Antonia Hylton, investigative reporter for NBC News and co-host of the new podcast Grapevine, reports on the infiltration of far-right Christian ideology into classrooms in Texas and across America.
The hate and misinformation continues and spreads. The over the top rush to return to a regressive past of strict gender roles, censorship, and an enforced social acceptance of only what is acceptable to the leading churches in the area. Think of the time these people want desperately to return to, and ask why. It did not fix anything, it did not solve any problems. Gay kids were still born, they just had miserable lives. Trans people were still born, they just had to suffer with no social acceptance or relief. These people hate civil rights for anyone but themselves. They are demanding a return to a time when it was not only legal but acceptable to discriminate against anyone who was not a straight cis white person. That is what they want so badly, the right to insult, shame, targeting for bullying and harming people who are different. I have to ask why, what makes that time so attractive for these people. I think it is the right to abuse others, to feel superior to them! Again I repeat that a lot of this hate and bigotry is driven by fundmentlist religious sects. Below is are two quote. Hugs
The ALA said book challenges nearly doubled nationally in 2022 and are “evidence of a growing, well-organized, conservative political movement, the goals of which include removing books about race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health from America’s public and school libraries that do not meet their approval.”
“The book fair is one of our biggest fundraisers, but unfortunately, we have seen more and more books that promote and support LBGTQ+ views,” the school wrote. “We’re at a crossroads where we share different values and beliefs, especially when it comes to exposing young children to adult topics. Friendswood Christian School is a private institution devoted to creating a complete learning environment for children by incorporating Christian principles into the academic framework. We want to provide an environment where children can hang on to their innocence as long as possible.”
As Texas enters its third straight school year of coordinated book banning activity, a growing number of districts are targeting library books. Caught in the dragnet: books featuring a “naked” crayon and one with a cartoon butt.
The American flag reflects off a Houston Little Free Library designed to look like a prison filled with banned books. Credit: Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters
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As a new Texas law further restricting what books students can check out of school libraries takes effect, local bans are gaining steam in districts across the state — in some cases going in startling directions.
In Katy, a growing Houston suburb, school officials recently bought $93,000 worth of new library books and promptly put them in storage so an internal committee could review them. The district then banned 14 titles (bringing its total since 2021 to 30), including popular books by Dr. Seuss and Judy Blume, as well as “No, David!” an award-winning children’s book featuring a mischievous cartoon character who at one point jumps out of a bathtub, exposing a cartoon backside. (This wasn’t the district’s first foray into regulating cartoon nudity; over the summer, a book about a crayon that lost its wrapper, becoming “naked” in the process, was flagged for review but ultimately retained.)
Following the latest removals, the Katy school board decided that cartoon butts would be exempted from a district policy that called for removing books showing nudity. “Explicit frontal nudity,” on the other hand, would not be allowed.
“The board’s intent was never to remove well-known cartoon-like children’s books just because they showed a little drawing of a little boy’s rear-end,” its president, Victor Perez, said, according to the Houston Chronicle.
One hundred miles to the east, a school district near Beaumont made headlines last month after removing a substitute middle school teacher who had read students portions of an illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary, which detailed her hiding from the Nazis and was published after her death in the Holocaust.
The book, which had not been approved as part of the district’s curriculum, had been included on a reading list sent to parents at the start of the school year, according to television station KFDM.
The district is investigating whether administrators knew the book was being used in the class, according to news reports.
And just south of Houston, the private Friendswood Christian School announced it was canceling its Scholastic Book Fair, barring the nation’s largest children’s book publisher, which has put on book fairs at schools around the country for decades.
In a letter to parents, obtained by ABC13 in Houston, the school made clear the decision was aimed at books featuring LGBTQ+ themes and characters.
“The book fair is one of our biggest fundraisers, but unfortunately, we have seen more and more books that promote and support LBGTQ+ views,” the school wrote. “We’re at a crossroads where we share different values and beliefs, especially when it comes to exposing young children to adult topics. Friendswood Christian School is a private institution devoted to creating a complete learning environment for children by incorporating Christian principles into the academic framework. We want to provide an environment where children can hang on to their innocence as long as possible.”
