Gagis, Joanna. “NJ School Librarian Receives National Award for Resisting Ban on LGBTQ Books; Lemony Snicket Prize Goes to Martha Hickson of North Hunterdon Regional High School.” NJ Spotlight News, August 12, 2022.
https://www.njspotlightnews.org/video/nj-school-librarian-receives-national-award-for-resisting-ban-on-lgbtq-books/.
NJ Spotlight News Reporter Joanna Gagis - Martha, tell us about the books that some in your regional high school were trying to ban.
School Librarian Martha Hickson - I am a librarian at the North Hunterdon High School in Annandale, New Jersey, which is part of the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District. Last September, there were objections to five books, and the common theme among all five books that were objected to was that they addressed LGBTQIA themes.
Reporter - Was there language in those books that parents or others found problematic?
School Librarian - Yes, there was. They found the language problematic, but I would invite any of those parents to come to the cafeteria during any given lunchtime, and they would see that that's part of the average teenager's vernacular.
Reporter - And so how did you succeed in keeping those books on the shelf? What was your platform? What was your message?
School Librarian - It was a difficult process, but basically, the platform and the message is the First Amendment. We, as citizens of the United States, have the right to read and think freely, and it was continuing to hammer that message home. And just because you're a teenager doesn't mean that you are without those First Amendment rights.
Reporter - How problematic do you see what's happening around the country right now, where there are groups looking to ban books that they find to be problematic in libraries and schools?
School Librarian - It's a huge issue. You know, banning books or objecting to books is certainly every parent's right for their own child. Every parent has the right to dictate or work in partnership with their children to determine what their child would read, but that right stops at your own front door. You cannot tell other parents, other children what they may or may not read. What's amplifying this is that the books have become a tool in a larger social and political movement. What's extremely frustrating to the library community is that lists of books that are being created by political organizations are being circulated around the country. The books are being objected to without people even reading them, and the objections come in the forms of random passages that are taken completely out of context and read aloud at board meetings for the purpose of manufacturing outrage.
Reporter - The American Library Association awarded you The Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity. What does that award mean to you?
School Librarian - I'm thankful that by receiving the award, the issue of the right to read is being raised to greater prominence, not only within the library community at large but the general public. I'm also very humbled to receive it because as your questioning thus far has implied, I am by no means the only librarian to have experienced challenges, to have experienced personal attacks to reputation and integrity, and to have fought for the right to read. There are hundreds of librarians going through this around the country, and I was very happy to accept that award on their behalf.
Reporter - Martha Hickson, thank you so much.
School Librarian - Oh, you're welcome.
School librarian Martha Hickson starts off truthfully: "I am a librarian at the North Hunterdon High School in Annandale, New Jersey, which is part of the North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District." So far so good.
The second sentence starts with the lies: "Last September, there were objections to five books, and the common theme among all five books that were objected to was that they addressed LGBTQIA themes. True, then false. True, five books were challenged for inappropriateness in a school environment.
Then the jump off the cliff. She attributes the challenge to homophobia, specifically claiming the parents opposed "LGBTQIA themes." There are hundreds of books in school libraries with "LGBTQIA themes" but only five books were challenged? Why not all of them? The parents opposed the educational inappropriateness of the material in a school setting, not the "LGBTQIA themes." Martha Hickson knows this, but no one's going to get in the way of her goal of s3xualizing as many school children as possible, hence the lies.
People know the LGBT excuse is just that, but school librarians act like they're in control. Here's an example of someone else who knows school librarians think they are clever:
Heck, even library directors know this is a joke:
Anyway, even the reporter doesn't immediately accept her claim of homophobia by the parents, so she pointedly asks whether the parents simply opposed the inappropriate language. The school librarian only then admits to that, but goes on to say big deal, it's already what the kids talk about in the lunchroom anyway. First, she made an assertion of homophobia that she tacitly withdraw once challenged by the reporter, and good on the reporter. Second, she asserts that the children are foul mouthed at lunchtime. So basically she defames the children. I can promise you no way do school children at lunchtime speak in a manner that reflects the contents of the books she's defending and promoting to s3xualize the kids despite the law, community standards, and common sense. So after defaming the parents and getting called out for doing so, she switches to defaming the children. Wow. Just wow.
The reporter then asks how the school librarian kept the book on the school shelves. Her answer is, "the platform and the message is the First Amendment. We, as citizens of the United States, have the right to read and think freely...." "And just because you're a teenager doesn't mean that you are without those First Amendment rights." That is spectacularly flat out false or wildly misleading. School children do not have a First Amendment "right to read" absolutely anything in schools. This was decided in 1982 by the US Supreme Court. It's 2023. Martha Hickson had forty one years to figure this out. She already knows it. But she's just going to plow ahead and keep pushing, or "hammer[ing] that message home," as she puts it. Just one more way librarians put the lie in librarian.
And as to that vaunted "right to read," that was made up out of whole cloth by the American Library Association. School children do not have a right to read anything a school librarian gives them:
The reporter then asks a softball question and Martha hits it out of the park. The reporter asks her about "book bans" across the country and who are the "groups looking to ban books." Martha must have thought she's in media heaven. "It's a huge issue." No it's not. Book banning is a nonexistent issue. The last book ban in the USA was in 1963. Schools removing educationally unsuitable or pervasively vulgar material from schools is not book banning. The United States Supreme Court even made that clear in 1982. For more on that, see this:
The school librarian then says parents and only parents can keep inappropriate material from children and only their own children: "You know, banning books or objecting to books is certainly every parent's right for their own child. Every parent has the right to dictate or work in partnership with their children to determine what their child would read, but that right stops at your own front door." She's making an excuse for why school librarians s3xualize school kids to their hearts content. So she's lying. Parents elect school boards and expect them to make those very decisions of what's inappropriate for the school's library.
