Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten is lying again! 

She and her allies want you to believe that right wing extremists are banning books in our nation’s public schools, depriving bright students of the classic books that heretofore have nurtured generations of learners. She claims thousands of books have already been banned–most having to do with Black history and the LGBTQ+ community.

This simply isn’t true!

First of all, no one is calling for book bans. Instead, concerned and involved parents are asking school officials to use discernment when choosing the books that are available in their child’s school libraries. No one is pestering Amazon or other businesses to stop selling these books (which can’t be said of radical activists, who regularly bully book sellers into dropping conservative authors). Parents having a say in what their children read at school is not book banning!

That’s called being a good parent!

It’s also important to note that Randi’s figures on the number of books that have been removed from school libraries is based on a bad faith expansion of the definition of the word “ban” by a radical organization called PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) America. In fact, among the books that Randi claims are “banned” can be found in schools. They are books that have been temporarily removed from shelves so that they can be reviewed for age appropriateness, books that have been moved to a guidance counselor’s office (due to their pornographic content), books that require parental notification before checkout, and books that are reserved for older students. That’s hardly Nazi-style book burning in the school courtyard–a vision Randi desperately wants to convey.

We know that young children are incredibly observant and impressionable but they are not developmentally able to understand complex concepts like sexual and gender identity. Society has long provided guidance and guard rails so that children and teenagers are protected and can navigate the world in a safe way so that they reach adulthood as healthy and productive adults prepared to live meaningful lives.

It’s a shame that parents now need to be on guard for what their children might find on library shelves in their own school, but it’s a job parents must now perform in order to protect their kids.

Learn more about the issue HERE.