Independent Lens

I never imagined what's happening right now could ever happen.

It didn't dawn on us that we would come under attack.

Narrator: Do you like people?

Have you a real love of books and learning?

You may well consider the vocation of a librarian.

Anonymous Librarian: We just never imagined we would be in the forefront.

We're not supposed to necessarily be seen and felt.

We're stewards of the space, stewards of the resources, we're the stewards for the people.

Now I think we've moved into a vanguard.

We have to be out in front telling the story.

It's about us.

[Film chattering] News Anchor: Texas Republicans are launching an investigation into what types of books school districts have, specifically ones that pertain to race and sexuality.

Reporter: In a letter to the Texas Education Agency, lawmakers pointed to Texas districts that recently removed books from classrooms after parent complaints.

Reporter: Republican State Representative, Matt Krause of Fort Worth, sent this list of 850 books to a number of public school districts.

We were right there in the crosshairs of this rising call.

So we felt like everything that we did was being watched.

Woman: It's not just 850 books, which we've all fixated on.

He says, "And any other books."

I'm just immediately angry, because it's so obvious that he is targeting LGBTQ titles and authors of color, and books about race and books about sex education.

He is asking districts to remove these and any other books that might embarrass or shame someone due to sex or race.

What struck me was, one, there was a list of 850 books.

He wanted to know if school districts had them, how much money had been spent on them.

Reporter: The list includes titles like a book on the history of the KKK and another about desegregation in schools.

There are also books about gender identity, the LGBTQ+ community, and the history of Roe v. Wade.

Nancy Jo: I didn't even think, you know, most school districts would entertain this.

I remember looking at it, thinking... [Sighs] "They're singling us out again."

Carolyn: Couple days later, our governor doubled down and sent a letter to the Texas Association of School Boards asking them to do something about pornography in our libraries.

I'm calling for the immediate removal of this very graphic pornographic material from our libraries and our schools, and want to establish standards so that parents have the assurance that their children will not be exposed to it.

Anonymous Librarian: I remember seeing Governor Abbott's letter, and my district was mentioned specifically.

That was the first moment that I realized school librarians could be criminalized for selecting books and making them available on the shelf.

All books, Ulysses, I wonder what they say in all those books.

Nancy Jo: Politicians are playing a very dangerous game when they try to make school libraries battlegrounds for their political war, because the only people that that is going to hurt are our kids.

This space, these resources, they're supposed to be this magical entry point to the world, to stories, to ideas.

There it is, see it?

Something they're saying in there.

Where, Lionel?

There's an A. Yep, that's an A right there.

I sure would like to know what they're saying in there, though.

Every letter's different.

Interviewer: Well, ladies and gentlemen, here we are at Granbury High School.

You know, it's always exciting, the first day of school, kids are dressed up, parents are excited, especially new moms and dads -Yeah.

-Taking that walk for the first time with those five-year-olds into kindergarten.

It's a great feeling.

[Keys clacking] We were called into a meeting and told anything that is "sexually explicit" that could meet the "penal code," you are responsible for in your library.

And I piped up, I said, "Just the Krause list?"

and got the evil eye.

[Attendees laughing] We spent the rest of the afternoon in that meeting going through our catalogs and trying to figure out what we have and what we don't have.

I was sitting in the library, reading, and these men came in with this big cart, and they went up to the librarians, and they started saying, "Where are the books?

We need to get these things out of here."

Anonymous Librarian Two: We were just told, "Get rid of 'em.

Get rid of 'em, deal with it.

Get rid of 'em."

Getting 'em off the shelves, putting 'em on carts, putting 'em on whenever, going through books and just chucking them.

They had no room downtown, the offices were full of books.

The high school was full of books.

When you have to go through probably 10,000 books, what are you gonna do?

To me as a librarian, that was trauma.

I went to the campus of a librarian I particularly feared for, and she took me into a closet.

Was very careful to let me know, "What I'm about to show you is behind three locks, so I feel like it's safe."

The librarian unlocks each of those, when we get to the cabinets, we open the cabinets, it's shelves and shelves of books.

Harmless books.

I just started putting them on the carts and said, "No."

Every book that was on that shelf felt like a student that we were saying, "We've got to put you behind three locks.

We've got to hide you back here in the dark."

[Gavel banging] Committee will come to order.

Mr.

Reed Harris, you wrote a book.

And at the time you wrote this book, did you feel that marriage should be cast out of our civilization as antiquated and stupid religious phenomenon?

You put an implication on it and you feature this particular point out of a book, which, of course, is quite out of context, does not give a proper impression of the book as a whole.

The American public doesn't get an honest impression of even that book.

