Comments | We fight book bans in Texas. The district’s recent performance surprised us.
The Texas Freedom to Read Project is a parent-led organization dedicated to protecting the rights of Texans – especially young people – to access information freely. We are working together with local communities to combat the attempts to prevent people from being present throughout our country. Although we are often discouraged by these efforts, we are rarely surprised. But a decision made this month in a county near Houston left us stunned. The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners ordered librarians to turn the non-fiction children’s book “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” into fiction.
The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners ordered librarians to turn the non-fiction children’s book ‘Colonization and the Wampanoag Story’ into fiction.
Written by Linda Coombs, a Wampanoag historian, the highly regarded book has been classified as inauthentic by the Library of Congress and all major Texas library systems. Because that’s what it is: a book about true historical events and the true story of America from a native perspective. If government officials can dismiss a well-researched, factual account as fiction because it challenges the dominant narrative, then what other truths will they try to silence? If they decide that history told from the point of view of an Indigenous author should be treated as some form of fiction, then what other perspectives will they ignore?
What’s to stop them from repurposing books on other non-fiction topics – politics, health, religion, climate change – just because they don’t agree with the views or opinions being expressed?
This restructuring decision is the result of a controversial policy change in March. Right-wing activists pressured the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners to remove librarians from the process of checking out books for children, adults and children with disabilities. Documents obtained through a public information request by Teresa Kenney, a Montgomery County resident, library supporter and small bookstore owner, revealed that Coombs’ book was challenged by an unknown person on September 10 .
Shortly thereafter, Montgomery County’s newly formed “Committee of Population Review” reclassified “Colonization and the Wampanoag story” as fiction. The committee reviewed the book in closed session – all of its meetings are closed to the public – and did not provide an explanation of its decision. The new policy does not allow the decisions made by the Citizen Review Committee to be appealed.
Again, we’re not surprised by the efforts to ban the people of Texas, but Montgomery County’s decision to reclassify the book as fiction sends an unequivocal and troubling message that dissent from those in power politics is not only accepted, but it may be false. written as hypocrisy. This decision is biased, and the implications extend beyond one book.
The current censorship movement spread across Texas and the US is not a grassroots movement, but part of a well-paid, highly coordinated political machine. Far-flung political action committees and millions of politically active individuals manage endorsements and financial statements for candidates across the country, from local school board races to the presidency. These candidates pledge to “save the children” from “excellent education” by removing or banning what they consider “inappropriate” or “inappropriate” from libraries. Since the beginning of this wave of censorship in 2021, efforts to block and remove books have focused on eliminating identities, opinions and ideas that contradict the political agenda of those behind the movement.
Also, to describe efforts to prevent people from existing within “parental rights” is deliberately misleading. Parents who advocate for legislation argue that it is their right to control what their children get. But they try to make these decisions for communities and school districts, and they ignore the rights of young people and parents who want their children to have access to diverse and inclusive books.
Although it should go without saying, no one advocates putting inappropriate materials in the hands of children. Parents have the right to play an important role in guiding their children’s reading choices to ensure that it is appropriate for their age, interests and developmental level. Students themselves have a right to ideas and information. But no person or political group has the right to make those decisions for everyone.
Describing the initiative as ‘parental rights’ is deliberately misleading.
We believe it is important for people who are outraged by efforts like this to make their voices heard by supporting candidates who support reading freedom, especially in local elections. We encourage concerned citizens to join and strengthen local anti-bullying groups and speak out against bullying and attacks on reading freedom at school boards and local government meetings.
A healthy democracy depends on an informed citizenry. We are currently facing a dangerous epidemic of disinformation, and public libraries serve as institutional sanctuaries where citizens can access resources and information based on centuries of scientifically-guided systematic collection practices. a library – not about the latest conspiracy theories based on disinformation.
The government should not publish what is fiction or what is not fiction.
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