin' books with LGBTQ+ characters and black and brown folks gettin' targeted. Shocker. 39% of banned books had LGBTQ+ characters, and 44% had people of color. They don't want us seein' ourselves in these stories. They wanna keep us invisible. And books 'bout death and grief gettin' banned too? Man, they don't want us dealin' with our emotions or nothin'. They want us robots. They ban these joints, but push that garbage like 'Fahrenheit 451' by Ray Bradbury, 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee, and 'Push' by Sapphire. Somethin' not adding up.

American Library Association also dropped a report sayin' book bans at a record high, and 40% of the books they challengin' got LGBTQ+ or people of color in 'em. The numbers don't lie. They targetin' us, plain and simple. Meanwhile, the National Assessment of Educational Progress sayin' a third of 12th graders can't even read properly. They focusin' on bannin' books instead of teachin' kids how to read? That's backwards, man. They system is designed to fail us.