Well, then, let's continue to read your own writing.

Anonymous Librarian: If we would go back in history to McCarthyism, it felt like what happened to them, it wouldn't happen to us, it wouldn't happen now.

And our hearts swell with pride because those who went before you worked to give to us today, standing here, this pride.

Don't join the book burners, don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed.

Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book.

Anonymous Librarian: We do have a code of ethics around intellectual freedom, around privacy, around representation and access to information and a diversity of perspectives and issues.

Those are all part of our code.

I couldn't remove a book because it has ideas we don't like.

Can't we look at this from a practical point of view?

Take my word for it.

It's not unreasonable to ask you to take out just this one book.

Anonymous Librarian: If you can control the library, you can control the community.

'Cause if you can control the flow of information, if you can control the ideas, you've got it.

You've got everything.

Of course you are coming after school librarians first.

Of course you are.

...who says she lost her job because of it.

Suzette: That was my office.

Where is it?

These are two books that I was asked to be removed, and I would not remove them.

No, they asked us to put these behind the counter so that they weren't available unless you knew they were here.

Now they've separated all of the pluses from the regular books, the LGBTQ books.

They were all integrated before, but now they've separated them.

But also we went out of our way to get Christian books just for this group when they started making problems.

So we got two series down here just so that their children, who were more Christian-based, could have their books too.

I have to show you our children's library.

You know, that's where our porn lives.

[Chuckles] "A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo."

Have you seen that one?

It's a story about a bunny rabbit, he meets another male bunny, so the bunnies end up getting married.

They don't know that's here.

Because they're just looking on their list.

So yes, there are books here that they may not like, but they're here.

This is the actual rules of the Llano County Library.

"In no case should any book be excluded because of race or nationality or the political or religious views of the writer."

I followed these rules, and I got fired for it.

That's me when I was in the U.S.

Army.

When we take our oath to protect the country, it doesn't stop there.

You protect the constitution of the United States from attacks both external and internal.

Did you know this book existed?

Everybody's afraid to say what these people are acting like, but if you read history, you know what they are acting like.

It says, "No to decadence and moral corruption.

"Yes to decency and morality in family and state.

"You do well to commit to the flames the evil spirit of the past.

This is a strong, great, and symbolic deed."

[Speaking German] Suzette: A lot of the books that he burned were not just the Jewish authors.

they were the LGBTQ+, they were those authors that they burned.

Man: Start throwing it in there.

Start throwing it in there.

Start throwing it in there.

Start throwing it in there.

Burn it.

Burn it, burn it.

[Horn blaring] [Cheering] Hallelujah.

-Whoo!

-There we go.

All: I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

Glenn: I do want to clarify a couple of points on behalf of the district.

As you know, Texas education is a responsibility of the state, which essentially makes Governor Abbott our CEO.

I want to start this out simple.

The job of the Superintendent and the school board is to not only protect the students in this district, but to make them feel like they have a place in this community.

But I got to tell you, from what I'm seeing so far, you are failing at your job.

[Door bell dinging] Hey, guys, come on in.

We've all read "Fahrenheit" our freshman year, and we talk about the scariness of book banning.

Literally on the windows of our library-- our library has a big windowed wall-- there are freshmen students' drawings about "Fahrenheit 451".

Man: Look, these are all novels all about people that never existed.

The people that read them, it makes them unhappy with their own lives, makes them want to live in other ways that can never really be.

So we must burn the books, Montag.

All the books.

And seeing that and knowing what is going on within that library, it feels like it's blatant that there's a facade here.

We have books in the library that are pretty heavy and have sexual assault, like "A Clockwork Orange" even, and that wasn't pulled, so.

Had I not picked this book up, I don't think I would be sitting here now.

If it's a cis straight white male or a female, well, it's no issue.

But as soon as you've got any kind of diversity, hmm, red flag, red flag.

Got a gay person, a Brown person, cut it out.

[Laughing together] Kennedy: Stop the censorship in our district, wake up to the reality that we are all different and we should all embrace each other with love, not blatant hate.

Student: I'm simply gonna say that no government-- and public school is an extension of government-- has ever banned books and banned information from its public and been remembered in history as the good guys.

Glenn: Let's not misrepresent things.

We're not taking Shakespeare or Hemingway off the shelves, and we're not going and grabbing every socially, culturally, or religiously diverse book and pulling them.

That's absurd.

And the people that are saying that are gaslighters and it's designed to incite division.

Can you help me?

I might need somebody else to help me.

I need to pass these out.

Maybe somebody else to help Karen?

You can give them to the board.

Definitely she needs help.

