#PSA and #CallToAction for Texas: school board candidates who will fight book bans and other white supremacist practices are needed.

UPDATE: #Texas #library committee suspended, decision to reclassify #IndigenousHistory book as "fiction" reversed

Judd Legum
Oct 23, 2024

"The change to the book review process was driven by a local #RightWing group, Two Moms and Some Books.

"After Popular Information's report, the reclassification of the book became national and international news, receiving coverage from MSNBC, The Austin-American Statesman, The San Antonio Current, The Texarkana Gazette, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Guardian, The Independent, and others. Two days after Popular Information's report, a coalition, including PEN America, the Writers Guild, and Penguin Random House, wrote a letter to the Montgomery County Commission demanding they reverse the decision.

"On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Commission 'issued a stay' against all decisions made by the citizens' reconsideration committee since October 1, and also put all future decisions of the committee on hold. That means the book will be placed back in the non-fiction section of the county’s public libraries. In addition, the Commission created a group "to review and revise library policy,' including the role and composition of the citizens' reconsideration committee."

https://popular.info/p/update-texas-library-committee-suspended

#Colonization #Censorship #Fascism #TruthAndReconciliation vs #LiesAndDenial #WampanoagTribe #WampanoagNation #TexasFreedomToReadProject #TwoMomsAndSomeBooks #ChristianRight #MontgomeryCountyTexas #Wampanog #ChildrensBooks #Librarians #NativeAmericans

#Texas county sidelines #librarians, reclassifies book on abuse of #NativeAmericans as "fiction"

Judd Legum
Oct 14, 2024

"A Texas county has mandated public libraries move a well-regarded children's book documenting the mistreatment of Native Americans in #NewEngland — #Colonization and the #Wampanoag Story — from the 'non-fiction' section to 'fiction.' The decision was made after the government of #MontgomeryCountyTexas, under pressure from #RightWing activists, removed librarians from the process of reviewing #ChildrensBooks and replaced them with a 'Citizens Review Committee.' Colonization and the Wampanoag Story was 'challenged' by an unknown person on September 10, 2024. The Committee responded by ordering that the book be moved to the fiction section of public libraries in Montgomery County by October 17, 2024, according to public records obtained by the #TexasFreedomToReadProject shared with Popular Information.

"The author of Colonization and the Wampanoag Story is #LindaCoombs, a 'historian from the #WampanoagTribe.' Coombs spent three decades working at the #WampanoagIndigenousProgram, an initiative to preserve the history of the Wampanoag people. The book is published by Penguin Random House, which describes the book as '[t]he true story of the #IndigenousNations of the American Northeast, including the Wampanoag nation and others, and their history up to present day."

"Colonization and the Wampanoag Story tells the real story of the brutalization of the Wampanoag people by #EuropeanSettlers. An excerpt:

"'[C]ertain ship captain began kidnapping Wampanoag men and those of other tribal nations along the coast. Sailors invited them aboard their ships under the pretense of trading, then lifted anchor and sailed away. The men were prisoners, stolen from their families and homes.

"'They were taken to #England and #Spain to be sold into slavery and paraded through the streets as "novelties," something for the people of Europe to gawk at as curiosities — not as human beings. Imagine how these men must of felt when they realized their situation: they would never see their children, parents, wives, relatives or communities and homelands again. What a terrible shock for all their families when they realized their men were gone — just disappeared forever.'

"This is fact, not fiction."

Read more:
https://popular.info/p/texas-county-sidelines-librarians

#IndigenousPeoplesDay #Colonization #Censorship #Fascism #IndigenousHistory #TruthAndReconciliation vs #LiesAndDenial