A county that fictionalized the colonization of Texas Native Americans by European settlers.
In Montgomery County, near Houston, this is due to a Citizen Review Board's decision, at the behest of right-wing activists, to place Linda Coombs' Decolonization and Wampanoack History in the fiction section of libraries children.
This book aims to give young readers a historical look at colonial New England from the perspective of the natives. PEN America is a nonprofit group that defends free expression in literature.
It was published in September 2023 by Penguin Random House as one of five titles in the Race for Truth series of similarly themed stories for middle grades. Other books include Slavery and the African American Story by Patricia Williams Dockery and This Land by Ashley Fairbanks.
“Calling this book fiction rejects our perspective and history,” Debbie Reese, founder of American Indians in Children's Literature, said in a statement.
“Books like Colonization and The Wampanoack Story are important for Native children because they affirm who we are today as Native people. But they are for non-native children because those children are formed by the information in books. This country would be better if we all knew history better.
The Houston Public Library, the Austin Public Library, the Fort Worth Public Library, and the Library of Congress recognize it as a work of nonfiction. San Antonio Current Newspaper.
The decision to reclassify the book was made without the involvement of any librarians, Current reported. It sparked outrage in September when the Citizen Review Board approved the reclassification after a challenge from an Eastside resident. District of Texas.
Montgomery officials, following a national trend, bowed to pressure from conservatives to establish a mechanism for banning books that some members of the public considered objectionable. According to the Texas Freedom to Read Project, the committee was originally empowered to rate books deemed “sexually explicit,” but has expanded its scope.
The project launched a petition that has so far accumulated after submitting a public information request to find out which books have been challenged. More than 34,000 signatures demand that commissioners restore the book to its “rightful place in the Montgomery County Memorial Public Library's youth nonfiction collection.”
“As Texas parents, we oppose the actions taken by the Citizen Review Board to reclassify a nonfiction book as fiction,” said Ann Russi, co-founder of the group.
“If this decision is allowed to stand, what would stop elected officials or their politically appointed surrogates from reclassifying other nonfiction books that contain perspectives, facts, or ideas they don't like or agree with?”
The Montgomery Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to PEN America, Texas ranks second in book bans with 1,567 titles removed between July 2021 and December 2023. Only Florida has banned it, with 5,107.
Antonio Díaz, a member of the Texas Native Council, told Current that the state has a long history of “whitewashing” tribal history.
“While it is sad that any government agency would allow individuals to use such a bigoted and biased policy, it is not surprising in Texas,” he said. “Racism is rampant.”
