Fear of Books: 4 Stories
7/05/2018
Fear of Books: 4 Stories
7/05/2018
It always come down to the books. The fact that people want to
keep them from us proves that books are powerful.
And just when you think book oppression is over, you find out
that it’s not.
Yes, we must celebrate our victories. This edifies and inspires.
But we have to keep in mind that the book-burners keep updating
their tactics.
Here are 4 new sides to this as exemplified by 4 stories in the
news.
But first, because of the cultural upheaval around us caused by
policies unleashed on our community, we must celebrate our victories and also
define and manifest our goals.
On that note, in Texas The Librotraficantes are celebrating the Texas State Board of Education’s state-wide endorsement
of Mexican American Studies. This comes the first year, and really, just
a few months, after Arizona’s racist ban of Mexican American Studies was
over-turned in court.
That’s the good news.
Here’s the bad news.
ICE Freezes The Books
Immigration officials don’t seem to want you to donate
books to traumatized children who have been separated from their
families by ICE.
In Philadelphia, officials first told folks it was okay to
donate books for the children caught in the cross hairs of a broken immigration
system. But then they told folks no!
Immigration officials are separating families, isolating
children, and they don’t want you to make sure those children can spend time
reading. Perhaps they don’t these children to be thinking. Perhaps they don’t
want those children learning. Arizona evidently banned Mexican American Studies
for those same reasons. Otherwise, there are no logical explanations for
Immigration to tell folks yes, give the children books-then say NO!
Maybe Immigration officials want to only traumatize children.
Maybe they are easier to handle when they are catatonic.
We Have Seen This Before
There is a precedent for this. The legal opinion overturning
Arizona’s racist ban of Mexican American Studies said that it was implemented
with discriminatory intent. So, we are not making this stuff up.
But Immigration officials have a chance to reveal their
intentions.
Lisa Cruces from Houston is gathering books for children who are
being detained by the border patrol. If you have questions for her, we will be
talking to her on our radio show, Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their
Say On The Air Tuesday July 10, 2018.
(We air Tuesdays live 6p-7p cst on 90.1
FM KPFT, livestream at www.kpft.org
and podcasts at www.NuestraPalabra.org.).
Lisa is a great ally of Nuestra Palabra and the
Librotraficantes. She was key in getting the Nuestra Palabra Radio showed
archived in the University of Houston Digital Archives. We are making History.
More Book Lovers:
This public defender is collecting books for
folks who are incarcerated. She was doing it by running photo copies. She has
started to receive donations that lead up to books for folks who want them the
most but who have the least access to them.
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