I brought you some excerpts of books.

I pray you really are able to stop this kind of content from going in the school.

These people put sexually explicit content into your libraries.

Narrator: Get ready for truth and transparency from an ocean of liberal tears.

Man: Let's talk about Superintendent Dr.

Jeremy Glenn and the smut and porn in the library books.

Woman: It is not just his position, it's the position of the school board, it's the position of this community at large.

Bottom line, this is about removing pornographic, sexually explicit, and vulgar materials from school libraries.

I want you to know this, tonight I'm gonna go home, and I'm gonna get a great night's sleep, because unlike you, I've actually read what's in those books, and I'm proud that they've been removed from our shelves and we've made the right decision for kids.

[Audience applauding] I taught for about five years.

I've taught in a private school setting, and I've taught sixth grade social studies, I've taught third grade general education, so all the core classes.

My concern was that there might have been stuff that they just didn't know was there, that they just weren't aware, because they didn't know where to look.

And at first, I didn't know where to look.

I had gone to a Moms for Liberty event where we had a preview to a documentary.

Woman: You are teaching children adult child sex, you're teaching transgender issues, and children are moldable and influenced by that.

Different woman: In my humble opinion, it will be worse before it gets better.

Courtney: My kids go to the schools here, my family's kids go to the schools here, my friends' kids go to the schools here.

It was disenheartening to think that that was actually happening in my hometown.

Anonymous Librarian: We first really encountered the Moms for Liberty organizations during COVID as they really pushed to open schools and unmask children.

And that's when we started to hear about their parental rights.

When that crisis was over, they turned to the books.

Woman: The things that Moms for Liberty is fighting against is pornography in school, teaching young children scientific ideologies that are non-scientific ideologies.

Anonymous Librarian: And it just spread.

We could almost see a preview of what was to come, and this playbook emerged.

[Crowd yelling] Woman: We were afraid.

We were told not to tweet, we were told not to put things on Facebook.

Woman: They came after me, and they came after our library.

They came after our library board.

[Cheering] We were called evil specialists instead of media specialists.

Woman: I know they're gonna fire me, I know they're making a case to fire me, I know it's coming, but I'm not gonna shut up.

I'm just not gonna do it.

Kimber: You continue to speak out, you will be on the chopping block.

You will lose your job.

"We have guns.

When can we start killing liberals?"

When could they start hunting us?

Hold the line against the LGBT Mafia and their dang pedo fans.

We had to bring in law enforcement to meetings.

This white truck pulled up behind us, and the guy rolled down his window and he yelled at me, he said, "We're coming after you next."

We're gonna keep coming so hard, the only thing these woketards got to figure out is whether it's on their face, back, butt, or thighs!

Whoo!

[Fire burning] [News jingle] News anchor: A Florida school district has pulled 176 books from its libraries to comply with a new state education reform law championed by Governor Ron DeSantis.

We are gonna make sure that parents have a seat at the table and that we protect their rights.

Reporter: Under Florida's HB 1467 law, school books have to be free of pornography or certain race-based teachings.

Violating parts of the law could lead teachers to be charged with a felony.

Librarians are pulling books without anyone challenging them.

The teachers in Manatee County were told, "By Friday at 3:00 PM, you will either cover with paper, turn them to the walls, or take your books home."

They thought they were airing on the side of caution.

But the kids were so upset, they actually texted their parents and said, "Everyone's crying, everyone's upset, we need our books, we want our books."

They wrote emails to the principal saying, "Please don't take away our books."

Part of what I see as my calling is taking care of children.

Elizabeth Ann Seton was the patron saint of teachers.

I do not believe that scripture is there for us to use as a weapon or to make our political points.

Please do some research as to our founding fathers.

Their biggest fear was that we become a theocracy.

They did not want to be governed by a king, and they did not want to be governed by a God.

They wanted freedom.

Librarians have heard from hundreds of kids that books have saved their lives.

That's why to me, I see this as the civil rights fight of our time.

And they're not banning just any books.

They're banning the best books.

DeSantis: We reject woke ideology.

[Audience cheering] We fight the woke in the legislature, we fight the woke in the schools, we fight the woke in the corporations.

We will never ever surrender to the woke mob.

Florida is where woke goes to die.

[Audience cheering] We've got down here, a "Librarian of Auschwitz" some people are challenging, or "Flamer", which is actually a really good one, and then of course, "Handmaid's Tale".

I had been at the school for nine years.

It had been a dream job for the first seven of those nine years.

The governor says this is child pornography.

Julie: In June, one of the Moms for Liberty in our area had posted a video about the second book in the "Court of Thorns and Roses" series, and she tagged all of the schools that had the book in their library.

