The first complaint was from a parent of a sixth grader at Odom Academy, in Beaumont, Texas, due to the language and racism. This caused Beaumont School District librarians to question whether or not they should carry Friday Night Lights. With this complaint from a single parent, almost two decades after the book was published, schools in the surrounding areas started to question whether or not this book should be in their library for children to read.
The complaints made are varied, in the reasoning on why young kids should not read this book, however, in all of the complaints, they all had three main points: offensive language, sexual content, and racism. Many feel as if, “Kids today often grow up too fast and are exposed to things their young minds can’t handle. It’s unfortunate, but it certainly shouldn’t happen in a public school classroom.” (Beaumont Enterprise). However some feel different. For instance, Timglase responded to the banning by saying,
“Yes, it does contain some profanity and references to sex and racism. How about that? Three things that are present in life itself. It doesn’t help to shield students from these realities. It helps to educate them so they can deal with life’s challenges. In fact, students in some classes at West Brook study this book without any apparent problems.”
These complaints caused Beaumont School District to question whether they should carry Friday Night Lights in their library. These also caused the Texas Prison to ban Friday Night Lights.
A main complaint made was the explicit language throughout the book. On the second page of the book, “[the game] was against Midland Lee – Permian’s arch rivals – the rebels, those no-good son of a bitch bastard rebels…” Then, during the first scrimmage, a player from the opposing team tells the main character, star running back Boobie Miles, “You ain’t nothin’ but a pussy, a Goddamn pussy! … Com’on, Boobie, you tough mother fucker, com’on, let’s see how tough you really are!” Parents of youth had complained about this vulgar language. All throughout the book these teenageres cuss left and right, and parents do not want their children reading this. Especially with the harsh name calling. “Fuck you… you motherfucking bitch.” (Bissinger 334).
Another reason for the banning, is constant prejudice. Prejudice is, in this case, intolerance of or dislike for people of a specific race, religion, etc. This is shown throughout the book. For instance, on page twenty-four, the football players feel as if they are superior to everyone else in the school because they play football. They also believe that football is more important than their school work. Boobie says that football is the only way he can get into college, so, “… he couldn’t be bothered with classes.” (Bissinger 1)
Racism is a huge part of this banning. All throughout the book, Caucasians felt superior to the African-American and Hispanic populations. African-Americans and Mexicans, races of a lower standard at this time, lived on the opposite side of town, referred to as “nxxxxx town”. Where all the Caucasians lived on the other, nicer, side of town. On page three, Boobie, a teenage African-American, “Felt good as he made his way out of the Southside part of town, the place where the low-income blacks and Mexicans lived, and crossed the railroad tracks as he headed for Permain over on the northeast side of town, the fancy side of town, the white side of town.” (Bissinger 3). Throughout the whole book, Caucasians were separated from African-Americans. Throughout the book, the word “nxxxxx” was used constantly in a harsh contex. Boobie was often referred to as a, “‘Big ol’ dumb nxxxxx.’” (Bssinger 67). This rural town, in southern Texas, did not acknowledge segregation until they had to. Therefore, Caucasians did not have to even associate with the other minorities for a long time.
Contant stereotype, a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing, is all throughout the book. “… before thousands of fans who had once anointed him the chosen son but now mostly thought of him as just another nxxxxx.” (Bissinger 1). The idea of one having to fit a certain standard of what they are thought of is constantly shown. The football players are stereotyped throughout the book. “He fit every stereotype of a dumb jock, all of which went to show how meaningless stereotypes should be,” (Bissinger 127). Females, the pepettes mainly, were also stereotyped in numerous occasions. Urban Ministry says, the pepettes spent as much as one hundred dollars on posters for their player; they also had to bring their player “a sweet” before every game.
The final reason for the banning is the constant sexual references. After one football practice, in the locker room, the players were comparing their pepettes sexually. Urban Ministry later tells that every pepette fully devotes themselves to their player. The football players could fully use their pepettes, along with any other girl in the school, in any way they wanted.
Friday Night Lights is only banned in two places, both happen to be in texas. “… while prisoners are not allowed to read the Texas football classic Friday Night Lights because of a single ‘nxxxxx’ reference, any one of them can request a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.” (John Bonazzo). This book is also banned in Beaumont School District due to one complaint made by a mom of a sixth grader. The complaint said, “The book is not appropriate for that age.” (Beaumont Enterprise).
Friday Night Lights, certainly has upset some feelings. The intention of the story was to tell about a high school football team in southern, rural, Texas. In reality, the book’s explicit language, mature sexual references, and constant racism overpowered the author’s desired message.
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