MAS News: Don't mess with librarians!

by David Safier

When I was a young teacher, I was surprised more than once when a sweet, gray haired, conservatively dressed librarian would talk, voice quivering with passion, about the right to have books in the high school library some community members found objectionable. Occasionally, I'd ask, "Really? That's in our library?" Librarians are passionate advocates for people's right to read what they choose.

So it didn't surprise me when the American Library Association came out with a strongly worded resolution in January against the MAS text ban at TUSD. Now the association is publicizing the upcoming Librotraficante (book trafficking) caravan scheduled to leave Houston for Tucson March 12.

Educators in the Houston metro area are readying a “book trafficker” caravan that would travel March 12–18 from Houston, Texas, to Tucson, Arizona, to donate books about the Mexican-American experience to four volunteer libraries. The donations are meant to counter the January removal of at least seven titles from Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) classrooms, where they had been taught as part of the district’s now-outlawed Mexican-American Studies (MAS) program. Reminiscent of the Occupy Wall Street Library movement, the book traffickers, or Libro Traficante, organized by Houston Community College professor Tony Diaz, plan to contribute titles to underground libraries in Houston, San Antonio, Albuquerque, and Tucson.

You've got to love the language these folks have created for their caravan. "Librotraficante" is terrific. As good or better is referring to the texts as "Wet Books." You can watch a short, inspired video on the Librogtraficante website with "Tony" standing in front of his car stuffed with the wet books he's trafficking.

"Me, and my fellow librotraficantes, will be smuggling contraband books back into Arizona."

Watch it.

Comments

[Cheri]

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/02/librotraficantes_to_smuggle_banned_books_in_to_arizona.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+racewireblog+%28ColorLines%29

“When we heard that Tucson Unified School District administrators not only prohibited Mexican-American Studies, but then walked into classrooms, and in front of young Latino students, during class time, removed and boxed up books by our most beloved authors - that was too much. This offended us down to our soul. We had to respond,” said Tony Diaz, founder of Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, which has led the charge.

They can use our help. If you are in a position to do so, please do.

[Dan Kleinman]

"[T]he American Library Association came out with a strongly worded resolution in January against the MAS text ban at TUSD."

Yes, it did, but there was no book banning. Rather, the curriculum was removed. That is a serious issue in and of itself. But it is not "book banning."

The ALA used the TUSD community to promote its false book banning efforts. In reality, no book has been banned in the US for half a century. http://www.317am.net/2011/08/banned-book-favorites-fanny-hill-reprise.html

So ignore the ALA's cynical, political use of the TUSD community and please get back to the real issue, namely, the removal of the curriculum.

"Don't mess with librarians!"? I agree. But most librarians are embarrassed by the ALA persistently inserting its political goals into non-library areas, such as, in this case, state laws regarding school curricula.