So then the district decided to just quietly pull the books from the shelves and delete them.

And I happened to notice a few days later when I went up to work.

I was very concerned that this was kind of getting out of hand.

So I went to the school board meeting.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Julie Miller.

My address is on file, and I am a high school librarian.

I know, we're kind of seen as the bad guy.

So I just wanted to give you guys just a moment of hearing straight from one of us who are boots on the ground to let you know, like, a little bit about us.

I am a Baptist minister's wife and daughter of a minister, as well.

It was at that same meeting where Bruce Friedman showed up.

Reporter: This year at least 102 books have been banned in Clay County, Florida.

They were removed from school libraries thanks in large part to this single conservative activist.

Friedman: I represent No Left Turn in Education.

That's the Florida chapter.

I also run the New York chapter.

I'm also a member of Moms for Liberty.

I spent 45 minutes after that meeting talking to him.

And it was a, you know, pleasant... weird, but pleasant conversation.

And the next thing I know is Bruce essentially said in an article, "I'm gonna clean up the libraries in Clay County.

Anyone who gets in my way, I'm gonna run over them like a dead body," which is like, first of all, who runs over a dead body, like, what does that even mean?

But very, like, triggering language.

And then he started writing my name on challenge forms.

"Talk to Julie Miller!"

"Julie Miller has this one."

"Surprise, surprise."

"Disgusting!"

It was like, what is going on?

[Church band playing] Julie was very helpful in research of the books that have been banned, the books that have been removed.

- Get ready - Get ready - For when He returns - For when He returns Jeffrey: To attempt to take Black history and take a lot of our stories away from children is one of the most evil things I think a person can do.

Reporter: When it comes to the number of banned books at schools, Florida leads the nation, and Clay County is number one in the state.

[Keys clacking] Jeffrey: These are some of the books.

"Stamped".

Anybody ever seen the movie "The Color Purple"?

-Yes.

-Yes.

And of course, "1619 Project."

Do you care whether books that are written by African Americans, or books like-- this book was banned.

As a kid, going, like, to a predominantly white school, I was always questioning who I was.

Like, hair, skin color.

I feel like this "New Kid," "Hair Love," I feel like that would've made me feel a little bit more comfortable in my own skin.

Jeffrey: What's dangerous with this book banning is it's being led by people who say they love God.

And I call for the fire of God and the glory of God and the fear of the Lord to fall on Clay County, Florida, in the name of Jesus.

[Audience applauding] Board Member: Next we have Jeffrey Dove.

I do not wish the fire of God to fall on you all.

That's not the God I serve.

I'm a lot of things.

I'm a pastor, I'm a father, and most of all, I'm a strong Black man.

But when you start talking about removing African American authors and African American history, I got a problem with that.

Because right now we are an embarrassment in the state of Florida.

Julie: We got the list of "These books "are to be removed immediately.

So says the oversight committee."

I wrote an email back and just asked like, "Could you please provide us with the reason why each of these books is being removed?"

Jeffrey: So months had went by.

I asked someone about Julie and how she was doing.

That one thing that I dreaded the most had happened.

I lost my job, I was removed from my library for asking questions.

They're gonna say it's because I was refusing to follow directives.

That's not the case at all.

It's really just because I kept pushing back.

[Keys clacking] Board Member: Okay, at this time I will open.

Jeffrey: I sat there three hours.

I wasn't giving up, I wasn't budging.

I don't care how long it was.

They were going to hear me that day.

Woman: All right, so before actually we move into school board member comments.

I did have a question from the audience.

And this is from Mr.

Dove.

Jeffrey: Yeah, the reason I came back because I saw one of you all's media specialists in Clay County was removed.

It's wrong.

Don't do people like that when they have a different view.

It's not fair.

If anybody has to be responsible for this caboodle we're leading the United States, in books that are not on the shelf, it's y'all.

Shame on you.

Shame, shame, shame on you.

Moms for Liberty are making a lot of ground.

Very smart young ladies.

I call it wicked genius.

It's a genius that curtails to oppressing people.

It was like snuffing out a candle.

It just happened, so, like, quietly, and it's like, "You're dismissed."

And it's all politically motivated, right?

But I met the young man outside.

And I said, "How you doing, brother?"

He says, "I hate librarians."

This can't be America.

Nah, this can't be America.

[Keys clacking] [Light traffic] Nancy Jo: It feels like I'm living in a dystopian novel right now.

Like, if you would've asked me 10 years ago if I was gonna have, like, security concerns at a librarian conference, I'd have been like, "You're nuts."

Ha!

