Christian Rightists want to do a good ol' fashioned book burnin', the author of that book speaks out

[ck4829]

Francesca Lia Block, an award-winning author of young-adult books (the "Weetzie Bat" series among them), has known for a while now that one of her novels, "Baby Be-Bop" is at the center of a controversy in West Bend, Wis.

A few days ago, she found out that it might be burned at the stake. "Baby Be-Bop" is on a list of titles that a local group calling itself the West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries objects to seeing in the public library. In February, the group asked the library's board to remove a page of recommended titles about gay and lesbian issues for young people (including "Baby Be-Bop") from the library's Web site. Then they demanded that the books be moved from the youth section of the library and placed with the adult collection, "to protect children from accessing them without their parents' knowledge and supervision."

"My publisher brushed it off at first," Block said, "but now it's starting to look really serious." When the board refused to immediately comply with the requests of West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries, the town's common council voted not to renew the contracts of four recalcitrant board members. A second group, West Bend Parents for Free Speech, formed to oppose the plan to segregate the books.

At a June 3 public hearing, the library board received two petitions (700 signatures supporting the restriction, 1,000 opposed) on the issue and listened to dozens of statements (you can see video of some of the statements here.) Then it voted unanimously to leave the books where they are.

But the controversy isn't over. Now an outfit called the Christian Civil Liberties Union has gotten in on the act, suing the library for, according to the West Bend Daily News, "damaging" the "mental and emotional well-being" of several individuals by displaying "Baby Be-Bop" in the library. Since attempts to label the novel as "pornographic" have failed, the (somewhat shadowy) CCLU hopes to brand it as hate speech, in part because it contains the n-word. The complainants, described as "elderly" by the newspaper, claim that Block's novel is "explicitly vulgar, racial (sic) and anti-Christian." They want the library's copy not only removed but publicly burned.

"I'd like to show my support for the librarians with any statement I can make," Block said "They're the unsung heroes in our society. My brother works on a hotline for gay youth and every night he's talking people down from suicide because they're gay and they're not accepted by the communities they're in."

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2009/06/16/francesca_lia_block/index.html

[murielm99]

1. Thanks for posting this.

This crap never ends for librarians. Libraries need to have well-written selection policies in order to stop this sort of thing in its tracks.

I never had to deal with a situation like this when I was a library director. We did have a woman who came in and objected to "The Grapes of Wrath." They love to fuss about that book.

I was trying to deal with her nicely while she fumed about the language in that book and how her children would never be exposed to it. I thought that if I let her vent, that would be the end of it.

I had an elderly genealogy volunteer. She became very angry. She came to the desk and told the woman that the language in the book was there to show character development. She told her further, that if she did not want her precious children to read the book, that was fine. What other people read was none of her business.

I did not have to say a word. I loved that little old lady.

[Berry Cool]

8. I can understand why wingnuts would object to "The Grapes of Wrath."

They're afraid poor and middle-class people might read it and realize that in today's economy, we're all Okies. Except, instead of competing with that guy standing next to us for who is willing to pick the Man's fruits and vegetables for the least pay per hour, we're competing with guys over in India.

"Language," schmanguage. It's the IDEAS in these books that frighten them. It's the way these books get people to think, and draw parallels between what happens in the books and what's going on in their own lives. That's what scares the wingnuts...way more than any "dirty" words or "smutty" sex scenes they complain about.

[armyowalgreens]

2. Huck Finn uses the N-word well over 100 times...

Why aren't they bitching about that book?

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

10. Huck Finn has already been inducted into the banned book Hall of Fame

They probably got it banned ages ago.

[murielm99]

14. You should read "The Day They Came to Arrest the Book,"

by Nat Henthoff.

It is a young adult fiction book about an attempt to censor Huck Finn in a small high school. It covers all the censorship issues nicely.

When I talked to my kids about censorship, I gave that book to my son. I could not get him to put it down.

Go to your library and check it out. Get it through interlibrary loan if they do not have it.

[and-justice-for-all]

3. Christian Civil Liberties Union? that is funny...

and to try and sue for "damaging" the "mental and emotional well-being" of several individuals by displaying "Baby Be-Bop" in the library." is a joke.

That is a half ass allegation and the people who were so distraught just from seeing the book are people from the West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries. No one forces them to read it, or do they? is there threat of water boarding if they do not read the book or something??

Libraries are public and to have a book removed simply because you do not agree to its context is bullshit. There are books I do not like, but I am not going try to have the books pulled.

West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries and the CCLU is a fucking joke.

[zbdent]

7. I wonder who the "sacrificial lamb" was ... I mean, they had to send someone into the library

to see if they have a book, right?

When do they actually read something other than the Bible?

Isn't a library some sort of socialist plot?

[NMMNG]

4. If they're so fascist they don't want their kids seeing a book

without their knowledge or supervision they should never let their kids out of their sight. It's not the job of the library or the government to parent the children of overprotective, Christofascist parents who are offended by everything but the Bible.

[Enthusiast]

5. Christian Rightists are really Wrongists! K&R

Really, there is nothing more disgusting that a "so-called" Christian telling someone what not to read.

[moggie]

6. They'd better not read the bible

All the filth and violence in there would surely damage their fragile "mental and emotional well-being".

[MotorCityMan]

9. What is wrong with these people?

"They want the library's copy not only removed but publicly burned.

It really is simple. If a book/movie/song offends you, do not read/watch/listen to it. Just please allow me the courtesy of making my own decisions.

As someone who has been a heavy reader since I learned how, I always have a major problem with book bannings. There is no surer way to spark my interest in a book than someone telling me I shouldn't read it and trying to ban it.

[PVnRT]

11. Of course, this isn't a case of them imposing their beliefs on others, oh no (n/t)

[Bluenorthwest]

12. I keep waiting to read posts from DU's 'faith community'

sharing what actions they are taking to stand against these crazies. Waiting and waiting.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Anybody care to join me in filing lawsuits for having our mental and emotional well-being 'damaged'

by the display of the Bible and various religious books in the libraries?