SHINING A LIGHT ON WEIMAR AMERICA: Senator Kennedy Reads From Gender Queer During Judiciary Committee Hearing.
Addressing [Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias], Kennedy said: “Now, Mr. Secretary what are you asking us to do? Are you suggesting that only librarians should decide whether the two books I just referenced should be available to kids? is that what you’re saying? Tell me what you’re saying.”
“First of all, with all due respect senator, the words you spoke are disturbing, especially coming out of your mouth, is very disturbing,” Giannoulias replied. Despite his actions in Illinois, he added: “But I will also tell you that we’re not advocating for kids to read porn.”
Giannoulias then appeared to argue that parents should not have the right “to try and challenge the worldview” of those who want to push LGBTQ themes on children.
“We are advocating for parents, random parents, not to have the ability under the guise of keeping kids safe to try and challenge the worldview of every single manner on this issue,” he said.
“You’re getting conceptual again,” Kennedy shot back. “Because I want to know what you’re recommending. It sounds to me like some of you are saying the librarians should decide who gets to see that book.”
The Secretary again argued that parents cannot be trusted to decide what’s appropriate for their children.
“I’m saying when individual parents are allowed to make that decision of where that line is, then “To Kill A Mockingbird,” which involves a rape scene, should that book be pulled from our libraries? I think it becomes a slippery slope,” he said.
But it’s Giannoulias’ fellow leftists who are already banning Mockingbird: Self-Own: California Gov. Gavin Newsom Poses with To Kill a Mockingbird, Banned by District in Own State.
Aside from mockery online by those who were incredulous that he had not read most of the books already, since several are common in school curricula, some pointed out that Newsom was mocking other states despite California’s own examples of censorship.
To Kill a Mockingbird was recently banned, at least temporarily, by schools in Burbank, California, among other classic books, over concerns about “racism” and the use of racial slurs in the text. As Newsweek reported at the time:
Middle and high school English teachers in the Burbank Unified School District received the news during a virtual meeting on September 9.
Until further notice, teachers in the area will not be able to include on their curriculum Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Theodore Taylor’s The Cay and Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Four parents, three of whom are Black, challenged the classic novels for alleged potential harm to the district’s roughly 400 Black students.
Flashback: Atticus Finch: American literature’s most celebrated rape apologist.
