The Patriot Post® · Madam Marxist Librarian

By Thomas Gallatin ·
https://patriotpost.us/articles/99507-madam-marxist-librarian-2023-08-09

The current president of the American Library Association, Emily Drabinski, evidently finds herself in a state of bewilderment. According to a recent article from NBC News, the self-identified lesbian and avowed Marxist is surprised at the critical pushback she and the ALA have gotten since she took over America’s oldest and largest library association a little over a year ago.

In April 2022, Drabinski was stunned at her unexpected rise to head of the organization, and she posted in a since-deleted tweet: “I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary. I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity!”

Well, evidently unbeknownst to Drabinski, that revelation ignited a conservative resistance movement among librarians across the nation. Montana was the first state to officially sever ties with the ALA, and several others are lining up to do the same. Drabinski is seemingly perplexed over a significant percentage of the country now rejecting the once popular and highly esteemed organization.

As Drabinski told NBC, “I was excited to highlight and celebrate two aspects of my identity that are really important to me, and are often under a lot of scrutiny.” She continued: “I didn’t anticipate these kinds of targeted attacks being used as a bludgeon against library workers across the country. I really think that is regrettable, and I wish that wasn’t happening right now.”

NBC, naturally, was sympathetic, blaming “backlash” on “right-wing activists.” Strangely, the word “left,” much less “left-wing activist,” is nowhere in the article to describe Drabinski.

The supposed “backlash” and “targeted attacks” actually appear to be public criticism and legislative efforts by states like Montana to disassociate with the ALA, which has clearly lost touch with the values of a significant portion of the country and especially with parents.

When the Montana State Library Commission voted to withdraw its membership from the ALA, there was no mealy-mouthed mincing of words in explanation. Rather, as board member Tom Burnett explained, “Our oath of office and resulting duty to the Constitution forbids association with an organization led by a Marxist.”

Following the commission’s vote, one parent favorably observed, “I think this is a really good move to send a really clear signal to our national organizations that we are not in agreement with the direction they are taking these organizations.”

Drabinski represents what is wrong with organizations like the ALA — they have embraced radical leftist ideology. Drabinski has openly and unapologetically done so. Marxist values are inherently antithetical to the fundamental values and principles of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” upon which the U.S. was founded.

It would appear the reason NBC sought to elevate this story is to lend support to the Left’s false framing of the parents’ rights movement as an anti-free-speech “book banning” mob. For NBC, Drabinski is not the villain seeking to corrupt the minds of America’s youth with radical leftist ideology, but rather the victim of a “hate” campaign that seeks to enact book bans, censor speech, and prevent her from encouraging kids to discover their authentic selves.

The claim is as disingenuous as the Democrats’ claim that election integrity laws threaten democracy.

Libraries have long existed to serve their local communities. Thus, the notion that members of the community voicing objection to their libraries containing pornographic materials specifically aimed at grooming children amounts to a cry for “book banning” and “censorship” is disingenuous.

Furthermore, libraries have increasingly become focal points used by the radical Left to promote its radical gender-bending ideology with such things as “Drag Queen Story Hour.” No less than Barack Obama served to demonstrate this indoctrination reality, as he weighed in: “Today, some of the books that shaped my life — and the lives of so many others — are being challenged by people who disagree with certain ideas or perspectives. It’s no coincidence that these ‘banned books’ are often written by or feature people of color, indigenous people, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Representative John Bear (R-WY) makes a connection between the modern Marxist movement and the radical effort to sexualize children. “The ALA has allowed this political point of view to infiltrate every aspect of their training,” he argues. “And their trainings are just completely full of things like, how to deal with parents who don’t appreciate the type of materials that are available to children in the library, how to deal with your state legislature or your local government.” It’s indoctrination, not education.

What the ALA is witnessing is the waking up of the pro-America contingent of the population, who have realized that they cannot simply buy the disingenuous arguments from the Left as they watch their values attacked and see their Liberty erode. Parents, not the state, have the primary role in raising their own children. The ALA has taken advantage of and abused parents’ trust, and now parents are pushing back and saying, “No more — not in our town, our state, our nation.”