This is the chapter of my life I’d like to share about fighting against censorship and book bans in Alabama. After uprooting our life in Japan and moving around the world to Birmingham, Alabama, I found it hard to adjust. Reverse culture shock set in as we started to rebuild our life from the ground up in a new place. A place that was starkly different from anywhere we’d ever lived before. Both of our children were born in Japan and my daughter had become fully fluent in Japanese.
One thing that made our transition easier? Our local library.
We were lucky to move near a wonderful library that was very well stocked. It had great kids programs every week. The librarians were some of the first people to welcome us into the local community. We became regulars, sometimes going to the library 2-3 times a week.
As a new homeschooling family, the library quickly became our favorite place to be.
Much of our curriculum and weekly activities depended on what we could find at our local library. I was pleasantly surprised by the diverse selection they offered. The children’s section featured plenty of books about Asian cultures, often featured on their new arrivals shelf. There were plenty of books that reminded my daughter of her Filipino heritage as well as her upbringing in Japan. The library was where we went to learn about ourselves and to learn about people who are different than us. The library felt like home.
“Jennifer, isn’t this your library?”
One night while doom-scrolling through Facebook, I saw somebody had tagged me in a post. The post was in a local Moms group that was alerting the community that a group of evangelical book banners had showed up at a library. They demanded the removal of certain books from the shelves. It was indeed, my library.
Reading this raised my hackles immediately. How dare these people attack libraries, the safe haven so many of us turn to? As a former homeschooler myself, I recall my regular field trips to the library. I still remember the faces of the kindhearted librarians at the Children’s Services desk, smiling and ready to help. For homeschoolers, the circle of trusted adults in your life is often small. There might not be many other adults besides your parents who you talk to regularly. There’s not 7 teachers and guidance counselors and a principal in your life. But you know who is there – librarians.
The Fight to Ban Books in Alabama
I went down the rabbit hole learning about the different legislation that was going through the Alabama House and Senate. There were lots of anti-gay and anti-trans bills as well as a “jail librarians” bill that sought to criminalize librarians. The main targets were books with LGBTQIA+ representation and those considered “racially divisive.”The Alabama group behind these efforts, called Clean Up Alabama, was essentially a local arm of Moms for Liberty, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has since dubbed a hate group.
We organized a letter write-in party at our local library to write letters opposing the proposed APLS (Alabama Public Library Service) code changes by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey. The code changes she wanted to push into effect would cut all state funding to any Alabama public library that didn’t remove LGBTQ+ books from the shelves. Under the guise of saying that these books were “sexually explicit” or “pornographic” in nature, the governor and these other groups were able to get the support of many church members – especially less progressive, more cultish churches (cough, cough, Southern Baptist congregations). Because for them, being gay or trans is a sin in their eyes, they don’t want any representation of these people in public libraries.
Public libraries are for all of us – not some of us.
They want to impose their religious views onto the general public, when in reality public libraries are just that – for the public. Libraries are for all of us, not some of us – and yes that includes our gay and trans siblings. They deserve to have representation on the library shelves too.
The lady with whom I hosted the letter write-in and I started a local chapter of Read Freely Alabama, a group formed to counter Clean Up Alabama. At the last library board meeting, the book banners had showed up in force, including speakers who were preachers from local Baptist churches. They slung all sorts of insults at the library board, calling them “pedophiles” and “groomers,” and claiming that pornography was being stocked on library shelves—claims that are obviously untrue.
Our library needed us to come and support and speak to defend the library at the next board meeting. We needed to let the community know that we didn’t want book bans in Alabama. My co-organizer and myself held a meeting where we explained what was going on at the state level and how that was trickling down to the local level. We formed bonds in the trenches of what felt like an impending crisis as our library came under threat.
After hearing rumors like “The Baptist church is threatening to bus people in to the library board meeting to fill the room,” we issued a rallying cry to local community groups known for being inclusive and accepting, urging them to come and fill the room with library supporters.
“Please come and show your support for the library. Your local library is under attack. Defend your librarians. Librarians have always been there for us – it’s our turn now.”
Speaking at the library board meeting was first come, first serve and limited to 10 speakers. Worried that book banners and anti-library extremists might catch wind of our plans to show up in force, I arrived and sat myself outside the auditorium doors at noon, even though the meeting wasn’t until 4 p.m. We had asked the speakers on our side to come as early as possible, and one by one, they trickled in and stood in line. Our speakers included concerned parents, combat veterans, and members of the clergy. What we all had in common? We fiercely loved our library, our democracy, our right as Americans to read freely, and didn’t want book bans in Alabama.
There was a large crowd that packed the library board meeting with people on both sides. I was the first speaker and at the end of my speech I asked for all those in support of the library to please stand up. The majority of the audience stood up and many of the people in the back of the room and overflowing into the lobby put their fists into the air in a gesture of solidarity. It was one of the most moving moments I’ve witnessed in my life.
The air was incredibly fraught with tension as our ten speakers spoke against the book bans in Alabama.
The library board announced their decision to keep the challenged books on the shelves and the crowd gave them a standing ovation. Afterwards when I was trying to walk out, a lady in a pantsuit who had an American flag pin on her blazer shoved a graphic novel in front of me angrily, “Would you let your kids read this?!” It was the graphic novel Flamer, by Mike Curato. It’s a coming of age book in which the main character struggles with facing racism, his own sexual identity and questions his religion. All of the problem areas for Moms For Liberty.
I was shaken by the confrontation, the fear, and the hatred present in that library auditorium that day. We had someone try to join our private Facebook group we used for organizing, who was publicly posting on his page that the organizers of our local chapter were pedophiles, were plants from other countries and were coming to groom your kids.
I changed my name on Facebook, after that. Another friend told me I should take certain parts of my speech out, the stronger parts that were attacking the credibility of the Baptist church when they have had so many sexual abusers in the church who they’ve protected. 33 ministers, to be exact. “Take that part of your speech out, you don’t know how powerful these people are,” she urged. I listened.
After the board meeting, I drove the long way home, to make sure I wasn’t being followed *just in case*. Somebody had made an offhanded remark that “these people are the type who’d burn a cross on your lawn,” and my anxiety did not let that sentence go.
The fight against book bans in Alabama continues.
We continue the good fight to defend libraries in Alabama. I did social media management for Read Freely Alabama for awhile, until I burned out. Myself and many others made the trek down to Montgomery to speak in public defense of libraries and librarians at the APLS meeting. However, despite thousands of letters being sent in opposition to the APLS code changes…the changes were passed.
A bill that seeks to criminalize librarians, the “jail librarians bill” has already been pre-filed for the next legislative session.
There are many things that are synonymous with Alabama. Many preconceived notions that I myself had before moving here. When you think of Alabama, what do you think of? Perhaps the Civil Rights Movement? Rednecks? Racism? The KKK? Police Brutality? There’s truth in all of this. But I will tell you, it’s not all backwards and backwoods down here. Because it is a place where there has historically been such high levels of oppression (and there still is), there is an incredible activist community here.
When I saw these people who support book bans in Alabama rear their ugly heads elsewhere, I saw activists and library supporters rise up to meet them. I met some of the fiercest and most passionate radicals and activists known who have dedicated their lives to fighting back against bigotry and hatred. I met activists who drive down from Huntsville to Montgomery (~4 hours) often WEEKLY when the legislature is in session, just to make sure their voices are heard.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
There are many who are determined to make sure that even if there are injustices being written into law, there is an opposition. There are those fighting for justice and fighting for the rights of marginalized communities, who have inspired me more than they’ll ever know. We will not go quietly.
