When real history is transformed into “fiction”, it is another form of book banning

Your traditions and your place in the American scenario are neither real nor valid. The history of your people is fiction.

That’s the message a Houston suburb is sending to Native American children. October 17, just three days after Indigenous Peoples Day, was the deadline to move the book “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” by Linda Coombs to the fiction section of Montgomery County Public Libraries. The problem is that the book is not fiction.

My white ancestors on my father’s side arrived this year in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, 400 years ago. When they arrived, the Wampanoag people had already been there for 12,000 years.

The Wampanoag were the first tribe the Pilgrims encountered upon their arrival on the Mayflower. According to the book’s publisher, “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” tells, from a Native perspective, “the true story of the Native nations of the American Northeast, including the Wampanoag Nation and others, and their history up to the present day.”

The author of the book is a Wampanoag tribal historian with 50 years of experience in her field. “Wampanoag Settlement and History” has been classified as nonfiction by the Library of Congress and major Texas library systems. However, last March, Montgomery County adopted a library materials policy that gives an unelected, unaccredited citizen review board “exclusive authority” to review any challenges to children’s books. , young adults and parents in public libraries, basing its assessment on undefined “norms and standards”. values” of the county.

Almost anyone can file a book complaint. There is not even a requirement for proof of local residency. The committee has the power to reassign the book to “a more restrictive part of the library” or remove it altogether. And its decision cannot be appealed. Librarians may be involved “in an advisory capacity” at the discretion of the committee chair.

Teresa Kenney, owner of Village Books in Montgomery County, told Lonestar Live in March, “A tsunami of complaints from someone outside of our state or even our country could deplete the shelves of parenting books , to children and young adults, based on the prejudices of one person. alone.”

American Library Association President Cindy Hohl is a member of the Santee Sioux Nation. She is the second Indigenous president of the library association and a former director of the American Indian Library Association. She notes that Native Americans – the first Americans – are still there by the millions and she laments the message this reclassification sends to Native American children.

Hohl told me, “This citizen committee action tells indigenous children that their ancestors are just fictional characters, not real human beings, and that the experiences and history of their people are simply false, even fantastical.” .

The harmful reclassification of books is an extension of the recent wave of book bans and other authoritarian attacks on the freedom to learn across the country. PEN America documented nearly 10,000 book bans between July 2021 and the end of the 2023 school year.

Banning Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ perspectives

Of the banned books, 37% contained characters of color or themes of race and racism, and 36% had LGBTQ+ characters or themes. By PEN’s count, bans occurred in 41 states and at least 247 school districts. The censorship squad is also targeting texts that tell the truth about climate change. Even children’s classics, like “Where the Wild Things Are” and “The Lorax,” aren’t safe.

Last year, Illinois became the first state in the country to enact book banning. Maryland and Minnesota have since followed suit. More states should do this. And they should also include protections against the type of book reclassification that is currently happening in Texas.

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who initiated the bill in Illinois, said, “This law says: let’s trust our experience and the training of our librarians to decide which books should be be in circulation. »

On this point, Hohl was very clear: “As library and information professionals, we are empowered to do this work. We went to school and got a master’s degree in library and information science. And we must be trusted to do the work in our communities.

She says we’re seeing a consequence of not allowing librarians to do the work they were trained to do. “It hurts a child to learn that the history of their people is no longer considered valid,” she says.

Hohl also highlighted the pride librarians have in helping their communities overcome misinformation and disinformation spreading across America. “Every day a library is open should be an opportunity for an American to access accurate information and we are the protectors of that access. … Strong communities have strong libraries, and it must be clear that everyone is welcome, that everyone has a place in a library.”
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Attacks on books like “Settlement and Wampanoag History” send the opposite message. Marginalized groups should find refuge in public libraries. But how will they achieve this if libraries become yet another place where their stories, perspectives, and histories are erased and invalidated?

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club and professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

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