All It Takes Is One

With all these book banning I wounder when the people who are objecting to books that they are speaking for the community to ban the books if they had a referendum of the community? I doubt it very much. Did they conduct a poll? No. but that doesn’t matter to them because they believe the junk they say.

How a national book-banning trend erupted at the Lincolnwood library, with pushback aimed at LGBTQ materials
Chicago Tribune
By Caroline Kubzansky and Adriana Pérez
November 1, 2022


It all started with one parent’s complaint about a book in the children’s section of the Lincolnwood library this summer.

The mother, there with her twins, objected to the shelf display of “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” a colorful 40-page children’s book that had been featured at the library’s story time in June, and confronted a staff member about whether the book was appropriate for children. She filed a formal challenge to the book Sept. 2, records show.

Did you get that? “One parent’s complaint” not hundreds, not fifty, not ten but one. One single parent.

What happened next is a scene being played out at board meetings in schools and libraries across the country as parents, activists, politicians and educators argue over programming and materials dealing with gender and sexuality at public institutions in an escalating battle about who has the right to make the call. Last week, that debate took an explosive turn at the Lincolnwood Public Library Board meeting when police were called, the meeting was cut short and staff were left thinking about their safety at work.

Now get this…

In interviews and in emails obtained through a public records request, the Tribune learned the fiery meeting was weeks in the making. Preparations included a petition from residents opposed to the books bearing more than 100 signatures, residents on both sides of the issue peppering the library with comments and, about a week before the Oct. 24 meeting, parents dubious about the books meeting with conservative activist organization Heritage Action for America, based in Washington, D.C., for tips on getting out their message.

Wow! A hundred people dictating their will on thousands of students!

Robinson said parents have a right to not read books to their children that they disagree with. “But you don’t get to make decisions for other people and other people’s children,” she added.

“Libraries are doing what they’ve always done,” Robinson said, “which is to serve the community and to provide materials for people in the community.”

In another Chicago Tribune article they write,

In November angry citizens accused Downers Grove school officials of allowing pornography on library shelves.

Members of the far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys descended on the normally sleepy suburb for a school board meeting.

And the other side fired back, lobbing accusations of homophobia and hypocrisy.

But after all the voices were heard, “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” a critically acclaimed graphic novel about a nonbinary person’s rocky journey through adolescence, remained on Downers Grove high school library shelves.

Of the books that were fully or partially banned in the report by PEN, a nonprofit that advocates for free expression, 467 (41%) include protagonists or prominent secondary characters who were people of color; 247 (22%) directly address issues of race and racism; and 379 (33%) explicitly address LGBTQ themes, or had protagonists or prominent secondary characters who were LGBTQ.

It is happening here in Connecticut but so far the libraries and school boards have resisted the pressure, The Hour reported,

Requests from Connecticut residents to remove books from their public libraries are low, but on the rise, according to library officials.

With Norwalk Public Library recently considering a request from a resident to remove a book depicting one of the Sikh religion’s leaders in illustration, the case is an outlier, Connecticut Library Consortium Executive Director Jennifer Keohane said.

You can stop this by voting Blue! Vote Democratic!

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In two days the anniversary of Kristallnacht that began a pogrom against Jews, LGBTQ+ people, Roma, and the mentally disabled.