A judge in Arkansas blocked a new law stating that Arkansas librarians can be arrested for having the “wrong books” on their shelves. The ruling is not permanent. At any time this could go the other way and librarians could face legal action.
What is a ”wrong book?” What does it contain that would make the Arkansas legislature vote to file charges against library staff? I have some ideas.
Such books would most likely include:
*Books about the history of African Americans depicting the truth about slavery and other topics.
*Those depicting our forefathers in a different light explaining how they, too, owned slaves and treated them with a lack of humanity.
*Book dealing with sexual issues such as being gay, premarital sex, and romances.
*Banned books that certain groups of people think should be banned because of sex, outlook on other people, or way of thinking.
Other types of literature might aso be included.
The answer? Don’t check out what you don’t want to read or what your family doesn’t want to read. Why blame a librarian?
Hearing about this law and thinking of the reasons behind it bring up memories of book burnings and attacks on intellectuals in the 1930s.
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