[Indistinct chatter] Woman: This is the highest number of attempted book bans since we began compiling these lists 20 years ago.

And I hate that censorship affects our professional lives, but it is a reality.

Sometimes librarians are relocated to other buildings or grade levels, and sometimes librarians are outright fired for defending intellectual freedom.

And then there are the cases where librarians fear for their physical safety and for those of their families.

One librarian had her tires slashed during a library board meeting.

Nancy Jo: We understand what's going on right now, on a very real and personal level for some of us, but I know that as librarians, we continue to remember and focus on our professionalism and the work that we do.

We want to make sure that we are reinforcing to you that even in the darkest of days, this is still what we do.

Phil Donahue: We want to talk about a book banning controversy underway in Island Trees, New York.

Reporter: For six years, "The Naked Ape", "Slaughterhouse-Five", and seven other books labeled by the school board as anti-American or obscene have been banned from Island Tree's library shelves.

Donahue: Steven Pico, you are one of the students to bring action, were you not?

We filed suit because we believe that every American, regardless of age, has the right to be exposed to diversity of viewpoints and gain a number of perspectives on life.

The Supreme Court today sharply curbed the authority of local school boards to ban books from school libraries.

Anonymous Librarian: For laypeople, this is the Roe v. Wade of libraries.

When the Krause list came back, when Granbury boxed up hundreds of books, they were infringing on what Pico established.

A book cannot be removed because of a disagreement with the ideas that are in the book.

We're highly trained in the selection of age appropriate material.

Most of us have Library and Information Science Master's degrees.

We learned legal precedent.

We take courses on it.

The thing that truly concerns us is when an individual, whether it be a parent, or a non-parent, or a single group within the society, tries to determine what is correct for not only that child but other children, as well.

That is what we fight.

I'm not gonna say my parents are white Christian nationalists, but when I started being targeted, they didn't speak to me for a week.

It's kind of a mess in here.

Here we go.

Let me turn this.

All right.

For 40 years, I've been wanting to build a cannon.

See, it rolls real easy.

It's called a Confederate mountain rifle.

It's an exact replica of what you would've seen back to the Civil War.

Amanda: You know, I've done a lot of family history and research.

My ancestors listed slaves as property, and I'm not proud of that.

It's uncomfortable.

But I think sometimes we have to be uncomfortable and face that fact.

Wayne: Why would you want to embarrass white kids or?

Toni: It's like she said, that's the past, and we can't change that.

What you don't want to do is teach your kids to hate their country.

'Cause then when they grow up, we won't have a country.

I love my country, but I think we have to acknowledge that we're not perfect.

You don't teach only the bad, the bad, the bad, the bad, the bad, bad.

Reporter: While the rest of us were in lockdown, Live Oak Middle School librarian Amanda Jones and her students were traveling the world.

I decided if they couldn't go out in the world, I was gonna bring the world to them.

Reporter: She was awarded the 2021 National School Librarian of the Year.

And I hope to use it as a platform to advocate for school libraries across the country.

"Here is Amanda Jones at the Livingston Parish Library board meeting on Tuesday, July 19.

Why is she fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic material in the kids section?"

"If a middle school teacher is promoting pornography and erotic content to kids, I don't care what kind of pedigree she has."

And I've never promoted pornography and erotica to children.

Our local representative came for a photo op when I got National School Librarian of the Year.

She was there for that photo op.

Two years later, she's perpetuating lies about me.

Reporter: Jones was the subject of harsh memes, comments, and threats.

Police couldn't determine who was threatening her.

I have made it very well known that I travel with a weapon, multiple weapons, and we got security all around our home.

I have escape routes wherever I go in my head, and I get my groceries delivered, I don't go in public in my community.

'Cause the things they say online are so horrible, you know, I should be killed, and I shouldn't be alive.

And it's sad, it's just my life now.

Anonymous Librarian: I don't think any of us imagined when we started out that one day our lives might be at risk.

I reached out to a lawyer, just got some background information about our county DA, and who in Texas would want to be the first district attorney to try to prosecute a school librarian.

That was an existential moment for me.

Imagining my face on the wanted poster and my friends being taken away in handcuffs.

You are obsolete, Mr.

Wordsworth.

A lie!

No man is obsolete!

You're a librarian, Mr.

Wordsworth!

I'm a human being, I exist!

And if I speak one thought aloud, that thought lives!

Even after I'm shoveled into my grave!

You waste our time, Mr.

Wordsworth, and you are not worth the waste.

How do you find, ladies and gentlemen?

Obsolete.

-Obsolete.

-Obsolete.

Man: Obsolete--I concur.

