Readers reject Fresno County leaders’ plan to screen children’s books | Letters to The Bee
No issue has generated as many letters to the editor in recent memory as Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau’s proposal to create a review panel to determine age-appropriate books for children at county libraries. All of the letters sent to The Bee were in opposition. Here are the readers’ views.
— Tad Weber, opinion editor
Librarians should determine books
I write today in opposition to the proposed “Parent Advisory Panel” that Supervisor Brandau promoted at the Nov. 7 Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting. This is a poorly veiled attempt at book banning. Trust needs to be put in the hands of our county librarians who are knowledgeable about what books are appropriate, based on industry standards and publisher guidelines.
It is the purpose of our libraries to present information to the public and not to decide what should or should not be read. Every parent needs to take an active role in what their own child reads and not decide for others what should be read or not read.
Becky Brown, Fresno
No to parent advisory board
As a parent and lifelong library patron I absolutely do not want a parent advisory board that is meant to decide which children’s books are appropriate.
I am more than capable of deciding for my own children, thank you Supervisor Brandau, and I think that if there are parents out there that are unsure of their ability to make this decision for their children, they discuss it with someone they trust to guide them.
Jessica Savin, Clovis
Teach kids tolerance, acceptance
As a constituent and a parent, I vehemently oppose the All Parents Matter Act. Library books should never be censored by anyone, much less a small group of people that don’t even have to be parents to qualify.
This is just an attempt to further marginalize groups that already are underrepresented. Steve Brandau is just a bigoted, angry man who should no longer represent Fresno County.
As a gay household, my kids deserve to have themselves represented in children’s books. There is already enough hate in the world. Let’s teach our children tolerance and acceptance.
Tommy Gregory, Fresno
Parents working with librarians is best
We must urge our county supervisors to oppose the ridiculous and harmful Parents Matters Act Brandau is bringing to the board. This is another instance of conservatives trying to foist their prejudices on everyone.
Parents are free to monitor what library material their children take in, but it is not acceptable for the minority to decide what information all children can access.
Conservatives also fail to acknowledge that maybe their own children are questioning their sexuality and gender, and they may be looking for stories with characters dealing with those same questions. When this vulnerable group feel isolated with no one to confide in, they may turn to risky communication online, putting themselves unknowingly in danger.
The library should remain a safe haven for people seeking answers, seeking a lifeline, seeking narratives with characters like themselves, and the idiotic Parents Matter Act aims to take that freedom away.
We must oppose this preposterous legislation, and let librarians and parents do their jobs.
Hilary Malveaux, Fresno
No to adding government monitoring
Regarding the proposal to audit the collection at the Fresno County Library to determine which books should be eliminated to protect minors , I believe this duty belongs to parents only.
We have done very well with this up to this point. There is no need to add to the government by designing a committee to make these decisions for us.
Susan Marie Andrew, Fresno
Brandau’s play for votes
Supervisor Steve Brandau’s resolution to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors is to form a group that will review books in the children’s section of the library for content. It’s something about “parents matter.” It’s BS.
America has existed for a few hundred years with parents and children, who have all mattered. No one has ever questioned a parent’s ability to lead their child/children in their particular beliefs or views, including movies to watch and books to read.
Banning books has never worked well for a nation. This guy is a Republican casting about for votes.
Detrah Hele, Fresno
Let families find their own books
I am very concerned by Supervisor Brandau’s proposed resolution that would create a citizens’ group with likely little or no training to be the determiners for which books should be available for checkout in Fresno County Public Library. My concerns are two-fold:
1. The county library already hires professional librarians with the training and experience to make these decisions; and
2. Parents already have the option available to them to decide which books their children may or may not read. It’s a very different matter for them to make that decision for the children of other families.
While this sort of book censorship and banning has gained some popularity in other states, it is my hope that the Fresno County Board of Supervisors can allow each family to make its own decisions regarding which books should be available to their children.
Thomas Nixon, Fresno
Fresno needs to stay diverse
When I discovered the news of the parent advisory panel being added to the agenda, I immediately knew I had to speak out, and it is important that you do so too.
Fresno is home to hundreds of LGBTQIA+ members; we must not allow books that represent us to be removed from the shelves. With the removal of those books would also be awareness, a sense of community, diversity, and love all being removed as well.
It is important that every resident of Fresno has representation and free choice; of books and all things.
There is no choice in bans and censorship.
A ban of books can occur, but the people whom we live amongst everyday will only remain.
With lack of acknowledgment, awareness, and acceptance comes the blooming and recipe for discrimination.
We, the city of Fresno, are not the city that allows discrimination, rather only the allowance of love, diversity, education, and inclusivity. Let’s ensure it remains as such.
Pearl Buchanan, Fresno
Proud of libraries and librarians
Let our Fresno County Library system be free from biased access by committee. I am proud of the diversity in Fresno County in which public libraries are an important resource.
Please visit Politi Branch to thank our hard working and respected librarians. Read without limits.
Tracy Krauter, Fresno
Experts will disagree with Brandau
The books you are proposing to censor access to can be a lifeline to those children and their families in search of reliable information regarding gender identity. Mr. Brandau claims these books push a “controversial” agenda regarding gender identity, and they “sexualize” children.
Gender and sexuality have nothing to do with each other. The only ones bringing sex into this conversation are you and your tiny minority of supporters. Because gender identity is something one is born with and has no choice over, it should never be considered “controversial”. These organizations back that fact:
The American Academy of Pediatrics; the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; the American Urological Association; the American Society for Reproductive Medicine; the American College of Physicians; the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology.
The library already allows parents to police what their own children can read, as is their right as parents. However, this policy goes one step further. It is engaging in censorship, in the form of targeted bookbans, denying access to this material to other children and their families. They have every right to easily access these books. It’s not up to you.
Madison Nield, Fresno
Listen to this exchange
An imagined conversation:
Libraries: This children’s book doesn’t meet the criteria for obscene – it is educational.
“Concerned citizen”: I don’t care.
Libraries: It was vetted and deemed age-appropriate by professionals in child development, publishing professionals, and educators before being put in this collection by professional librarians.
CC: I don’t care!
Libraries: There has never been any credible evidence that children have been harmed by access to books.
CC: I. Don’t. Care!
Libraries: Polls and studies show that 65% to 70% of voters are against book challenges in the U.S. At least half of all book challenges in the U.S. are traced to a handful of extreme activist groups. Parents have always mattered to libraries and are welcome to choose books that are right for their children at any time. A librarian will even help them.
CC: I DON’T CARE! I DON’T CARE! I DON’T CARE!
Libraries: It doesn’t sound like you care about this issue at all. So, what do you really care about?
CC: Creating manufactured fear and outrage to score culture war points!
Libraries: Got it.
Heather Parish, Fresno
