Exercise Your Rights...

by Mary Reiman

I am writing this on Right to Read Day, April 8th. 

Ballots for early voting were mailed today also.

Especially this year, these two events are closely tied together.  Having the right to read and the right to vote are two most important components of our democracy. 

As we move into May, it is more important than ever to exercise your right to READ. 

Whether you learned to read with Goodnight, Moon or Go, Dog, Go or Dick and Jane (yes, they are still in publication), you entered into the land of learning and thinking. Now you have the opportunity, some would say the responsibility, to use that power to vote. 

READ. Begin with one of the 97 books on the Moms for Liberty (M4L) list. They want these books removed from school libraries across the country. M4L has also been instrumental in the attempt to criminalize librarians and teachers for providing books they find offensive or obscene. Offensive how?  Obscene because they address feelings and experiences of others? Or offensive because they open minds, help us think, reflect and perhaps become more compassionate?

Read The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas OR Girls Like Us by Christine Alger OR Imbeciles by Adams Cohen OR The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult OR Sisters/Hermanas by Gary Paulsen OR Brave Leaders and Activists by J. P. Miller OR any other title from the list. Yes, THE list. The nationally known list.

Read, and be ready to defend the right for libraries to have these books in the collections. The right for youth to check out these books, to see themselves and their situations reflected in the literature. The right to know they are not alone. 

Unfortunately, the challenges will continue. This is a national movement to silence authors, publishers, librarians, teachers. Yes, a national movement and they are NOT going away. For example, The Moms for Liberty have an agenda behind their private Facebook page. Learn more about them. Watch the 60 Minutes interview with their founders. Be informed. 

M4L membership requirements include being ‘a person of good moral and ethical character who subscribes to the values in the bylaws.’ The group, formed by three mothers in Florida, now have chapters in 45 states with the following bylaws: 

A. We hold decision makers accountable or we work to replace them with liberty-minded individuals. 

B. We spread awareness and an understanding of the limited role of government. 

C. We stand together against government overreach and intimidation tactics. 

The first quote on the M4L website is from John Adams. “Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.” I believe President Adams was thinking of the freedom to read when he wrote that sentence. He also said, "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people."

Yes, I have many questions about what liberty means to them. What is the definition of liberty-minded individuals? And, is it not considered intimidation when they threaten librarians and teachers?

During their 2023 annual summit in Philadelphia, one of the group’s co-founders stated that Moms for Liberty will use its political action committee to engage in school board races nationwide, including the elections of state school board members and superintendents. They spent their first two years inflaming school board meetings with aggressive complaints about instruction on systemic racism and gender identity in the classroom. They are now expanding their strategies to overhaul education infrastructure across the country.

After the offensive statements by Senator Halloran in the Nebraska Legislature on March 18th, LB441 did not pass. The vote was 30-17. Yes, 30 senators voted to pass that bill. 30 senators were willing to pass a law to criminalize educators and librarians. Did they know there are already policies in place giving parents the right to determine what their child may read? Another parent might find it is an appropriate title for their child. A parent simply does not have the right to say that no child should have access to the book. That is what the freedom to read is all about. 

I doubt the senators read any of those books. Nationally organized groups have created lists and taken one sentence or paragraph out of context to demonize the entire book as obscene. I am sorry the senators did not have time to have book groups, perhaps with members of their communities, where they would read the entire book and then discuss the value of each title for the purposes of helping students see themselves, or those they loved, reflected in the literature. I would have been happy to be part of a book discussion with them. 

It is now Thursday, April 11th, and one of the headlines in the Lincoln Journal Star today is: Librarians fear harsh new penalties. Nebraska is not the only state whose lawmakers are following a push for retribution of those who do not follow their agenda. Missouri, Utah, Idaho, Arkansas, Indiana. No, that is not by accident. This is a concerted effort across the country of those who want to limit the freedom to read. Those who want us not to think...just follow their truisms. 

So it is imperative that we READ and then...VOTE. 

Know the candidates’ views of book banning and censorship, especially those running for the State Legislature and the State Board of Education. 

Four districts in Nebraska will have new state school board representatives. Four voices of reason are retiring. Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4. Know the backgrounds of the candidates, and who the major contributors to their campaigns. It is important to learn their political agendas on public education and the freedom to read. 

Kristin Christensen is the State Board of Education candidate from District 1 (Lincoln). She is a parent and teacher, a voice of reason, a voice who will listen to her constituents. She also has the endorsement of the current board member from District 1, Patsy Koch Johns.

There is an agenda of negativity and censorship bubbling up in this country. It is on the rise and if we do not stand up against it, if we do not vote, we cannot wring our hands later, appalled and overwhelmed by the lack of literature available to meet the needs of our youth. 

If there was ever a time to rise up, it is now. Talk to your friends, your children, your grandchildren. Remind them of the importance of voting, now more than ever. 

Thanks to Vicki Wood, retired Lincoln City Libraries Youth Services Coordinator, for allowing me to share these words from her presentation to the League of Women Voters on April 4th.

"We believe 16-year-olds are mature enough to drive around 5000 pounds of metal, hold jobs that require responsibility and judgment, and play in sports that may damage them physically. However, we don’t trust them to read a novel that contains difficult topics, and sometimes sexual scenes and know that they will integrate these experiences with books into the understanding of the world. A world which also involves their family values, the movies and television they watch, the video games they play, and all of the sex-based consumerism and advertising, TikTok, YouTube videos, and literally tons of other Internet content they come in contact with every day. 

People who seek to limit access to books both overestimate the power of books to “indoctrinate’” and underestimate a young person’s ability to synthesize information and develop an understanding of themselves and their world. I can think of no safer space than the pages of a book for a kid to explore the human experience.”

Exercise your right to read AND your right to vote.