Letters to the Editor for July 21, 2024
Letters to the Editor for July 21, 2024
A solution to book-banning; 20 Questions
A Solution to Book Banning
Earlier this month, Jen Peterson filed a 200-page petition in Circuit Court to remove books containing “pornography” from our school libraries. This issue has been fought over by both sides of the isle for several years now. Unfortunately, neither side is interested in actually dealing with the issue.
Why do I say this? Because the solution is simple, yet neither side seems to seriously discuss it. All it takes is a little common sense. Are there books that are not appropriate for school libraries? Most definitely. The problem lies in what your definition of appropriate is.
Let’s discuss the process that Spotsylvania County uses when a complaint is filed about a book. The first step is staff looks at the book. If they agree it’s inappropriate, the book is removed (and some have been at this level).
If a book is not removed by staff, then it is sent to an ad hoc committee of mostly parents who are required to read the entire book. The committee then makes a recommendation if the book is appropriate for schools, along with which grade levels. If the book is determined appropriate, the original complainant may file an appeal. Then a second committee of parents is formed to again read the entire book and make a determination.
This sounds great. The problem is we have groups on both sides of the isle who yell for parents’ rights, but only if they agree with the decision.
Can we all agree different parents have different beliefs about what is appropriate for their children? No one has the right to dictate to a parent how they should raise their child. This includes exposing children to literature that some parents don’t want their child reading. If we can all stop yelling at each other, the compromise solution is simple.
If a book survives both parent committees, it is allowed to stay in the library for the levels determined by those committees.
The school publishes a list on its website with a complete list of these books with the option for parents to curtail access to each book by title on the school website. This can be part of the yearly registration process that happens online.
The school system already has the capability to email parents every time your child checks out a book. If this is implemented, parents can review anything from the library the child is checking out.
With a compromise such as this, any parent who does not want their child having access to The Handmaid’s Tale or any other book can easily block access, but a parent who feels it’s an important piece of literature can allow their child to read it.
It’s time we start looking for actual solutions to problems instead of standing on a soap box and yelling about them.
Rich Lieberman
Spotsylvania
20 Questions
Let’s play 20 questions:
Do you know what “critical race theory" is?
Should schools protect students from factual history?
Was slavery legal and profitable for white Americans?
Do African-American students need to be protected from that truth?
Do we need to obscure the details of broken treaties and the Trail of Tears so that American Indian students won’t feel guilty?
Did Adolph Hitler’s Nazis follow the example of the Ku Klux Klan when they terrorized Jews and seized the land and property that was left behind?
Should we hide the truth from Jews and African-Americans for their own benefit?
Are we ready to admit that opposing C.R.T. or simply whitewashing our history is an attempt to protect a particular audience, namely young white Christians?
In so doing, are we (yes, I am an old white man) controlling the narrative for our own benefit?
A break in the game to consider The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
As the reporter says, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
Are we guarding the self-esteem of our young, or keeping our legends alive by passing them along, reinforcing them?
Who decides which parts of history need to be obscured for the greater good?
How much influence should parents wield, especially if her father can control the lessons offered to everyone else’s child? (Never mind that my father can beat up your father. nyah, nyah)
If uncomfortable history is ignored or swept under the carpet, what distinguishes the result from propaganda? (Joseph Goebbels was Minister of Propaganda. At least the Nazis admitted what they were doing.)
Do you believe the justification of “to the victors, the spoils”?
Are you content with the notion that history is written by the victors?
Would it not be more appropriate to say, history is rewritten to suit the victors?
Are we as white Christians the victors?
Are we trying to fool God by rewriting history to suit ourselves?
Think He will go for that?
As Hickey said in The Iceman Cometh, “The lie of a pipe dream is what gives life to the whole misbegotten mad lot of us…” --Eugene O’Neill
Are we concerned with our childrens’ self-esteem or our own?
Hugh Lowry
Fredericksburg
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At this point, I don’t think anything long-term will be accomplished re: book bans until we soundly defeat the Republican Party at the ballot box.
Anyone saying that Project 2025 isn’t something to worry about is lying to you. We can see evidence of them forcing their will on people in other parts of the country that they’re already implementing parts of it. Hell, they were even doing it when the Tea Party was the majority on the school board.
