The newest tactic to suppress and/or eliminate books from libraries is to declare this or that non-fiction book a “work of fiction” in an effort to invalidate it.
Case in point: “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story.” That history, a children’s book, was written by Linda Coombs, a Massachusetts resident and highly regarded historian who is herself a descendent of the Native American Wampanoag tribe. In Montgomery County, Texas, a citizens review committee succeeded in getting a court-ordered decision to re-classify that book as “fiction.”
Coomb’s book presents the history of European colonization from the perspective of indigenous people specifically the Wampanoags of what later became Rhode Island.
The gist of Coombs’ book is European colonists like the Pilgrims did not arrive to an empty land ready to be developed. In fact, they quickly discovered there were people and communities living in harmony with the land they had inhabited for thousands of years. The newcomers (colonists) began to disrupt the harmony they found among the native people.
The Texas citizens upset by that book believe it distorts and subverts early American history even though distinguished historians have highly praised Coombs’ book for its refreshing and accurate new perspective. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “a poignant and powerful look at identity, change and resiliency” as those Native Americans struggled to stay alive and to protect their resources.
The Texas Freedom to Read Project is a parent-led group that fights for the rights of people – especially young people – to freely access information. Its members released this statement: “What prevents them from reclassifying books on other nonfiction topics such as politics, health, religion and climate change, simply because they disagree with the ideas or viewpoints presented?”
Good question. When there are so many efforts to restrict, ban or burn books, you can bet that authoritarian rule is just around the corner. One example is the massive book-burning rallies as the Nazis consolidated their power in 1930s Germany.
There are now hundreds if not thousands of book suppression/book banning groups small and large with many like-minded people serving on school boards across America. Sartell is just one example.
Yes, indeed, parents do have an absolute right to be “chaperones” of what their children read and do not read. But they should not have the right to dictate what books or materials are available for other parents and their children.
There have been efforts all through our history of this or that group trying to ban this or that book. Two of their targets were the American masterpiece, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and what is often considered the greatest novel of the 20th century, James Joyce’s “Ulysses.”
But nowadays, the banners’ new targets are any books they consider “woke,” meaning mostly anything that challenges their own limited, parochial comfort zone. In authoritarian societies, ideas (especially new ones) and alternate perceptions that challenge the status quo will always be enemies to be stamped out, burned, eliminated.