Kasey Meehan, the Freedom to Read program director for the New York-based free speech organization PEN America, said that as Texas enters what is essentially its third consecutive school year of book banning activity, efforts have taken some troubling directions.
“Even after that first removal of books, what we see is a continued chilling effect that happens across schools,” she said in an interview. “There are these ripples that are going to extend beyond simply removing a book to just read, erring on the side of caution and bringing a bit more scrutiny to any availability of books and any opportunities that students can have to access books.”
The local censorship efforts come as courts wrestle with a new Texas law that requires booksellers to rate public school library books based on their depictions of or references to sex. Books in which such references are deemed “patently offensive” by the vendors will be issued a “sexually explicit” rating and can’t be sold to schools and must be removed from shelves of school libraries. Books that reference or depict sex generally will be rated “sexually relevant” and require parental permission to read.
Texas schools would be barred from buying books from vendors who don’t use the ratings.
On Sept. 18, a U.S. district judge in Austin issued a written order blocking the law, which was passed this spring, from taking effect. Judge Alan D. Albright, a Trump appointee, ruled the law would impose “unconstitutionally vague requirements” on booksellers and “misses the mark on obscenity.”
“And the state,” he wrote, “in abdicating its responsibility to protect children, forces private individuals and corporations into compliance with an unconstitutional law that violates the First Amendment.”
A week later, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the judge’s ruling, temporarily allowing the law to go into effect while the court considers the case, which it is expected to take up this month.
Book bannings have increased precipitously in the state since ProPublica and The Texas Tribune started reporting on the issue in rural Hood County two years ago, where a fight over library books foreshadowed the intense partisanship that has come to mark many Texas school board races. The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the Granbury Independent School District after the superintendent was secretly recorded ordering librarians to remove library books with LGBTQ+ themes.
The federal probe, which followed a ProPublica-Tribune investigation with NBC News, remains open, according to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. Last year, in response to the outlets’ investigation, the district said it was committed to supporting students of all backgrounds.
The issue continues to roil Granbury, as some community members and trustees don’t believe the district has gone far enough to remove books. Last month, the school board censured a trustee who wants additional titles removed after she was accused of sneaking into a school library to examine books with a cellphone flashlight.
Of the 1,269 documented attempts to remove books from school or public libraries across the nation in 2022, 93 took place in Texas, affecting over 2,300 titles, the association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom found. The ALA said book challenges nearly doubled nationally in 2022 and are “evidence of a growing, well-organized, conservative political movement, the goals of which include removing books about race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health from America’s public and school libraries that do not meet their approval.”
The American Library Association itself has come under fire among conservative circles in Texas. In August, Midland County commissioners voted to withdraw from the association. Days later, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission pulled out.
What’s been your experience with school library book bans in Texas? Email Austin-based reporter Jeremy Schwartz at jeremy.schwartz@propublica.org to let him know.
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I had to take Ron to get his eye appointment as he would be dilated. On the way back to our home, we stopped at the Publix store just a mile or two down the road from us, and where we are well known. While checking out we were chatting with the cashier and the young woman bagging the groceries. I really like the Publix stores and their employees. Very friendly and helpful, and the people doing the bagging always ask if they can help me out to the car with the groceries. As we were leaving, the cashier asked if Ron and I were brothers or something, noting how well we got along and were often together. I looked back and said no, we are spouses and married. She beamed and was congratulating us, the young woman doing the bagging started clapping while also beaming. I knew some of the people working there knew we were a couple, I had already been asked before. Only one person struggled to understand it as he was new to the country, but the other staff rushed to explain it to him. Once he understood, he seemed OK with the idea, if still confused. I could tell from his very deep accent, he simply had not thought of two men being married. But back to today, as we stood there, I looked around. In the check-out aisle next to us, another cashier and bagging person were both smiling and nodding and most of the people in line did not seem bothered … except the woman in the front being checked out. She stared at Ron and me with a horrified, shocked look on her face. She looked like she had just smelt the worst sewer smell she had ever smelled and felt the poop running down her leg. I almost laughed as it was so over the top. Ron thankfully missed it and was saying goodbye to everyone as we started walking out.
