As the Public Focuses on Book Bans, the Right Is Quietly Defunding Libraries

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

The war on libraries is being fought on two fronts. On the first, we have extremists calling on librarians to repent for the sin of building collections and offering programming related to LGBTQ+ experiences. Proud Boys show up armed to protest Drag Queen Story Hours. The cops are called to investigate allegedly “obscene” materials on the shelves during Pride month.

The second front, perhaps less spectacular but no less damaging, is the ongoing war against public education that has put libraries in the crosshairs. The fight for public institutions must address both points of attack and requires a political analysis and project that moves beyond the issue of book banning.


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A similar story is unfolding in South Carolina. Much of the media coverage has focused on the conflict at the Travelers Rest branch of the Greenville County Library System, where Allen Hill, the head of the library board, has been clear that LGBTQ+ materials should not be highlighted or even included in collections. On a visit to the library during Banned Books Week, a library staffer told me Hill had picked up the bookmarks that staff had made to promote the event and threw them in the garbage can. Public librarians have been forced to organize against a state legislative proposal banning “sexual materials” from children’s sections. The Palmetto Promise Institute (PPI), a right-wing think tank, calls this a “clash of worldviews” between organizations like the National Education Association and accrediting agencies and the individual families who want to protect their children from “pornographic” materials (always a category that only the right is qualified to define).

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Organizing against attempts to censor library collections is growing and winning local battles. A book banning resolution in Greenville County, South Carolina, failed after pushback. The school board in Conroe, Texas, voted to keep a copy of The Perks of Being a Wallflower on the shelves. A nuisance suit against a librarian in Kentucky was dismissed. In New York City, a colorful and lively group of counterprotesters stood ready to greet protesters at a Drag Queen Story Hour. The protesters never showed.

In case after case, attempts to ban books are met by huge community turnout at board hearings and meetings. The push to ban books is clearly a minority position. It’s less clear that privatizing public education is.

https://truthout.org/articles/as-the-public-focuses-on-book-bans-the-right-is-quietly-defunding-libraries/

[Tree-Hugger]

1. They are working overtime....

.....in the suburbs of Philadelphia. People think it can't happen here, but it does. Bucks County is a great example. They are targeting all libraries, stripping funding or threatening to do so. They are whipping parents up into hysteria over "porn" in books. They've seeped into school boards - local elections matter!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

2. it's like the abortion issue.. majority are prochoice but the anti choice side worked the long game

grabbing judicial branch, passing laws pre Dobbs, and now here we are... with the minority controlling the majority.

[Lovie777]

3. Then people will open their homes.....

for books. One thing about the USA citizenry, we love our freedoms.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. Most libraries server as community, child play date and church meeting locations too.

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Defund the library, let it close, and everyone finds other venues to gather.

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[sanatanadharma]

5. Are there no robber barons seeking to improve the lives of the downtrodden by ...

Are there no robber barons seeking to improve the lives of the downtrodden by building and funding libraries, like Carnegie.
Is the fabled generosity of the fabulously rich simply fiction?