This is the story of what happened when parents in one town in New Jersey tried to remove a handful of books that they said were explicit and sexually inappropriate — and the battle that ensued.
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Michael BarbaroSo these forces of parental rights and proposed book bans, they’re clearly ascendant. They’re on the march. They won school board races across the country and are feeling, it seems, pretty emboldened.And Alexandra, that makes me wonder about the strategy of those like Martha who fought so hard to defend these books in a place like Annandale.I mean, Martha, in the end, had a total victory in her battle to keep those five books on the shelf. But in retrospect, it looks like in the process, she may have, in a sense, lost the bigger war because that victory helped fuel the successful candidacy of someone like Caroline, which will give Caroline pretty big and lasting power over which books are on the shelf.I mean, just to simplify this question — did winning some of these book ban battles end up costing people like Martha the bigger war over control of school boards?Alexandra AlterI mean, that’s a really interesting question that I think a lot of people are asking right now. If the school board had voted differently and they had removed a couple of those books, would it have taken some of the fuel out of the fire? And maybe people wouldn’t have been as motivated to run for school board seats themselves?That’s entirely possible. It seems like in a lot of districts where members of the Parental Rights Movement are running for school board and winning, it’s because, precisely like you said, they feel like they’ve been ignored and unheard.Michael BarbaroMm-hmm.Alexandra AlterAnd they’ve lost some of these battles over individual books. And now what they’re trying to do is change the entire policy, not just get a few titles off the shelves —Michael BarbaroRight.Alexandra Alter— but pass new rules about how you can decide what goes in the library in the first place, and taking, you know, a professional librarian like Martha kind out of the equation, or taking some of the control back from the professional educators and librarians, and putting it in the hands of the school board or sometimes the community.
Notice also American Library Association policy adherence makes librarians feel terrible about their jobs:
Alexandra AlterAnd in the course of our reporting, we’ve talked to librarians all over the country. And a lot of them say the same thing, that librarians are really exhausted, and scared, and tired. And they don’t feel like this was what they signed up to do.They’re finding themselves at the center of these ideological battles. And when people used to just complain about books and try to get books removed, now they’re complaining about the librarian and trying to get the librarian fired, or in some cases jailed because they’ve provided those books to children.So it’s just become a really scary time for a lot of librarians. And Martha, like many other librarians, is pretty fed up with that.
As the school librarian Martha Hickson put it:
Martha HicksonI turn 63 in two weeks, and retirement is within my grasp. And I’m just trying to crawl my way to that finish line. It’s not the way I want to be and it’s not where I want to be in my career.I, up until a year ago, really, really loved my work. And it’s harder to love it now.
She's trying to "crawl her way to that finish line." It's awful what librarians endure to enforce American Library Association policy.
The parent involved made clear exactly what American Library Association policy promotes, namely grooming; school librarians are beginning to tire of defending this sexualization of children by some organization from Chicago, Illinois:
Caroline LicwinkoBy providing material that is inappropriate to a minor and breaking down the natural walls that children are supposed to have to keep them safe, that is grooming.When there’s a library book that is talking about, hopefully, adults at sex parties, or setting up Grindr accounts to meet someone just for sexual reasons, that’s only, that’s not natural. That’s not natural for a 14-year-old to be looking at in school.And providing this type of information, that is absolutely one of the top ways that people who abuse, sexually abuse, children, that is how they break into a child’s naturally protective sphere.
Here is my published response to that story:
Dan Kleinman
Such books may be removed from the school immediately per US Supreme Court. There's no need for a review committee that's just an American Library Association tool to drag out book removal or make it impossible, as happened here.
Board of Education v. Pico says pervasively vulgar books may be removed from school forthwith. The books in question are pervasively vulgar. That is the basis for the removals, not the ideas they contain that the removal of which Pico would not allow.
United States v. American Library Association says, "There are substantial Government interests at stake here: The interest in protecting young library users from material inappropriate for minors is legitimate, and even compelling, as all Members of the Court appear to agree."
In contrast to SCOTUS twice saying material inappropriate for minors may be removed immediately, American Library Association says no material whatsoever may be removed since that would be age discrimination and that would violate the Library Bill of Rights. If you can't remove a book guiding children to take pictures and post them on Grindr for illegal sex (due to their age), then anything goes.
Between Chicago, IL, based ALA and US Constitution based SCOTUS, I choose SCOTUS. The books should have been removed per Pico.