But it stuck in my mind. Publix is known for being a semi religious company, they make it a priority to treat staff well, they have a strong pro LGBTQIA policy, they hire disabled workers a lot, more than any company I have seen. One of the bagging persons is a young man with only one hand and good arm. His other arm is smaller, thinner, and yet he can bag groceries with the best of them. Another is a very mentally challenged young adult who lives in our park, who has worked there since he was a teenager. One of the cashiers is an 84-year-old woman with oxygen they treat like a queen who is loved by all and lives to come to work. Which brings up another point, not all religious groups are automatically anti-LGBTQIA. Publix is not. They are very supportive of the LGBTQIA.
This woman with the horrified face is an example of what is happening more and more in Florida. Five to ten years ago there was only acceptance of Ron and me. Sometimes it was stumbling but very supportive. Now it is about 70-30 to if the response will be positive or aggressively negative. In January 2015 Ron and I went to the clerk of the court to get married, we were the first same-sex couple in Lee County. There was a slight delay in our ceremony, not because of anti-same sex marriage feelings though. All the clerks wanted to be the ones to marry us. When they told us what was going on that the entire office wanted to be involved, we invited them, all who wanted to come. The office took an unofficial break while we got married with the entire office staff in attendance. The package we paid for was a five-minute ceremony with a dozen pictures. It took nearly an hour and I have hundreds of pictures. So the Florida of then was very progressive. Sadly, that has changed.
I have grown my hair very long. While I clearly am not trans and don’t pretend to be, I get a lot of animosity for that, a lot of hostile looks. And also some very leering scary ones where someone is making it clear they think I am available to … rent. I am an out of shape, fat, 60 year old man, with a very large belly and walk with a cane! What kind of freak do you have to be to think I am a sex worker because I have very long hair. Either that or they are the most desperate involuntary celibates I have ever seen. But back to the story, I have over the last year faced push back when affirming that my spouse is Ron, a male, when filling out medical forms and in doctor’s offices. When at a new provider the MA was taking my information, and it came to emergency contact and family, I stated Ron and our relationship. She paused, then got up and left. After a few minutes a different MA came in and continued with no explanation of the change. But I knew. It is again becoming the 1990s again, and I feel too old to take on that same fight.
The great news is how happy everyone seemed at the store when I answered the question with “He is my spouse, we are married”. The bad is at least one person was openly horrified like I would gay her right there, how would she explain that to her family and hate preacher. The bad news is DeathSantis and his people have made Florida a lot less accepting to those not white fundamentalist Christian nationalist cis straight people. When do the lynchings restart? Hugs
I can not remember who sent me this one, but thank you. It is in one of my old windows of open tabs. Hugs.
The criminal former president is so far ahead of his closest GOP rival that the Washington press corps is already reviving themes from the 2016 and 2020 elections. Here’s the AP on Friday: “Some critics see Trump’s behavior as un-Christian. His conservative Christian backers see a hero.”
How can a lying, thieving, philandering sadist like Donald Trump continue to hold the overwhelming approval of “conservative Christians”? Since he first ran for president, reporters have tried explaining this apparent contradiction. They’re going to keep trying.
But all this rests on an assumption—two assumptions, actually. Once we drop them, a greater truth stands before us in plain sight: For Donald Trump’s Christians, there is no difference between religion and politics. They’re not pretending otherwise. The rest of us shouldn’t either.
What assumptions?
The first is that Christianity is just one thing—the particular teachings of Jesus regarding God’s universal love, let’s say. The second, based on the first, is that there’s a contradiction between Trump and Christianity. How could supporters believe in God’s universal love while backing a man whose campaign has become explicitly a vengeance movement?
There is no contradiction, however, if we concede the obvious—that there’s more than one kind of Christianity, that there’s always been more than one kind, and that there are varieties of Christianity.
Once you concede this, you see a relationship that’s not at all based on a contradiction. It’s based on common interests. They aren’t drawn to him in spite of the fact that he’s a lying, thieving, philandering sadist. They’re drawn to him because he’s a lying, thieving, philandering sadist.
The implication here is one that few want to talk about, including religion reporters and their religious sources. If a variety of religion makes common cause with a bad man (for instance, with a lying, thieving, philandering sadist), isn’t that religion, well, a bad religion?
