In an interview with the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom, Kendi acknowledges that his books' critical view of America has invited an onslaught of challenges and bans: “We can only think of America as this place of continuous and beautiful racial progress, and so we have to censure any ideas that suggest there are other ideas, or come face to face with the racist ideas behind, and hidden, of so much of what we think of ourselves.” In short, those who do not agree with -- or do not wish to confront -- a more complicated history of our country, will fight to silence it.  

 

Librarians have made their stance on censorship of controversial ideas clear in ALA's Freedom to Read Statement​: "The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack...We, as individuals devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read." Libraries have a duty to preserve access to ideas, especially ones deemed "dangerous" to those who wish to preserve racist and inequitable ideologies. Ibram X. Kendi's works represent a shift in thinking about race, racism, and social justice. His books invite readers to be critical of themselves, of others, and of institutions. They introduce new ideas that challenge the legends and heroism of American history. And these new ideas deserve to remain on the shelf in school and public libraries, 

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