The school board will eventually change from ALA anything-goes worshippers to those who respect the law. At that point the books will be removed, and legally so.
Lastly, American Library Association knows it is losing this war to sexualize children. Notice ALA has not promoted this New York Times story via any of its many media outlets. ALA makes a habit of staying silent about what it sees as bad news for ALA. And it's silent about this story and parent Caroline Licwinko getting elected to the school board and the school board successes of Moms For Liberty —because getting on the school boards is the means to erase ALA's harmful policies. ALA is silent about this. This is how you know ALA knows it's losing its war to sexualize school children.
This is the way, parents. Directly expose how school librarians following ALA diktat are sexualizing children, then run for and win positions on school boards. Demoralized librarians will jump on ALA's sword then run for the exits instead of doing what's right to protect children. "And I’m just trying to crawl my way to that finish line," said Martha Hickson.
By the way, notice the story mentions a lot how the books are not obscene or standards are applied that apply only in the case of obscenity. Example:
Alexandra AlterAnd also, in order to meet the definition of obscenity or pornography, the works in question are supposed to be totally devoid of any artistic, or educational, or political, or scientific value.
So most people, when they looked at a novel like “Lawn Boy,” for example, would say there’s a story being told. There is an artistic purpose. There is an explicit sexual scene. But it’s not the bulk of the narrative. And there’s a lot else going on.But the legal question is just one piece of what’s animating Caroline.
Obscenity is not the issue with respect to school books. This is why American Library Association promotes claims of obscenity so heavily (and why media parrots such claims), because they already know such claims are a loser for parents. So, parents, be careful not to be misled by media, as well as by the school librarians, the issue is pervasively vulgar materials in schools, not obscenity that's nearly impossible to prove.
Some schools write policies having latent obscenity poison pills so the policy looks good to parents but that obscenity standard doesn't apply so is used to sink any parental challenge while you think the policy is protecting children. Here's a school policy from Texas, for example, where provision 7 is the poison pill killing 5 and 6:
Tenure! Notice how tenure protects librarians who sexualize children—why is that and what does that mean? Are there no ethics codes that apply to school librarians? So take action as soon as possible to remove any groomers:
Martha HicksonKnowing the practicalities and realities of the world of education, I expect that they will hire a baby librarian, probably as young as they can and as cheap as they can.That person will then have four years in which they will not be tenured. And tenure has been a great protection in this situation. So for those four years, that individual will be at a great, great disadvantage.
Sources:
Barbaro, Michael, and Alexandra Alter. “When Book Bans Came to Small-Town New Jersey; Clashes Over What Belongs on Bookshelves Have Put School Librarians at the Center of a Widening Fight.” The New York Times, December 7, 2022, sec. Podcasts. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/podcasts/the-daily/book-ban-high-school-libraries.html.
Kleinman, Dan. “Comment to When Book Bans Came to Small-Town New Jersey.” The New York Times, December 8, 2022, sec. Podcasts. https://nyti.ms/3hf6Q6x#permid=121900687.
Related:
American Library Association. “Martha Hickson Receives AASL Intellectual Freedom Award.” Text. News and Press Center, April 15, 2020. https://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2020/04/martha-hickson-receives-aasl-intellectual-freedom-award.
Gregory, Jamie and American Library Association. “Martha Hickson, Students, and School Board Save 5 Challenged Titles.” Intellectual Freedom Blog (blog), February 24, 2022. https://www.oif.ala.org/oif/martha-hickson-students-and-school-board-save-5-challenged-titles/.
Capital Resource Institute. “Voters Against Obscene Books in Public Schools.” Rasmussen Reports, October 3, 2022. https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/partner_surveys/voters_against_obscene_books_in_public_schools.
Braverman, Samantha. “Most Americans Opposed to Banning Any Books.” Harris Poll, April 12, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110416110441/http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/754/Default.aspx.
Kleinman, Dan. “Court Rules Gender Queer Obscene; Parents Forced By Schools to Seek Judicial Relief.” SafeLibraries® (blog), May 22, 2022. https://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2022/05/court-rules-gender-queer-obscene.html.
Kleinman, Dan. “Library Bill of Rights Means ‘Nothing’: Berry v. Yosemite Community College District.” SafeLibraries® (blog), August 30, 2019. https://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2019/08/library-bill-of-rights-means-nothing.html.