Reporters don’t want to be seen as adjudicators of faith. So they pretend that politics and religion are separate. Their religious sources don’t want the reputations of their respective religions to be irreparably harmed by Trump and his Christians so they pretend that religious faith isn’t what’s pushing them together. It’s politics, they say.
For instance, the AP cited retired Catholic priest, the Rev. Peter Daly.
“He sees every opponent as someone to be shouted down or roughed up,” Daly wrote. “He is not a peacemaker.”
Six years later, the AP reported, Daly still can’t fully explain “why so many conservative Christians remain in Trump’s camp despite behavior and rhetoric ‘that are antithetical to everything they stand for.’”
It must be politics, not religion, he says. According to the AP:
“Some pro-Trump pastors have relished the proximity to power afforded during White House visits or special political events, Daly said. And some rural, white Christians ‘feel like nobody speaks for them,’ Daly added. ‘They think, “Here’s Donald Trump. He’ll be our champion.” It has nothing to do with being Christian. It’s the politics of grievance.’”
Oh, but it has everything to do with being a Christian!
This is evident by Christian supporters explaining themselves in Christian terms:
“Some evangelicals, since early in Trump’s presidency, have likened him to Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who, according to the Bible, enabled Jews to return to Israel from their exile in Babylon.” [The Jews here are metaphors for God’s chosen people.]
They explain themselves in explicitly political terms, too.
Megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffries told the AP: “In many ways, Christians feel like they are in an existential cultural war between good and evil, and they want a warrior like Donald Trump who can win.”
There’s no difference between religion and politics.
I don’t know why there’s so much resistance to stating the obvious. Any religion that supports Donald Trump, and does so in explicitly religious terms, is not a religion that anyone, especially religious people, should be defending. Christianity isn’t just one thing. There are many Christianities. What’s so bad about calling one of them bad?
Most people, especially religious people, prefer to say that the Christians who support Trump aren’t “true” or “real” Christians—as if all Christianities privilege the Bible’s more peaceful and inclusive teachings. This is not (and never has been) the case.
God’s universal love, for many Christianities, is secondary to God’s particular (non-universal) punishment of God’s enemies—of the people who stand against Donald Trump. Politics and religion are not separate. They are one. Trump’s Christians don’t pretend otherwise.
How far will these racist bigots take their crusade to take the US society back to the 1950s? Books banned not for sexual content but for the fact that the last name of the author being gay and another for the fact that an unarmed black teenager is shot. Only white cis straight morally Christian sanitized stuff is fit for people to read. Banning adult magazines for adult people is coming next. Below is a quote from the article. Hugs
“This proves, as always, that censorship is never about limiting access to this book or that one. It is about sending the message to children that certain ideas—or even certain people—are not worthy of discussion or acknowledgement or consideration,” Brassard said. “This is a hateful message in a place like a public library, where all children are meant to feel safe, and where their curiosity about the world is meant to be nurtured.”
“Read Me A Story, Stella” was added to a book list of potentially sexually explicit books at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library because the author’s last name is Gay.
“Read Me a Story, Stella” is a children’s picture book about a pair of siblings reading books together and building a doghouse. However, because the author’s name is Marie-Louise Gay, the book was added to a list of potentially “sexually explicit” books to be moved from the children’s section of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (HCPL) system.
Gay’s book has never been “mistakenly censored,” according to Kirsten Brassard, Gay’s publicist at Groundwood Books.
“Although it is obviously laughable that our picture book shows up on their list of censored books simply because the author’s last name is Gay, the ridiculousness of that fact should not detract from the seriousness of the situation,” Brassard said in a statement.
Brassard mentioned other books on the list, including Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give,” which has no LGBTQ themes or sexual content but does depict the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager at the hands of police.
“This proves, as always, that censorship is never about limiting access to this book or that one. It is about sending the message to children that certain ideas—or even certain people—are not worthy of discussion or acknowledgement or consideration,” Brassard said. “This is a hateful message in a place like a public library, where all children are meant to feel safe, and where their curiosity about the world is meant to be nurtured.”
HCPL executive director Cindy Hewitt admitted “Read Me a Story, Stella” should not have been put on the list and was added because of the keyword “gay.”
