The Girl Scout who created “book nooks,” little libraries carrying the titles that were removed from Hanover County Public Schools over the past year, spoke to the County Board of Supervisors this week.
Kate Lindley said that supervisors had “bestowed” an honor upon her greater than any proclamation when it “censored” a proclamation for her winning a Girl Scout Gold Award.
A supervisor during the meeting Wednesday told the crowd supporting Lindley that proclamations are ultimately issued by the board and while requests can be made, board members have the right to vote on the wording for an award.
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Lindley, a Hanover resident and senior at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, created her “Free to Read” project that included, among other initiatives, book nooks at local businesses that made books banned from Hanover County school libraries available to read.
The project won a Gold Award, the Girl Scouts’ highest honor. To date, that project has grown from 91 books to more than 438 books — many titles have been removed from schools across the country — largely through donations adding up to more than $3,600.
In recognizing five Hanover Girl Scouts for winning a Gold Award, the Hanover Board of Supervisors singled out Lindley’s proclamation. New wording for her proclamation omitted the word “banned,” all references to “censorship” and the location of each book nook.
Instead of explaining that Lindley’s project included information about why each book was banned, why they are valuable and where they can be found, the proclamation read that her project identifies “locations where books were available outside Hanover County Public School Libraries.”
“I would like to let you, the Board of Supervisors know, that you have bestowed upon me the greatest honor you could. Greater than that of any proclamation, in your censorship of my Gold Award,” Lindley said. “You have shown the world that you are afraid to call something what it is, be that a banned book or a deselected one.”
She then read the original wording that was submitted for the award.
Because Hanover’s School Board members are appointed, versus elected, school issues sometimes come to the feet of the supervisors who appoint them.
Hanover County Public Schools has removed around 100 books from its school libraries this past year. It started with the removal of a clutch of 19 books last June through a majority school board vote. The board later directed staff to begin a process that resulted in the removal of a further 75 books.
A nationwide trend has seen similar struggles in school libraries across the country, with many protests saying that book bans or removals were targeted at books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes, characters of color or alternative societal structures.
Books removed from Hanover County schools included some of the nation’s most controversial titles, such as Juno Dawson’s “This Book is Gay,” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue.” It also included classics such as Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five.”
All the while, the School Board and Hanover residents supporting the School Board’s decisions say the removed books contained sexual content that was not suitable for school-aged children.
Several others spoke in front of Hanover’s board Wednesday night in support of Lindley. Many were wearing Girl Scout uniforms or explained that they had been Girl Scouts in the county when they were in school.
Cold Harbor Supervisor F. Michael Herzberg IV told residents that it is ultimately up to the board when it comes to the wording for any proclamation.
“Proclamations are not a right, they’re not guaranteed. As a board member I have the right to support the request or not. There has been another request that has been made that I didn’t support previously,” Herzberg said.
He continued to support the School Board’s majority opinion that books were “deselected” for containing “pornography” and explicit content.
“I support their decision. Books that contain pornography, sexually explicit content, do not have my support. I’m not going to celebrate them during banned book week, any of that,” Herzberg said.
He opened one book, announcing that he would not show it to the audience but that he would show it to other board members, saying that it depicted a sexual position.
Several people in the crowd said that the book was never available in school libraries.
Herzberg read a passage from the book that referred to pornography as a “fun, sugary, treat,” and mentioned the idea of consuming “too much” pornography.
“That is not educational, that is not appropriate to be in taxpayer funded libraries. It’s not appropriate to be in front of children,” Herzberg said. “I represent 14,000 people or so … and I know they all don’t agree with me … the overwhelming majority of citizens, taxpayers and residents told me that they did not want that kind of material in the public school system.”