That they don't and cede control to American Library Association is another story. Indeed Martha's lies are part of the reason school boards pass off such decisions to the school librarians who happily make those very decisions, then sit on materials reconsideration boards to ensure parents rights are entirely subverted and the children continue to be s3xualized with books like "Gender Queer."
Martha goes on: "What's amplifying this is that the books have become a tool in a larger social and political movement." Here Martha starts her diatribe that amounts to projection. She claims there's a "larger social and political movement"—you know, the parents objecting to their children being s3xualized in school libraries—which is just projection. In the link I gave above about the 1960s radical view about "age" inserted into the "Library Bill of Rights," it is the librarians who have pushed a "larger social and political movement" by s3xualizing school children, so much so that today the American Library Association has a Marxist President, Emily Drabinski, who brags about her Marxism and how she's bringing "collective power" to ALA:
That's followed by more projection: "What's extremely frustrating to the library community is that lists of books that are being created by political organizations are being circulated around the country." It's American Library Association creating lists of books that are circulated around the county, and those lists emphasize educationally inappropriate and pervasively vulgar materials. Indeed, American Library Association gives books like "Gender Queer" multiple awards, expressly for the purpose of popularizing them for further spread to even more kids.
"The books are being objected to without people even reading them, and the objections come in the forms of random passages that are taken completely out of context and read aloud at board meetings for the purpose of manufacturing outrage." This statement is deceptively deceptive. A liar's lie. First, challenges made on books never read are almost always rejected and I advise everyone to read completely any book they wish to challenge. So that's a fluff statement.
The deep deception comes from her next phrase, "objections come in the forms of random passages that are taken completely out of context and read aloud at board meetings for the purpose of manufacturing outrage." Do you see the deception? No, you don't. That's how good this lie is. When she says,"completely out of context," that's the lie. See it yet? No? She is an excellent liar.
When she says, "completely out of context," she's talking about the 1973 US Supreme Court case that ruled obscenity is to be judged "as a whole" and not out of context. That's a liar's lie. Why? Because that case holds no sway over school library cases. None. It's the 1982 case that controls and that allows for immediate removal of educationally unsuitable and pervasively vulgar material. So "completely out of context" is irrelevant. That 1973 case is irrelevant. Her statement is deceptively deceptive. It's a liar's lie. You didn't even notice it, it was so good. Read more about this in detail here:
Martha Hickson's lies are so good—and when she appeared in Roxbury the school board voted to keep "Gender Queer"—they remind me of the lyrics to the Billy Joel song called "Stiletto," and she travels from library to library giving advice on how to "hammer that message home":
And, "purpose of manufacturing outrage"? Really? Parents nationwide speaking out about the pervasively vulgar books and reading them and getting kicked out of school board meetings for doing so, all because American Library Association has complete control over school libraries, that's all for the "purpose of manufacturing outrage." All these people at once decided to "manufacture outrage"? What? They aren't actually outraged? It's just "manufactured"? Wow. The state governors speaking out about school books and the s3xualization of children, all just "manufactured"? Again, school librarians put the lie in librarian.
The school librarian is then asked about the $10,000 award given her by the American Library Association. For librarians, lying pays and to hell with the school children. Martha doesn't skip a beat and goes right into the propaganda, here supporting the "Right to Read Act," that is intended to address "the issue of the right to read" educationally unsuitable and pervasively vulgar books in schools and to assist librarians who have "experienced personal attacks to reputation and integrity, and ... have fought for the right to read." So Martha is right on message for the American Library Association's efforts to pass legislation nationwide to codify its "Library Bill of Rights." No wonder Martha's winning multiple awards from ALA.
By the way, speaking of "personal attacks to reputation and integrity," the school librarians bring that on themselves with actions like this peacock display from Roxana Caivano and her husband/attorney at a school board meeting in Roxbury, NJ:
Finally the interview ends and Martha says, "Oh, you're welcome," only the second sentence besides the first that doesn't comprise deception and lies.
School boards: You now know school librarian Martha Hickson is a deceptive liar, and all for the purpose of s3xualixing more school children. Look, I met her. She is very nice personally. But what she is doing to communities and especially their children is very harmful.
Where do all of these lies lead? To political action to solidify a school librarian's ability to s3xualize more children and to enshrine American Library Association's s3xualizing "Library Bill of Rights" into law, such as in New Jersey. As you listen to these politicians, hear the echo of the lies Martha Hickson tells as they are essentially the same:
All these lies, from the school librarian, the politicians, and the media comes from a central source, namely, the American Library Association and its new effort called Unite Against Book Bans. It created UABB in response to parents getting "Gender Queer" pulled from so many schools using that 1982 US Supreme Court case. Read about it here, and listing the lies contained therein would take many more posts, so I'll quit for now, just know every single sentence is either false or deceptive, including the poll:
So the title of this piece is, "School Librarians: Martha Hickson Putting the Lie in Librarian." I hope I adequately explained exactly what's going on and how and why she's putting the lie in librarian. If not, I'll be writing more about Martha Hickson, this time exposing each and every step she trains school librarians to take to keep the educationally unsuitable and pervasively vulgar material flowing to children in schools. Even if she's nice when you meet her.
The above is my opinion, like all my posts. But I provide reliable sources to back up my opinions so you can judge for yourselves.
NOTE ADDED 3 JUNE 2023:
Martha Hickson is such an expert at lying that she has been awarded by the New Jersey Library Association as the "Librarian of the Year"! School librarians s3xualizing school child pays! @Sassy_Librarian! So sassy!
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