“Obviously, we’re not going to touch that book for any reason,” Hewitt said. She’s also read “The Hate U Give” and said it’s an excellent book that no librarian should remove from the young adult section. Hewitt insists there was never any intention to target the LGBTQ community. Instead, she was hoping to be “proactive instead of reactive.”
“Read Me a Story, Stella” was one of 233 titles slated to be reviewed and potentially moved. However, after internal and public criticism that the list targeted the LGBTQ community, the process was halted. Librarians moved some of the books to the adult section, and some have not been re-catalogued.
“We wanted to be proactive and allow our library staff to look at our collection and make decisions about moving material to an older age group and not have someone from outside dictating that for us,” Hewitt said. She added that HCPL considers public opinion, but “our librarians are trained in collection development, and it should be their responsibility to examine the collection and make those changes.”
Hewitt said the review was based on a list of 102 books compiled by Clean Up Alabama. Clean Up Alabama has been targeting “sexually explicit” books in libraries around the state this year. “Read Me A Story, Stella” is not on this list. She said the library was gearing up for “unprecedented” book challenges by using this list as a starting point.
AL.com received a copy of the book review list for the Madison branch and found that 91% of 233 titles had the words lesbian, gay, transgender, gender identity, or gender non-conforming in the subject header, which lists numerous themes for each book. Hewitt said the keywords she asked the 10 branch managers at HCPL to use were “sexuality, gender, sex, and dating.”
Hewitt insisted this was a miscommunication problem and there was confusion about the process. “We understand and appreciate our community, and the needs of our collection to reflect our community,” Hewitt said. “We were never eliminating any book. We were just looking at it as a whole.”
Alyx Kim-Yohn is a circulation manager at the Madison branch of the library and said it’s “cosmically ironic” that the situation escalated during Banned Books Week. Kim-Yohn was frustrated because the directive wasn’t simply a review of the books. They said this was a mandate to review and move the books based on a list from the Alabama Public Library Service, which Hewitt confirmed doesn’t exist yet.
“The decision had been made,” Kim-Yohn said. “There was no debate. There’s no conversation. This is what was happening.”
Kim-Yohn refused to participate because they said it violated their professional ethics. They said even if they weren’t queer, they wouldn’t participate.
“Why are we just unilaterally moving all of this before anyone’s even complained about these books yet?” Kim-Yohn wondered.
Hewitt said she didn’t know how many books librarians moved and returned because she took a “hands-off approach” to the process. Community members with the group Read Freely Alabama, which is against the book challenges, visited several branches and compiled a list of 40 books moved into the adult section from various branches in Madison County.
AL.com obtained this list and determined that at the time of publication, several books are designated as “adult” in the online catalog at the North Huntsville branch but “young adult” in other branches, including “A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns,” “What’s The T: The Guide to All Things Trans and/or Nonbinary,” and “We Deserve Monuments” a mystery novel about an LGBTQ biracial teen.
Kim-Yohn hopes Hewitt apologizes and hopes this never happens again. They also want to encourage the public to visit libraries and utilize staff despite this incident.
“If you’re mad, what we need you to do is to come check these books out, come to story times, put in purchase requests for books that you want to see,” Kim-Yohn said. “We need you to keep supporting the library.”
The books in question were checked out or renewed more than 8,000 times. The full list of books slated for review and potential relocation is below.
Franklin, Tennessee Alderman Gabrielle Hanson (Image from Hanson for Mayor campaign video)
Members of the white supremacist Tennessee Active Club provided security for Gabrielle Hanson, a Moms for Liberty-backed alderman in Franklin, Tennessee, and current candidate for mayor, at a recent candidate forum, according to local reporter Phil Williams of News Channel 5.
The Tennessee Active Club is one of the “prominent cells” in a rapidly growing network of groups that promote violent white supremacist ideology and provide training in combat sports, according to a recent report by The Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson. Like other far-right groups, Active Clubs “recruit with narratives of white victimhood” and see themselves as militias in training for future violent conflict.
