Censorship in the backyard

The N&O reports on a local Christian activist group trying to ban books from Wake County's public schools.

I know I should just give up and deal with the fact that there are a lot of ignorant people in this world who believe that removing books from kids will somehow protect them from insidious ideas, but it still pains me everytime I encounter it, particularly when it's happening in my own neighborhood. The idea that kids reading books could be a bad thing just horrifies me. And gee, censorship worked so well when Hitler and Stalin tried it.

The books they're trying to ban, by the way, are Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. The parents are objecting to "vulgar and sexually explicit language" that I guarantee is less offensive than what most high school kids hear on the bus to and from school. Isn't it better that kids encounter such language in books where the full power of such words can be absorbed and themes like racism and sexuality can be properly digested?

I've just never seen or heard of a case of censorship that has prevented.... whatever people like these parents and Stalin and Hitler hope or hoped to stop with these acts. Prevention of bad thought? Prevention of knowledge? Scary stuff, that.