I made my way out to John Igo Branch Library this morning. It’s in the northwest part of the city by UTSA. In fact, I could hear a marching band rehearsing in the distance that I assumed was the UTSA band. When I was leaving I saw what looked like a stadium in the distance. You may be able to hear it in the video. I’ll post it soon on my YouTube channel.
I saw an article the other day about a Michigan library that was defunded. Apparently the librarians refused to take LGBTQA+ books off the shelf and leave LGBTQA+ books out of the displays, so the town voted to defund it. Wouldn’t you think that librarians know what their patrons are interested in? Wouldn’t you think that they’re putting things out that people are regularly coming there looking for? A group of conservatives accused the librarians of “trying to groom our children” just by putting LGBTQA+ content on the shelves. So now no one can read a library book, whether it’s LGBTQA+ or not.
I guess this isn’t the first time in history book banning has been used as a political fight. You’d think that if it didn’t work in the past they wouldn’t bother using it again. My heart goes out to librarians, especially high school and middle school. I would imagine, if you’re a librarian for kids and you know what your kids are excited about and interested in, you’d want to provide that for them. Not only does book banning keep librarians from keeping books on the shelves but it keeps them from encouraging kids to read and be engaged with life.
Yesterday I read that Gov Greg Abbott pulled The Handmaids Tale from all libraries in the state but did not pull Mein Kampf. I’m not sure where I read this so take it with a grain of salt, but it wouldn’t surprise me. A few days ago I watched a Frontline documentary about Ruby Ridge, which I remember hearing about in the news in the 90’s. A young couple, who were religious fanatics, went to live in the Idaho panhandle to get away from it all. They befriended a local Nazi/white supremacist group and got swept up in an FBI sting.
The FBI was watching the white supremacists and caught this religious extremist making sawed off shotguns for them. The FBI tried to manipulate him into going undercover. He refused and there was a standoff that ended with two people killed, including a 14 year old boy, and two people wounded. It was all pretty crazy but what’s even crazier is that these are the Republican base now: the Christian zealots, the Nazi skinheads, and the white supremacists. So we can all read Mein Kamf in Texas but not The Handmaids Tale. More reason to support your local library.