If we come together to make a reasonable change (which I am ultimately all for) but Republicans win a majority, that work will be undone.
I’ve watched Jen, and Twigg, and Gillespie, and Phelps, and Abuismail, and Ross, and Anderson, and Strickland, and Durant, and Reeves, and Orrock, and Mullins.
I’ve seen what they post on social media when they aren’t at their meetings or campaign events trying to win your votes. I’ve watched their actions. I have read about their votes and legislation they have passed, or tried to introduce.
Like I replied to yesterday’s post by that Republican chair on unity, I have listened, I have read, but most importantly I have SEEN what this faction is doing.
And what I have SEEN tells me they don’t want compromise; they don’t want to protect every child, much less educate them.
I keep saying it: they have shown us who they are. We need to believe them.
For them, there is no unity unless we stand united with them. But their vision is not what I want for my kids or their peers. It’s authoritarian, backwards, and full of fear. I doubt it’s what most of us want, either.
You included, Rich.
They don’t give a flying F about our kids, especially our Title 1 kids.
They have PROVEN that with their book bans, and by taking away Covid mitigation in the middle of a surge, and refusing snack donations.
You really think that a process you implement now will be honored if MAGA (it’s what the Tea Party has morphed into) wins?
I think Jen is sad she has no longer been in the center of attention. But she has made herself a pawn in a dangerous game and her return should remind us that voting and who we vote for matters in the long run.
She is setting her stage in the event Republicans win. I guess she thinks she will be safe if she plays their game.
(Jen really needs to read more of the books she thinks are bad. And definitely
books on WW2 and the rise of Hitler. Maus is a good one, with pictures, but that’s probably on her list of “pornography.”)
We have to stop the bigger, more dangerous work that Republicans are doing right now.
Personally, Im putting my effort in to the long game: stopping Project 2025 and the plans the Republican Party has for public education.
I hope more people will join me. If public education truly matters to you, you need start understanding the bigger picture the current Republican Party has envisioned for us.
Please vote in November.
https://www.govtech.com/education/higher-ed/opinion-what-project-2025-could-mean-for-education
https://open.substack.com/pub/project2025istheocracy/p/project-2025-how-christian-nationalists-7b8?r=yshr8&utm_medium=ios
https://open.substack.com/pub/project2025istheocracy/p/project-2025-attack-regulation-to?r=yshr8&utm_medium=ios
So a few fun facts. The VA statue is about INSTRUCTIONAL material
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title22.1/chapter2/section22.1-16.8/
Now where this is interesting is the Virginia state flag IS in instructional books and it by definition is illegal as a woman has her breast exposed.
Are there questionable books yes, I’m not dismissing that. However the code excluded libraries.
There is a policy in place already when a book is questionable.
I have spoken on the next part on the record at school board meetings.
There is NO provision for a 18 year old student. You can attend public school until age 22.
So what protects that student who has Diary of a Whimpy Kid (yes this book was on the bad list) and they are unknowingly reading it at lunch and their friend asks to borrow it. They say sure when I’m done, then a few days later they pass it to their friend innocently. That friend goes home and mom sees it and goes to the school blazing hot and then the 18 year old is in troubled for “distributing pornography” because that’s what this is potentially opening the door for.
There was legislation proposed to incarcerate a librarian or teacher who allowed a student to read this banned book….. that failed.
We need to trust parents and parents need to trust their kids. These are conversations we need to have with our kids. The unpopular truth is the Bible has pretty raunchy stuff mentioned which by the examples given it should be banned. It would also remove health education, any medical reference books. There are so many unintended consequences to this.
Parents should be glad kids today even use a library.
What we have missed is the HUGE part about educating parents to hidden apps on their kids phones, check their discord chats, their snap and IG and other stuff. That would make many parents heads spin on what their kids are doing and talking about.
The resources it would take to email parents about every book their children want to check out is too much.
Why not put the responsibility on the parents, they have the ability to see what they are reading and read the same books with them have the same structure as an adult book club does. You will be building a relationship with your child and learn a lot about their interest.