Woman: When I was first attacked back in 2021, a student who was not a library regular previously started showing up in the first couple of weeks in September every day during lunchtime and would just roam the stacks.

And I'd go out and I'd say, "Can I help you find anything?"

And he would say, "No."

And I would leave it at that, I don't want to nag a kid.

After two weeks of this every day I see the kid emerge from the stacks holding "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison.

I read the book myself and loved it.

And I was kind of dumbfounded, because it was not a wildly popular book, it wasn't on many people's radar.

And of all the 20,000 books in the library, he emerges with that one?

I said, "How'd you learn about it?"

And he said, "My parents sent me--told me about it and said I should look for it in the library."

24 hours later... that student's mother was standing in front of the Board of Education.

Martha Hickson, our school librarian, remarked to my son as he was checking out the books quote "I love that book."

And calling me a pornographer, pedophile, and groomer of children.

This amounts to an effort to groom our kids, to make them more willing to participate in the heinous acts described in these books.

It grooms them to accept the inappropriate advances of an adult.

My principal was in that room, the assistant superintendent was in that room, but they sat there in silence.

And here's the really painful part.

They have maintained that silence for three years.

Being a librarian, I started researching.

I was watching Texas and Florida both very carefully.

I felt like that's sort of the Petri dish of what could be coming up here.

This started in Llano, Texas.

About a week later, a woman in Virginia saw the Llano challenge and picked up some of that language.

Both of these books include pedophilia.

-May-- -Do not interrupt my time.

Martha: And then about two weeks later, same claim showed up at our board meeting, and that suggested to me something was afoot.

And I said, "I don't think this is organic.

"I don't think this is spontaneous.

This is organized."

[Loud commotion, Whistle blowing] Reporter: Moms for Liberty are having their town hall here tonight on the Upper East Side.

Welcome, New York.

We are thrilled to be here.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

[Audience applauding] It seems like there's a lot of misconceptions out there about who we are and what we do.

We were founded in 2021 by Tiffany Justice and I, who are both former school board members.

What is Moms for Liberty?

"The New Yorker" calls them "The Right-Wing Mothers Fuelling the School-Board Wars."

No one's gonna fight for any issue like a parent.

We're not in it for the money.

There's no glory.

We love our children, and we're willing to do anything.

Now they'll tell you that their funding for these national conferences comes from selling their $15 t-shirts.

You don't get Ron DeSantis to show up at your conference, Donald Trump to show at your conference just from selling t-shirts.

But this grassroots group is registered as a 501(c).

They are not required to disclose their donors, but we do know that their PAC received a $50,000 donation this year from Julie Fancelli, the largest single donor, to the January 6 Stop The Steal Rally that led to the Capitol insurrection.

We asked Moms for Liberty who else is among their donors, and they did not respond with any specific names.

What ideology are the children being indoctrinated into?

I think parents' fears are realized.

They're looking at these books where sexual discussions are happening with their children at younger and younger ages.

Ali Velshi: "And Tango Makes Three" has been challenged in at least 32 states.

Woman: It's about two male penguins who care for an abandoned baby penguin.

Velshi: The book has been labeled a tool for so-called grooming.

Martha: Maurice Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen", they drew pants.

Anonymous Librarian Two: You're getting to the point of talking about a period as sexually explicit.

Under the new law, "Lord of the Rings" is considered to be inappropriate.

There's some Facebook moms group that said that Pandas symbolized something.

Martha: The graphic novel of "The Diary of Anne Frank."

Julie: Yep, there's your nudity right there.

Martha: And "Maus", which has to do with mouse nudity in a concentration camp.

When they go after the books, what they're really going after is those kids that come into my library for a safe space, and I cannot abide that.

Martha: Part of the ethics of our profession to support the First Amendment and to fight censorship.

That's what I've been trained to do.

Man: The North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, January 30, is now called to order.

Martha: If I were a younger person, I may have left by now, but I believe firmly in what's right.

And then I also believe firmly in my students.

If I were to say to the board or someone at school, "You are a vile and disgusting C word and a danger to young people," I could and should be escorted out of this building by the police.

This is the exact language that has been sent to our school librarian by a group led by the spouse of someone on the board.

If you want to get rid of and censor books, you are no different than fascists, for every fascist movement began the same exact way.

You're here to ban books with gay characters.

You might as well be here to start the Fourth Reich!

[Cheering and applause] Man: Board, do you want him out for cursing?

-Yes!

-Yes!

Man two: You guys cursed at my [bleep] children at your [bleep] book banning meeting!

You guys all cursed at my [bleep] children.

[Loud commotion] Out!

