Another Banned Book: Alex Haley’s Roots
I was going into 9th grade when the television version of Roots premiered. The novel was published a year earlier and hit the world by storm. In elementary school and middle school, slavery was taught, but upon reflection, it was often sanitized for our protection (Sorry for toilet sarcasm). Alex Haley’s book and mini-series took history and personalized the story of Kunta Kinte and his descendants. The brutality and injustice came into sharp focus as we empathized with, bonded with, and cried out alongside Haley’s characters. Across the country, individuals, schools, and other organizations could no longer ignore, deny, or sanitize the horrors of slavery.
Banning books is deplorable, but it hit yet another low when The Guardian’s Lucy Campbell, on May 15, 2026, announced in the article, “Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law,” adding it to the banned list. Tennessee passed a law that opened the door to banning books like Roots. Campbell shares that “The law also broadly prohibited titles if they were found to contain nudity, sexual abuse, sexual content or ‘excessive violence.’” In response, Campbell quotes “Tasslyn Magnusson, a senior advisor at PEN America, the free expression non-profit, said banning books such as Roots ‘robs students of a critical connection point as they learn about the world and America’s past.”
Alex Haley’s book expresses truth through story. Just because you do not like the story or want to sweep the uncomfortable truth under the societal rug. At present, we have political figures trying to manipulate American history by glamorizing it by reducing or erasing uncomfortable truths. Ignoring history is not patriotic. Instead, ignoring our imperfect history is destructive because without historical truth, we will not learn from the mistakes of the past and will repeat them.
What really gets me angry is the way groups who champion rewriting history wrap their falsehoods in the American flag and the Christian Bible. If erasing history were not so destructive, I would laugh at the irony of using the Bible to claim that banned books are too sexual, violent, or prejudicial. These historical manufacturers must never have read the
Bible! The Bible talks about prostitutes; King David had sex with another man’s wife and then had the man murdered. These and many other stories were shared not primarily to shock, but to instruct others by learning from others' mistakes.
So too, should we learn from the mistakes of others by looking at the sin of American slavery, the brutal mistreatment of America’s Indigenous people, and the prejudice of recent immigrants throughout our nation’s history, up to the present. Banning books is less about keeping children and youth from being influenced by immoral stories and more about teaching young people that America is above every other nation. There is danger in nurturing a belief that Americans are better than all other nations. White Supremacy, prejudice, and other forms of inequality stem from the narcissistic belief that one group or nation is fundamentally better than another. Banning books and other anti-intellectual responses that manipulate the young must be addressed so that truth might reign. When lying in the name of the Bible is acceptable, God is diminished, and Christianity is replaced by idolatrous Christian Nationalism, which is not Christian at all.
As intelligent Christians, God calls us to proclaim the truth. Open your hearts in prayer, your mouths in speaking truth to power, and your faith in affirming and proclaiming all truth. Write your local politicians. Speak out to family and friends. Write out your beliefs on these issues, so you can articulate your truth when the situation arises. Be bold, and do not remain silent. If your thoughts, beliefs, and values are banned, at what point are you banned?!