Earlier this year, SPLC reported that the Tennessee Active Club has been training above the Lewis Country Store in Nashville, whose owner Brad Lewis responded to the report by declaring on Telegram, “I’m not a cuckservative, I’m an actual literal Nazi.” This week, Lewis told reporter Williams that he is a friend of Hanson’s and that the Active Club members were on hand at the forum because Hanson had received credible threats.
Alderman Hanson was cheered on by the Williamson County Moms for Liberty chapter this year when she led an unsuccessfuleffort to prevent the city’s annual Pride celebration from being held. Robin Steenland, head of Williamson County Moms for Liberty chapter, portrayed the campaign to stop Pride as a battle between good and evil, a struggle against a “social change agenda” that seeks the “destruction” of family, Christianity, and America itself. The county M4L chapter has also complained about curricular materials that teach students about the civil rights movement and seahorses.
M4L chapter president Steenland is also founder and chair of Williamson Families PAC, which claims to support candidates “that reflect our family values and demonstrate integrity, wisdom, and service to the community.” Whatever the PAC means by family values or integrity did not prevent it from endorsing Hanson, who has, to be generous, a checkered relationship with telling the truth.
A few weeks ago, Hanson was exposed for using women’s social media posts to falsely portray them as supporters of her campaign—and then repeatedly lying about it. News Channel 5 also caught her lying about her previous use of an alias. Hanson supporters tried to prevent from reporter Phil Williams from attending a Sept. 25 forum.
Back in April, Hanson claimed to have “full knowledge” from an inside source that a shooting at a Nashville Christian school involved a scandalous “love triangle,” and she stood by her claims even when she was called out for lying about the shooting. Her statements led to an ethics investigation, but the city’s ethics commission concluded that her comments were protected by the First Amendment and did not violate city ordinances.
The mayoral election will be held on Oct. 24; early voting begins Wednesday, Oct. 4.
Read the full article. Hanson recently appeared on JMG for her attempts to ban Franklin Pride, for being exposed for her history of arrests for facilitating prostitution, for using the photos of minority woman who don’t know her and claiming that they are her supporters, and for encouraging her husband to march in Chicago Pride wearing nothing but a Speedo.
At a candidate forum in Franklin, Tennessee, where members of the white supremacist group Tennessee Active Club are here, saying they are providing security for Gabrielle @HansonforMayor. 1/ pic.twitter.com/Yi6x7dDsey
I asked Ms. Hanson whether these are people with whom she should be associating as a candidate for Franklin mayor. She ignored the question. Then a couple of her supporters intervened. pic.twitter.com/G9cDsNifx3
Behind every man in a klan robe is a woman that washed and ironed it, fed and cleaned up after him, put up with his shitty sexual skills and raised his miserable spawn. It’s no wonder they are filled with nothing but hate, rage and christianity.
Just worried that what just happened to Josh Kruger in Philly could happen to another like him. Report on anti-LGBTQ+ violence, police violence and corruption, get shot in the chest seven times in your home.
This week, Lewis told reporter Williams that he is a friend of Hanson’s and that the Active Club members were on hand at the forum because Hanson had received credible threats. Hanson is afraid of protestors who might tell supporters the truth about her.
I’ve seen open Nazis since the 80s but mainstream politicians never associated with them this is a new thing. Its hardly a brain trust Tennesee has an economy less than half the size of major cities in the US.
Some news this morning: A pair of the supremacists and nazis who attended Tuesday's forum in support of Hanson went to Red Pony on Main Street that night and harrased a bartender. They proclaimed themselves as Nazis and started throwing Heil Hitler salutes.
It’s just idiots wanting ‘cred’ for bravely sacrificing for their belief in white supremacy, but without actually risking losing their jobs or being excluded from polite society if they were doxxed.
There’s another Dominionist racist loser. I didn’t know she was a prostitute (I actually don’t care if people are sex workers). Yet it’s rather hypocritical of her as the MAGAts will lap it up. Plus, she somehow will claim she’s being persecuted for being thought of poorly, just like Jesus and Trampy Trump.
