The Independent Lens PBS documentary The Librarians is available for a limited time to watch for free! I highly recommend those who love reading or freedom watch this documentary.
It follows librarians across a few mainly southern and conservative states. It highlights how extremist groups are attempting to influence public school library policies and restrict personal freedoms by banning books. First of all, I want to share a good parent should know what their kid is reading, and they should discuss this with them. My family and I always talked about what books we are reading. Now that my kids are adults, we still do that!
The problem I have with these extremist groups is they want to control what people can and can’t read and how they can think. In the film, a woman had nine kids who are all homeschooled. None of her kids have ever stepped foot in a public school, yet here she is trying to control what books the public school library can and can’t have.
As you watch The Librarians, you’ll learn about the coordinated effort of white Christian nationalists trying to impose their own belief systems onto the rest of us. The poorly named Mom For Liberty is behind a lot of these book bans. The same arguments, the same language, and the same books are often mentioned by those wanting to ban books in various school districts. Of course, the conservative southern states are a good place to start, but that’s not where they’ll stop. They will come and grab your books!
Books that are about and written by LGBTQIA and BIPOC people are disproportionately targeted. It’s like they don’t want you to know that anyone besides straight white people exist. They’re trying to erase their existence!
Librarian Martha Hickson from the film explained why we should trust our library professionals: “Collections are built with intention, very deliberately and curated very carefully. Every book is on that shelf for a reason.” Librarians are often trained professionals with at least a master’s degree. They are careful with sharing books that are appropriate for the age groups they service,
Another librarian Amanda Jones, whose book I recently reviewed, had her life threatened. In her small Louisiana town, she had to increase security measures around their home.
A lot of these librarians in the film have lost their jobs and most were threatened with physical violence all because they wanted to provide us the right to read.
Watch The Librarians on the PBS YouTube channel or app now. https://tinyurl.com/TheLibrariansPBSYouTube
