Last Updated on 03/09/2024 by Arun jain
One Sunday morning two years ago, Amanda Jones, a middle school librarian in Watson, La., woke up and saw an email on her phone that made her shudder and gasp.
A shocking message from a stranger accused her of being a pedophile and groomer and concluded with the threat: “You can’t hide. We know where you work + live. You’ve got a big target on your back,” he says. “Click… click… see you soon!”
It was part of the online threats and harassment Jones has faced since the summer of 2022, when she was one of about 20 people to speak out against the book’s ban during a July meeting at her local public library.
A fight broke out over whether the library should remove books with content deemed inappropriate for children. Like many Librarian Across the country, Jones found himself embroiled in a bitter battle over which books are in libraries — a debate that has divided communities and school boards since the books were banned. bounce In the United States.
But the attacks on Jones have been especially sharp and persistent, because of her response: she fought back.
After social media commenters accused her of sexualizing children, Jones filed a defamation lawsuit against the two men and the organization Citizens for a New Louisiana, a group that had pushed to keep books it deemed erotic or sexual out of the children’s section. were done. Libraries She co-founded Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship, which lobby against Legislation that would place new restrictions on libraries. And the threat of that censorship and a memoir to librarians, “That Librarian,” which Bloomsbury published last month, are highlighting the pressure.
“Before all this, I was just a school librarian, but they wanted to silence me, so I thought I’d do the exact opposite and become an activist,” Jones said during a phone interview. “What we’re seeing now are full-scale attacks on people’s characters if they stand up for the books. The level of hate and vitriol is unreal to me.
As books about LGBTQ issues, sexual health and race and racism Targeted for removal, libraries have become a new battleground A bitter culture war. sweeping Laws imposing restrictions More than a dozen states have passed on library materials. Librarians — who are trained to curate collections that reflect a range of political views and topics — have quit their jobs after being harassed for protesting the book ban, or have been fired after refusing to remove the books. Some have been reported to the police by community members who accuse them of peddling pornography.
“We are seeing increased attacks on librarians and libraries, from character assassinations and the use of social media to incite and intimidate, to bomb threats,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s intellectual office. Independence.
A handful of librarians like Jones have turned to the courts to clear their names.
In 2023, a high school librarian in New Jersey brought Roxana Cavanaugh Defamation suit Against a group of parents who vilified her online and at school board meetings, in some cases calling her a pornographer and child predator because she compiled a graphic memoir.Gender QueerCavano, who is represented in the case by her husband, argued to keep the book on the shelves.
In the fall, the former director of the Campbell County Public Library in Wyoming was fired after refusing to remove controversial books from the library’s children and young adults section in Gillette, Wyo. Federal lawsuit for defamation and violation of his civil rights. The librarian, Terri Leslie, filed suit against three community members who accused her of providing obscene material to children, and reported her to the county sheriff’s office in an attempt to have her arrested.
And earlier this year, Suzette Baker, a former librarian in Llano County, Texas, brought a lawsuit against library officials and the county, arguing that her First and 14th Amendment rights were violated when she was fired after refusing to remove the contested books from circulation. All three librarians are suing; Baker and Leslie, who are both represented by Denver-based civil rights attorney Iris Halpern, have argued that they have been discriminated against and retaliated against for defending books that deal with race or LGBTQ issues.
A lifelong resident of Watson, a small town near Baton Rouge, Jones, 46, was raised in a politically conservative Southern Baptist family, the daughter of a mechanic and a kindergarten and Sunday school teacher. She met her husband, also a Watson native, when they were in first grade. She has been a teacher and librarian at Watson for 23 years, working at the same school she attended as a girl.
She never considered calling home anywhere else.
Two years ago, Jones’ life was turned upside down overnight. It started when she noticed that her local public library listed “book materials” on its board meeting agenda. At the meeting, the board member said she was concerned about books for children and young adults that contained “inappropriate” content, but did not specify specific titles in her public comments.
When members of the public were invited to comment, Jones spoke first and argued that libraries need to reflect a wider range of ideas. “Just because you don’t want to read or see it doesn’t give you the right to refuse others or demand its transfer,” she said. “If we remove or relocate books with LGBTQ or sexual health content, what message does that send to members of our community?”
