Lydia Glenn

Staff Writer

Texas’ everlasting push for more conservative systems led to what is now being coined “the war on books”. The most recent uproar over school libraries is basically that it should be censored like the internet. 

The Los Angeles Times says that it is “conservatives’ attempt to ride a wave of ‘white backlash’ among Trump supporters to victory in next year’s midterm election.” Trump’s overall aura of hate prompted “concerned” parents and staff to become involved in what they believe to be a big problem. 

One parent in Houston successfully petitioned her school district to remove two books from their libraries. The first book was “Lawn Boy” by Jonathon Evison and “Losing the Girl” by MariNaomi. “Lawn Boy” contains references to oral sex between boys and “Losing the Girl” features LGBTQ characters, neither of which this parent was happy about. 

The mother and school district inhabitant said that she was encouraged by Republican Texas lawmakers’ focus on Critical Race Theory, which is an academic framework for examining systemic racism. She considers this focused study on systemic racism to be “Marxist ideology” and “anti-American”. At the moment, she also has more than a dozen books she would like to eradicate from school libraries. 

Although what many think she is doing is censoring, she said this upon her want to remove books, “I don’t want to ban books. I don’t want to be a book burner. My goodness no. I’m not into censoring. That is not what this is about.” The mother also follows along in political races, and places like Virginia that have banned certain books, she adds to her list. 

Book debates are often fueled by social media posts or YouTube videos. Richard Price, a political science professor at Weber State University in Oregon said, “book challenges are not as common in California as they are in red states, where viral posts spread faster as they’re picked up by right-wing bloggers and media.” 

In Southlake, a Dallas suburb, the school board voted to reprimand a fourth-grade teacher earlier this year for keeping an anti-racism book in her classroom. Parents complained, and so the school board reprimanded her, for having a book they didn’t like in her classroom. Along with this reprimand, leaked audio from an administrator at the school exposed him instructing teachers to present “opposing” views of books about the Holocaust. This sparked national outrage. 

In Houston, officials at Spring Branch district removed “The Breakaways” by Cathy Johnson because it featured a transgender character. It was removed after parents had complained and said it was sexually explicit and contained “political propaganda”. 

Governor Greg Abbott, who is running for reelection, was sent a letter complaining from parents about a list of “pornographic” books. Although the parents possessed any authority or knowledge on the subject, Abbott said they had the right to be angry. 

Also, Jeff Cason, a representative from Dallas said, “we as a state must protect minors from this type of criminal activity, and it should not be made available to children by the actual people that are tasked in educating them.” Cason insinuates that sex and LGBTQ characters and relationships are “criminal activity”. 

A former public school teacher, Ashley Hope Pérez, who has authored several books centered on the LGBTQ communities and other oppressed peoples, said that “these challenges are rooted in a broader effort to undermine public education and the establishment of a more diverse and inclusive society.” She also goes on to explain how these “concerned” parents are affecting members of marginalized communities. “The message these parents are sending is, ‘I wish these people didn’t exist, and because I can’t get rid of the people, I want to get rid of the books.’”

Although many right-wing parents are out fighting for a less diverse literary selection, there are also people like Pérez fighting efforts to remove certain books. While many believe that banning literature is an unthinkable act, Texan Republicans and many others are putting in a great deal of work to censor the library, and it is working.