Member-only story
What I Didn’t Know About Book Banners Until They Hit My Town
I’d covered them as a journalist but didn’t realize their real aims until they came for my library
A decade or so ago, Hollywood filmmakers came to my town to shoot parts of the horror movie “Get Out.” They were trying to show the creepiness that can underlie a beautiful setting.
A different kind of horror show began unfolding here after would-be book banners turned it into a war zone earlier this year. They’ve invaded meetings of the City Council and library board and demanded the removal from the teen section of books about sex or race or with LGBTQ characters. All of it has turned into a culture war in a town on the Alabama gulf coast that’s so quiet, people call it Mayberry on the Bay.
The fight escalated in March, when my neighbors and I learned — to our shock — that the state library board had suspended the funding for our library without notice.
The reason? Our library had refused to remove two books from its teen section. One was Patricia McCormick’s Sold, a National Book Award finalist about a 13-year-old Nepali girl who becomes a victim of human trafficking.