A quote below is the reason. We can not have anything not supporting racism and Christian nationalist 1950s strict gender roles in society / public view. We really must stop this religious racist take over of the country. Again a person born in the early part of the last century making decisions against modern society. Governor Ivey was born October 15, 1944. She is 79 years old. She can not accept the changes in society, in medical science, in the understandings we have learned since she was in her prime. She is extremely against the LGBTQIA and doesn’t support them having any rights. She believes that the nation was a founded as a religious nation and that attempts to stop the push of Christianity on kids in public schools via government is “destroying our nation’s religious heritage.” So, another Christian nationalist. Hugs
Emails show that during the legislative session in April, the Governor’s office received a document, created by Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellvillle, that highlighted passages from the book referencing systemic racism, white privilege and LGTBQ families.
“I have been told by multiple education groups that ‘divisive concepts’ are not in our schools, yet the material I read was offensive to me and the majority of the people I represent,” Kiel said at the time.
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AL.com received this photo of disposed teacher training manuals, which was taken at a Montgomery waste recycling plant on May 2, 2023. Gov. Kay Ivey disavowed a teaching manual from the National Association for the Education of Young Children in April 2023.
After Alabama’s governor ousted a top state official over a “woke” pre-K training manual, officials dumped dozens of the books, totaling thousands of dollars, in the trash.
A photograph shows more than 100 manuals, newly bought from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, scattered across the floor of a Montgomery waste recycling plant about 5 miles from the offices of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education.
The photo was taken May 2, a day after ADECE Secretary Barbara Cooper left office amid legislative pressure.
The person who took the photograph requested to remain anonymous. AL.com has confirmed the date and location of the photo. The books and registrations cost $165 apiece, according to officials. AL.com estimates the materials in the photo initially cost the department at least $16,500.
Just a year ago, officials spent $37,950 to buy 230 book registrations of the fourth edition of NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practices manual.
The books, a common teacher development tool, are not meant to be read as curriculum, but are supposed to help early childhood educators hone their skills in the classroom. Some passages of the manual’s fourth edition encouraged educators to consider their own biases and the social and cultural backgrounds of their students.
NAEYC is a leading national preschool group that accredits hundreds of high-quality early childcare facilities. Cooper, who was also a member of the group’s governing board, praised the new manual in a review, stating that it “fully supports our practice in the field of early learning and care.”
But months later, a complaint from a lawmaker forced a complete cleanout of the books – and Cooper’s sudden departure.
Emails show that during the legislative session in April, the Governor’s office received a document, created by Rep. Jamie Kiel, R-Russellvillle, that highlighted passages from the book referencing systemic racism, white privilege and LGTBQ families.
Kiel said he created the document after receiving a complaint from an educator.
“I have been told by multiple education groups that ‘divisive concepts’ are not in our schools, yet the material I read was offensive to me and the majority of the people I represent,” Kiel said at the time.
On April 13, Liz Filmore, the governor’s chief of staff, shared a copy of the document with Cooper, asking her to review the materials. Filmore called the complaint “obviously concerning!”
In a memo released a day later, Cooper disavowed the books, calling them “unacceptable” and asking staffers to promptly return the materials to their supervisors.
Then on April 21, a week later, Ivey abruptly announced Cooper’s resignation.
“The education of Alabama’s children is my top priority as governor, and there is absolutely no room to distract or take away from this mission,” the governor wrote. “Let me be crystal clear: Woke concepts that have zero to do with a proper education and that are divisive at the core have no place in Alabama classrooms at any age level, let alone with our youngest learners. We want our children to be focused on the fundamentals, such as reading and math.”
Ivey later told reporters that the two had “mutually agreed” to part ways after a conversation about the “direction” the department was going in.
But the extent of the fallout from Cooper’s ousting – including what actually happened to all of the tens of thousands of dollars worth of manuals and other NAEYC products – is unclear.
Neither Gina Maiola, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, nor Samuel Adams, a spokesman for ADECE, initially responded to questions about where the books were stored, or whether officials had taken any steps to resell or donate them.
After AL.com presented officials with the photo of the books at the scrap yard, Maiola issued the following response:
“The governor immediately directed the department to disavow and discontinue the book,” she said. “That was done.”
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A Flourish table
By Peter Montgomery | October 4, 2023 11:38 am
Franklin, Tennessee Alderman Gabrielle Hanson (Image from Hanson for Mayor campaign video)
Scottie's Playtime 