Man 3: Thank you, Board!

[Loud commotion] [Keys clacking] [People murmuring] Woman: The book itself, "Queerfully and Wonderfully Made", that's a going against the scripture, it's "fearfully and wonderfully made."

And that's what we are.

I could go through the whole chapter of the Bible.

This book is considered nonfiction, and it is including Christianity.

The Bible doesn't support this, so that already debunks the nonfiction status of this book.

So we're talking about pornography here.

I was born and raised in Holden.

I'm also trans-feminine, and I am a queer person.

I don't think y'all understand what it's like to grow up in an environment like this where even your family members are constantly telling you that you're gonna burn in hell.

Books like this say, "Hey, you are loved.

There is a community that will be there for you."

Sorry, my anxiety is running very high, because I can tell that y'all very much misunderstand us.

This is much--this require-- Thank you.

[Audience applauding] Hello, my name is Amanda Jones.

The great thing about books is that we all have different ways that we interpret them.

I read this book, and I interpret it as meaning a push for love and acceptance.

It was written by pastors and mental health professionals for Christians.

This book is not in the children's picture book section.

It is in the teen nonfiction section, where it belongs because it was written for teens.

Monitor your own children.

Don't let your children read it if you don't want to.

No one's forcing you to check it out.

LGBTQ youth who report having at least one accepting adult are 40% less likely to attempt suicide.

Some kids don't have those adults in their life.

I have lost over 12 students who were ostracized because they were made to feel less than in this parish.

And I feel it right now, even though I'm not from that community, from the hate that's coming from some people in this room.

It would be easy to move this book and placate a few people for the sake of bypassing drama.

It would be easy.

But sometimes doing what's easy is not what's right.

[Sparse applause] Woman: The board would like to protect children from inappropriate material and would prefer to remove the challenged materials while the library processes this request.

Amanda: I'll be damned if we're gonna lose another kid because of something our community has done to make them feel less.

I've had former students reach out to me that have told me books have saved them.

And then there's the kids that grew up and killed themselves because they were ostracized in our community for who they are.

And if I was silent, my silence would be my compliance, and I'm not going to be complicit in the death of children or even the hurtful feelings.

I'm not gonna participate in that anymore.

'Cause even though I didn't actively participate in before, I was silent, and I saw stuff, and I'm not gonna do that anymore.

I'm gonna speak out about it, so.

This is my strong-willed child and I thought, "Mm-mm.

She's not gonna lay down and take this."

[Keys clacking] Woman: Our district was doing an okay job before this.

Was it perfect?

No.

But they were doing a pretty darn good job, and they were watching out for our kids, and they were trying to keep their own personal politics out of the decision making.

But that's not what we're doing anymore.

Now it's all the culture wars of America are just right smack dab right here in the middle of my kids' school district.

Reporter: After more than a year of controversy, Keller ISD voted to ban books about gender identity.

Students: I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

[People chattering] Hi, I'm Laney.

I'm a mom of four kids in Keller ISD.

As soon as our new Patriot Mobile school board was elected, your top priority was to disregard all the parent, district, and community input.

Since then, you've created a hateful, contradictory, nonsensical, and unconstitutional book banning rubric.

You are also passing a policy tonight that gives you the power to hire and fire every employee in the district all the way down to the cafeteria workers.

You don't trust your admin, you don't trust your principals, you don't trust your teachers, you don't trust the parents.

You are coming for teachers and librarians, you've made it clear, and they know it.

We have a movement within America that has decided that school boards are now where they want to push their agenda.

Reporter: Patriot Mobile.

They aren't just a wireless provider, they are a political movement.

Up to 5% of every Patriot Mobile phone bill goes directly to supporting Patriot Mobile's Political Action Committee.

We need to put our money behind companies that share our values.

I'm looking at Glenn over here from Patriot Mobile.

Laney: We know that Patriot Mobile, they admitted to coming into our communities and interviewing people and finding who they thought would best represent their interests, and that's who they backed with the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It wasn't until we started getting these mailers that we realized what was happening.

We're talking probably 7, 8, 9, 10 flyers these people are getting covered with images of crying children and saying they've been exposed to porn in school, and your kid is being made to feel guilty for being white.

All of these things that are just simply untrue.

And then we started sharing them online, and then we found out the school districts neighboring ours had the exact same flyers paid for by the exact same PAC, but just with the pictures of the candidates inter-swapped with theirs.

And we were like, "Oh my goodness, "this is a large-scale, coordinated effort to take over school boards across the state of Texas."

One of the keys is the school boards, right?

The school boards are the key that picks the lock.

Laney: This was their blueprint, and they succeeded.

