The intoxicating smell of old books and ink. The hushed whispers of those looking for the world they will find through the pages of a well-crafted story. The delight on a child’s face as he hears about the Land of Nod or Winnie-the-Pooh. All these are what I expected to see in a trip to the Autauga-Prattville Library.
But one morning, several homeschool moms found something they never dreamed they would find in our small-town library. Picking a random book off the shelf in the children’s section, they were shocked to find material on transgenderism. Before long, they identified 80 other books readily available to children from preschool to high school addressing LGBTQ, transgenderism, sexual content, and even offering obscene depictions of deviant sex.
Seven of the worst books were submitted to the head librarian. Surely, these mothers thought, this was just an oversight that would be remedied once the librarians were alerted to the issue. After waiting the requisite two weeks for review they were astonished to find the library intended to do … NOTHING.
Unsatisfied with the staff’s callous response, these parents ratcheted up the pressure, starting an online petition that garnered 350 signatures within days. Parents and grandparents also showed up in force at the next city council and county commission meeting.
But the Prattville City Council was indifferent, claiming they couldn’t get involved with how the library was run, even though they appointed four of the seven library board members and provided $355,000 of the library’s $700,000 budget. “They are speaking to the wind,” Chairwoman Laura Lee Boon said.
Not willing to let it go, parents showed up with the actual books at the next meeting. Book excerpts were read publicly, causing the leaders of a Boy Scout Troop to hastily herd their charges out of the room.
As concerned citizens arrived for the next city council meeting, they were informed that the council had decided outside their meeting to curtail the free speech of attendees, refusing them the right to read excerpts from printed material. Police officers were on hand to remove those who violated the new rule. The mayor remarked that he was “65 years old but very red-faced” at the readings that took place during the previous meeting. (Remember, the readings were from books located in the children’s library where any child could read them.)
At the next meeting, Hannah Rees, one of the founders of Clean Up Prattville, brought over a dozen pornographic books found in our children’s library and began to describe their content, making sure not to read from them. Rees was interrupted by Boone, who told her using such language risked forfeiting her speaking time. Undeterred, Rees continued describing the graphic sexual content from the teen section of our library. You can't say these things here!” Boone interrupted. “This meeting is livestreamed and there could be children watching!”
Eagle Forum of Alabama is grateful to these brave parents and citizens for standing up to those trying to groom our children, spoil their innocence, and make the difficult job of parenting even more difficult. We have partnered with Clean Up Prattville to form Clean Up Alabama, forming groups across the state to examine their local libraries. Unfortunately, this problem exists in most of the libraries examined so far. While Clean Up Prattville targeted their local leaders, Clean Up Alabama has partnered with Eagle Forum of Alabama to address the issue at a state level during the Alabama Public Library System (APLS) meeting.
Clean Up Alabama believes that the source of this skewed thinking is the involvement of the American Library Association (ALA). They exist to teach Marxist ideals to current and future librarians, to provide lists of books containing obscene or sexual content, and to assist them in fighting ANY effort to restrict ANY person’s access to ANY book, no matter what age. In our opinion, only complete disaffiliation with the ALA is acceptable.
This fight has garnered the attention of several state lawmakers and Gov. Kay Ivey, who intend to make changes to state laws to protect the innocence of Alabama’s children. This effort at the state level has succeeded in replacing all members of the APLS board who were standing against these citizen-led efforts.
It's been almost a year since this battle began. We heard that Prattville City Council President Lora Lee Boone stated she believed we would give up after a few meetings if they just stayed strong. She couldn't have been more wrong.
What have we accomplished this year? Not only have we replaced every single member of the Prattville-Autauga Library Board, we have also passed every reform we asked for, including:
Age-restricted library cards for children
Warning labels on sexual content books in the adult section
Ban on buying children’s books with sexual content
Removal of all books with sexual content from the children’s library
So, the moral of this story is that fear (of being targeted or canceled) is contagious, but courage is also contagious. A few people CAN make a HUGE difference. So, “let us not be wearing in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (Gal. 6:9)
This article is adapted from a speech delivered at Eagle Forum’s One Day Policy Conference in February 2024.
Lori Herring is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a retired RN, retired homeschool mom to four grown sons and three grandchildren. She serves on the Board of Eagle Forum of Alabama, on the Legislative team, and is the Director of Special Projects.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819News.com.
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