Ridiculous and sickening
Jun. 30th, 2007 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrI remember Neil Gaimen talking about this awhile back. Maureen Johnson had a book of his, The Bermudez Triangle come under fire for being a Bad Book because it has young girls kissing. No graphic content beyond that, the book is completely tame, but because it essentially had teens engaging in homosexual behavior it was bad. It's been under committee for ages whether or not it should be banned. Letter c/p'ed from Neil Gaimen's blog, where I've been keeping up with it:
Hi Neil,
A few weeks ago, you were kind enough to link to a post on my blog. My book had been banned in a school in Oklahoma, and I was fighting it. With your help, dozens (maybe even a hundred or more) letters were sent to the committee that did the deed. (The day you linked to me, the hits went through the roof.)
What happened next was ridiculous. I spent weeks on the inside track of this small town, getting calls from neighbors, newspaper reporters, and all kinds of people involved and around. We also (with the help of a local reporter) caught them violating policy by banning a book without notifying the public. At one point, they even claimed the whole thing never happened. The letters did have an impact, though. They had to reconsider, and do it publicly. They hated the spotlight.
Well, this committee of geniuses has finally come to a decision. They haven’t banned my book—but they’ve put it on a special reserve shelf. It can only be checked out “for classroom purposes” with a signed note from a parent.
This is arguably the most asinine thing I've ever heard.
This is a book that contains no graphic material at all. This is purely because it has homosexual characters. And from what I can tell, they plan on implementing a policy by which they have parents troop through the library once a year, just in case there are other books they want put on the naughty shelf.
On top of that, they demoted the librarian who was on the committee (Kim), the one who told us what really happened in the meeting where the book was banned. They also made life miserable for main school librarian involved (Susan), the one who came to me for help. Rather than suck up to these people, Susan decided to resign after 30 years at her job. She said she was happy to go down doing what she thought was right. So two librarians took a hit in this, simply because they tried to protect the books on their shelves.
It’s disgusting and insane, but that’s the outcome. In any case, it’s been amazing to see how many people are outraged by this, and willing to do something about it. Your post made a huge difference in terms of getting the word out. I’ll probably go on trying to needle these idiots for a while yet. I can at least try to shame them some more.
Thanks again,
-Maureen Johnson
Hi Neil,
A few weeks ago, you were kind enough to link to a post on my blog. My book had been banned in a school in Oklahoma, and I was fighting it. With your help, dozens (maybe even a hundred or more) letters were sent to the committee that did the deed. (The day you linked to me, the hits went through the roof.)
What happened next was ridiculous. I spent weeks on the inside track of this small town, getting calls from neighbors, newspaper reporters, and all kinds of people involved and around. We also (with the help of a local reporter) caught them violating policy by banning a book without notifying the public. At one point, they even claimed the whole thing never happened. The letters did have an impact, though. They had to reconsider, and do it publicly. They hated the spotlight.
Well, this committee of geniuses has finally come to a decision. They haven’t banned my book—but they’ve put it on a special reserve shelf. It can only be checked out “for classroom purposes” with a signed note from a parent.
This is arguably the most asinine thing I've ever heard.
This is a book that contains no graphic material at all. This is purely because it has homosexual characters. And from what I can tell, they plan on implementing a policy by which they have parents troop through the library once a year, just in case there are other books they want put on the naughty shelf.
On top of that, they demoted the librarian who was on the committee (Kim), the one who told us what really happened in the meeting where the book was banned. They also made life miserable for main school librarian involved (Susan), the one who came to me for help. Rather than suck up to these people, Susan decided to resign after 30 years at her job. She said she was happy to go down doing what she thought was right. So two librarians took a hit in this, simply because they tried to protect the books on their shelves.
It’s disgusting and insane, but that’s the outcome. In any case, it’s been amazing to see how many people are outraged by this, and willing to do something about it. Your post made a huge difference in terms of getting the word out. I’ll probably go on trying to needle these idiots for a while yet. I can at least try to shame them some more.
Thanks again,
-Maureen Johnson
=_=
Date: 2007-06-30 02:50 pm (UTC)I have no words other than what the fuck.
The one with the librarians was just so stupid. =_=; Demoting them and making her life hell? Even after 30 years of dedicated work? Over a book? What?
I'm not even going to say anything about the whole can be only checked out for "classroom purposes" WITH a signed note from a parent. =_=
At least she's making a stand to what she feels is right. <3 That's so cool. Bonus points.
-twirls and hugs- <3
no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 02:50 pm (UTC)Maybe we should be reading Fahrenheit 451 next on ribald. -_-
no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 02:56 pm (UTC)I like stories like this. I mean, yeah, it shows that people can be incredibly stupid and close-minded, but look at how many people responded to the incident in a positive way. It's quite inspiring, really.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 04:49 pm (UTC)If my library ever did that, I think my friends and I would protest. I've been reading my mom's books since I was twelve or so, and those included stuff that edged on graphic content and would probably be considered "worse" (but heterosexual) than that book, and no one had a problem with me checking those out. Those parents/teachers/librarians are nuts.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 10:21 pm (UTC)kudos to gaiman and the librarians, tho
no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 02:02 am (UTC)How does one demote a librarian? They can be fired or given a bad review but not demoted that I'm aware of.