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Harry Potter won’t be removed in Georgia Schools

by David

A victory for Harry Potter today…J.K. Rowling’s books will be allowed to stay on school shelves in Gwinnett, Georgia:

“State Board of Education members Thursday morning backed the Gwinnett County Board of Education’s decision to keep the popular, but oft-maligned Potter books on school library shelves.”

The reason these books were in danger of being “banned” in Gwinnett:

“Laura Mallory, a Loganville mother, first complained to her child’s school last year that Potter was violent and promoted witchcraft and the Wicca religion.”

A few thoughts on this:

1. Harry Potter books have their dark and sometimes violent moments, but the violence is hardly gratuitus…and it’s never overly graphic. The violence in Harry Potter a valid concern, though, and if a school determined they wouldn’t keep the books on their shelves for this reason, and this reason only, I certainly couldn’t fault them. Or if they to limit access to children of a certain age, there’s no fault in that. Which takes us to…

2. Harry Potter doesn’t promote witchcraft any more than Charlotte’s Web promotes talking spiders or The Stinky Cheese Man promotes stinky cheese.

3. I don’t claim to be an expert on the Wiccan religion, but I do know that, in the words of Wikipedia, “Wicca and witchcraft are not necessarily the same thing.” As far as I’m aware, I’ve never come across any direct references to Wicca or any other religion in any of the Harry Potter books.

4. I think they may have spelled Laura Mallory’s surname incorrectly. I believe it’s spelled M-a-l-f-o-y. Ah, just a little humor to lighten the tone up a bit.

Lastly, Laura Mallory leaves us with a fine quote about the Potter books:

“… But these books are the most controversial, highly challenged books of the century. There’s a reason for that.”

The “reason for that” is power, control and fear (and much, much more). The Harry Potter books don’t teach children to become Satanic Witches casting evil spells on everyone who crosses them—they teach children about righteousness, valor, friendship, compassion and love. They teach children that within each and every one of them lies the ability to be brave in the face of danger and uncertainty. And they teach children the beauty of reading.

These values need to be embraced, not squashed.

…

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Posted in Banning Books, General, JK Rowling on December 14th, 2006

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One Response to “Harry Potter won’t be removed in Georgia Schools”

  1. BillcoInTroubleAgain Says:
    January 19th, 2007 at 2:56 pm

    The Washington Post says she may win back-to-back IDIOT OF THE YEAR AWARDS Harry Potter Vs. Laura Mallory Part 2

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