LeVar Burton Slams ‘Embarrassing’ Banning of Books On Race, Sexuality, and U.S. History: ‘Read the Books They’re Banning!’

Former Reading Rainbow and Star Trek actor LeVar Burton slammed books on sexuality, race and U.S. history being banned in schools nationwide as “embarrassing.”

“Over the last few years, there has been an ongoing push to ban important children’s books, especially about race, sexuality, and basically American history,” said The View co-host Joy Behar on Thursday.

“Give us your reaction to that?” Behar asked.

The audience applauded the question.

Burton gave what he called an “absolutely candid” answer.

“It’s embarrassing that we are banning books in this country and this culture in this day and age,” he said. “We have this aversion in this country to knowing about our past, and anything that is unpleasant, we don’t want to deal with. This is not going away.”

The audience applauded again.

“Nothing goes away, especially if you ignore it,” he said. “Read the books they’re banning. That’s where the good stuff is.”

Books on identity and sexuality have come under fire for being in school libraries nationwide for alleged sexually explicit content. Some school libraries have banned such books. Books on history and race that have come under fire are ones that critics claim promote critical race theory or its tenants, which preach that racism is institutional as opposed to ideological.

Watch above, via ABC.