I’m taking another stab at this, as I had the misfortune to post a diary last week that immediately got buried by other new postings and so didn’t get much notice (at least, I don’t think my writing is THAT bad...).
Anyway, rest assured this is not simply a repost of that diary.
But, as with my previous diary, this one has to do with censorship. Specifically, nationwide attempts to censor books on school library shelves. Many of them feature LBGTQ+ or racial issues, or are written by LBGTQ+ or BIPOC authors.
Let’s take a look at a book challenge that took place at the beginning of October in Texas:
How did 400 Katy ISD parents get a book removed? Accusations of Marxism and 'critical race theory.'
New Kid is a graphic novel whose main target audience is at the middle grade level (upper elementary/middle school), is about a 7th grade boy whose parents are sending him to a new school — a prestigious private school where he is one of the few people of color. The book has received a Newbery Award, a Coretta Scott King Award, and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers Literature. It’s also received starred reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly. Meanwhile, here’s what the complainant (who also got a scheduled personal visit by the author cancelled) had to say about it…
The woman who launched a successful petition to cancel a speaking event with an acclaimed Black author this week in Katy ISD, says she did it because she believes his work promotes “critical race theory and Marxism.”
“It’s not that I don’t like the books,” Bonnie Anderson said Tuesday. “I checked all the books out and watched all of (author Jerry Craft’s) interviews and he discusses microaggressions, which is a racial term coined by the conceptual founders of critical race theory. That let me know the ideology of these books.”
I guess maybe right here is a good spot to quote a couple of points from the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights:
I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
And of course, if you go to Amazon and look at the reviews, some of the one star reviews compain about “indoctrination” or that the book is “racist” or something something CRT blah blah...
The happy ending here is that New Kid was only temporarily removed during the review process (not something the ALA endorses, btw, their position is that a challenged book should remain on the shelves during the review process — this is, I believe, to prevent people from de facto censoring a book, at least temporarily, by getting it off the shelves for a month or two), as of late October, was back on the school library shelves.
I follow several school librarian and library groups on social media, and what I’m seeing is more than a little startling and disturbing. Every few days it seems like someone is posting that they are facing book challenges. One example I saw just yesterday was by a librarian who was facing demands for her dismissal by the local homeschool group. That’s right, demanding she be fired for...well, for doing her job. Meanwhile, the ALA has noted that in September 2021 there was a 60% increase in the number of book challenges compared to September 2020.
Why am I so concerned about this that I’m writing a second diary to call attention to the issue? Because this is not a fluke. This is a concerted effort by the right to start stifling points of view they don’t like — and I’m also convinced that its’ no coincidence many of these challenges arose during the campaigning for school board elections. I think this was a test run, to see how the issue might play as a hot button issue for 2022. This idea is strengthened by the fact that Texas state legislator Matt Krause, who has aspirations for the state Attorney General’s seat, has released a list of 850 books he wants pulled from school library shelves. And Gov. Abbot, a high profile GOP state governor, has joined the chorus.
Here is more information on Rep. Krause’s book list (worth a look, even if you just look at the pie charts):
All 850 Books Texas Lawmaker Matt Krause Wants to Ban: An Analysis
As the article notes, basically it’s a laundry list of books on human rights, sex education, race, and most especially just about anything that mentions LBGTQ+ books — Krause would just like to erase them from literature and pretend they don’t exist anymore.
I rather like this quote from the conclusion of the article I’ve linked just above:
With all of this being said, clearly I have spent more time on this list than Krause (or, let’s be honest, an assistant) did. I’m disgusted that Krause expects every school district to spend time investigating whether they have any of the books on this list when it was put together so thoughtlessly. The mistakes and strange choices on this document show how little care was put into it, and how little Krause must think of school officials, that they should comb their collections according to this hastily slapped together list.
Anyway, folks, I’ve got places to be so I will end this here. I hope that Kossacks will take genuine note of this issue, because it’s literally a fight for the ideas that our children have access to.
I’ll end with a clip from the Twilight Zone episode, “The Obsolete Man.” Burgess Meredith portrays Romney Wordsworth, a librarian in a future totalitarian state, and who has been determined to be “obsolete.” Considered by many to be one of the best TZ episodes.