The blow was bad. A group called Citizens for a New Louisiana — which, according to its website, wants to “remove taxpayer-funded pornography, erotica and gender dysphoria propaganda from the children’s section of library systems” — posted a photo of Jones on its Facebook page. . The photo’s caption asked, “Why is she fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic content in the children’s section?”
Another message on Facebook, posted by a local resident, accused Jones of “advocating to teach anal sex to 11-year-olds”.
Jones was stunned. She did not mention any particular books in the meeting, and was certain that there was no obscene material in the library.
Facebook posts flooded her with comments calling her a pervert, a sick pig and a piece of trash. Commenters said she should be fired. She received death threats. She recognized the names of some of the people who had shared negative posts about her — people she had known since kindergarten, parents of her former students, members of her church, people she considered friends.
As the invasion continued, Jones began having panic attacks. In the weeks and months that followed, she fell into depression and became so stressed that she started losing her hair. She struggled to eat and lost weight. Eventually she took a leave of absence from her job.
Jones, who has a teenage daughter, is concerned for her family’s safety. She began carrying Tasers, maces and handguns and installed security cameras in her home and car. She was afraid to go to restaurants, worried that someone would spit in her food. When she went to her daughter’s band concert, other parents around her whispered and stared.
Two years later, she still feels like an outcast, she said. She now delivers her groceries. She stopped going to church, and instead sat at home studying the Bible online.
“I’m a town pariah now,” Jones said. “I am called a pervert. I can’t go to the grocery store or the store without being named.
Jones’ friend Andrea Trudeau, a library information specialist at a middle school in Illinois, said she was concerned about Jones’ safety and mental health.
“She’s carrying a very heavy burden,” she said. “She’s working in the community where she lives, and she can’t escape that.”
Jones knew that filing a lawsuit would expose her to more criticism, but she decided she needed to defend herself. In the fall of 2022, she filed a defamation lawsuit against Michael Lunsford, executive director of Citizens of New Louisiana, and a man who posted a meme with her photo claiming she supports teaching 11-year-olds about anal sex.
The lawsuit was dismissed less than a month later, when a judge ruled that the defendants were expressing their views online and did not defame Jones. After the high court refused to hear her appeal, Jones recently asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to review the decision, and is still seeking to take her case to trial.
“The crazy thing about this case is that they’re flying the flag of free speech in the lawsuit, but all they want to do is ban the books,” said Jones’ lawyer, Alison Mills, who is based in New Orleans. Background to First Amendment Law. “What we’ve been arguing ever since is that you don’t have to agree with Amanda to see the injustice of her situation.”
Jones has paid his legal fees, which so far total more than $60,000, with the help of a GoFundMe campaign.
Lunsford – who has continued to post negative comments and videos about Jones – disputed that he or his group defamed her.
“We reported what she said in the meeting – it was not defamatory,” he said.
He said his organization has continued to focus on Jones because she has lobbied against measures that would have required libraries to remove sexually explicit material from children’s and young adult sections. “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy” and “Let’s Talk About It,” a sex education guide for teens aimed at high school-aged readers and featuring graphic depictions of people, titled the group’s objects. is Having sex and masturbating.
“She is actively engaged in this war,” he said.
With the publicity surrounding her book, Jones said online attacks have increased again.
Her family members declined to be interviewed for this article because they feared they too would be targeted online, she said. Lunsford, in a recent YouTube video, cringed when she put her home address on the screen when she pulled up a business filing for Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship to show she was listed as one of the organization’s directors.
“She’s Banana Jones, the girl who sued us because she couldn’t stand the heat,” he says while pointing out his address. Asked about the video in an interview, Lunsford said she had “no idea” it was her home address and that she was simply sharing public business records.
Still, there have been hopeful moments for Jones. Alumni have reached out with messages of support. Writers whose books have been banned have praised her memoirs, including Nikki Grimes, Jodi Picoult and Ellen Oh.
And Jones is hearing from other librarians around the country. Some are grateful that she has taken a stand. Others shared harrowing stories about the harassment they faced for protesting the book’s ban.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Jones said. “It’s very difficult, because I can’t tell them it’s going to get better, because there’s no guarantee it will.”
Post From school librarian to activist: ‘The hate level and the vitriol is unreal’ appeared first New York Times.