I was at the reconsideration Committee (a subcommittee of the Library Board of Trustees) They amended the agenda and allowed for public comment. Another gentleman shared how every book should be allowed. My slant is that we in Menomonie can set higher standards than the library association or San Francisco or Madison or any number of publishers. We do not need to allow every book into our library, for the health of our children. I did not come prepared to speak, but was greatly appreciative that they invited me to make public comment. I will have an opportunity to appeal their decision next Thurs. Mar.16 and will have opportunity for public comment. I see that every person on the Board of Trustees are "cut from the same cloth". Some are elected officials, some are appointed educators. In my evaluation none have a Christian world view. It would be nice to be proactive in changing the cooks who let the books into the soup in the first place.
I went to high school in Boyceville and I now live in Menomonie. As a black man I can definitely tell you I have experienced racism on a daily basis since grade school and it continues today. While the majority of people in the community are wonderful, loving, connected, open-minded; I think that there is still a strong toxic culture of white supremacy and we can NOT afford to ignore that and pretend it is not happening. Educating about race and the history of our country is important. Keep race in the education system. Without it we will forget where we came from. This country was built on slave labor and to this day the majority of Black and Brown Americans make less, get arrested more, and have worse quality of life.
Joyce asked: "Is EDI a typo? Please comment and let me know what that means."
It means "Equity, Diversity, Inclusion" (a.k.a. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) which you may be familiar with already). It is important to note that "equity" is not the same as "equality." EDI goes way beyond simply including people from diverse backgrounds, and the extreme aspects of it (such as discrimination and normalization) are why it would be flagged content in children's books. Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis and Governor of Texas Gregory Abbott are prominent political critics of DEI/EDI.
And since they are being discussed here, the following URL shows that the American Library Association likes EDI very much:
I was at the reconsideration Committee (a subcommittee of the Library Board of Trustees) They amended the agenda and allowed for public comment. Another gentleman shared how every book should be allowed. My slant is that we in Menomonie can set higher standards than the library association or San Francisco or Madison or any number of publishers. We do not need to allow every book into our library, for the health of our children. I did not come prepared to speak, but was greatly appreciative that they invited me to make public comment. I will have an opportunity to appeal their decision next Thurs. Mar.16 and will have opportunity for public comment. I see that every person on the Board of Trustees are "cut from the same cloth". Some are elected officials, some are appointed educators. In my evaluation none have a Christian world view. It would be nice to be proactive in changing the cooks who let the books into the soup in the first place.
Please let's put Brave books, children's books written by Mike Huckabee and other Patriots in our libraries ASAP..
I went to high school in Boyceville and I now live in Menomonie. As a black man I can definitely tell you I have experienced racism on a daily basis since grade school and it continues today. While the majority of people in the community are wonderful, loving, connected, open-minded; I think that there is still a strong toxic culture of white supremacy and we can NOT afford to ignore that and pretend it is not happening. Educating about race and the history of our country is important. Keep race in the education system. Without it we will forget where we came from. This country was built on slave labor and to this day the majority of Black and Brown Americans make less, get arrested more, and have worse quality of life.
"Time to step up and PARENT, Y’all. No one else is going to protect your children’s innocence."
Exactly. People need to parent their own children. We shouldn't have to provide safe spaces in our libraries by banning or cancelling books.
Thanks for you comment, Steve. How about something like this? https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/6-dr-seuss-books-to-cease-publication-due-to-racial-imagery/
Joyce asked: "Is EDI a typo? Please comment and let me know what that means."
It means "Equity, Diversity, Inclusion" (a.k.a. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) which you may be familiar with already). It is important to note that "equity" is not the same as "equality." EDI goes way beyond simply including people from diverse backgrounds, and the extreme aspects of it (such as discrimination and normalization) are why it would be flagged content in children's books. Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis and Governor of Texas Gregory Abbott are prominent political critics of DEI/EDI.
And since they are being discussed here, the following URL shows that the American Library Association likes EDI very much:
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/EDI
Another well written article from Joyce Uhlir.
We definitely need to watch what children are reading.