They backed 11 candidates in North Texas.

All 11 candidates won, and now they hold a majority, and the president, vice president, and secretary on all four school boards that they decided to fund.

And they're going to continue to spread it.

We're focused on school boards here for now, but our goal is to spread this as large as we can to other states and other communities that are quite frankly wanting what we're doing here in their communities.

[Door clicking, keys jangling] They had the school board meeting completely packed with people.

-Oh, I'm sure.

I'm sure.

Somebody told me this morning to go online and look at the Republican Club.

They had some meeting, I guess, last week, and it was all about book banning.

And they had speakers come in, so they got 'em all riled up and gave them all their talking points so that they could all come to this meeting and completely drown anybody else's voices out.

That's what they did.

That's what they do.

Well, you know, a lot of these people actually make threats, you know, about having a gun, and yada, yada, yada.

Mm-hmm.

-It's just so ate up with hate.

-Yeah.

And there's not enough voices countering it.

Woman: Of the United States and of this state.

Both: Of the United States and of this state.

-So help me God.

-So help me God.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

[Applause] Courtney: I ran on this platform.

The porn, and the grooming, and pedophiles in schools.

I felt like it was there, people just didn't know or they didn't know where to look, and I was gonna find it, dadgummit!

So that's what I did, you know, that's why I ran.

And so I did the research.

I was expecting to find something that would relate to what they were saying, but nothing even came close.

I mean, it didn't even come close.

It just became very apparent that what they were trying to tell parents and what was actually happening in our schools were two completely different things.

Man: This was just complete sexualization of the kids, and it's not stopping, it's not going backwards, it's moving forward.

It pains me to say that GISD, through the inaction of the board of trustees and the upper level administrators, are grooming your children.

Courtney: The ah-ha moment for me was a conversation I had with one of my former co-hosts.

I felt we need to let our community know that it's not in the schools.

And he told me to stop talking to my fellow trustees, just to completely cut off communication.

I refused to do their bidding, and I said, "No, I'm not doing that.

That's not right."

Now I'm enemy number one with them, surprise, surprise.

Man: Courtney Gore has been a entire and complete and total disappointment.

Yes, I would say disappointment is a big word.

And I go back to that culture of do you want to do the right thing and not be liked by everybody?

I guess Courtney's woke.

-She woke.

-Courtney's woke?

I guess she's woke now is what they're saying.

-Courtney?

-Yes!

You can't say there's not porn in schools, 'cause there is.

Courtney: I knew I was gonna get backlash, but I never thought it was gonna rise to the level that it did.

There was a June meeting where a gentleman, it was actually his grandfather, came with a firearm.

Yeah, I've got something for you too, you just wait.

I don't play with the rules anymore.

I haven't played with the rules since Vietnam, and I'm not gonna start now.

We have profile sheets on Courtney Gore, which she's not here.

Profile sheets, we know what you do, we know where you live.

[People murmuring] -He's threatening.

-And wrong.

Courtney: One of my younger brothers came over here and actually slept on our front porch that night just to make sure we were safe.

I feel like by talking, that is the only way I'm gonna be able to protect myself.

Like, I have to be vocal, and if I'm not, that's when they get the power.

[Chickens clucking] Man: Last day in Granbury.

We're very excited to be leaving.

This is a place Mindy and I both grew up in, came back to raise our kids in.

I ran the Baseball and Softball Association, I served on the school board, and this place changed, people more willing to impose their religion on others, discriminate against others.

We've been fighting for years.

The book ban is the latest piece.

I have a proven conservative record, always considered one of the top conservatives in the House, whether it's pro-life... Chris: Before the Krause list, there had been zero parent requests to review books, not even one.

So why are we doing this?

My Texas House rep, while I was serving on the school board, the first time he got elected, we met with him as a school board and said, "Here's the things we care about in public education.

We'd love your support."

He told us, "Yes, yes!

Absolutely!"

And when it came time to vote, he voted exactly the opposite.

I couldn't understand why.

You told us you were gonna support our schools, and then you voted against them every time and honestly started to bad mouth our schools.

And that's truly what made me start digging into money.

60%, 70% of his money was coming from one source, which was a billionaire out in Cisco, Texas.

Chris: I did the thing that people do, right?

When you discover something, is you put it on Facebook or you put it on Twitter, and you talk about it.

Woman: Our schools are not to be used for personal political agendas, and our children are here for education, not religious indoctrination.

Go tell your pastor, "Our schools are not your church."

Thank you.

Chris: I'm good at spreadsheets.

So I built pie charts, and yeah, I built a site to make it go.

We have Chris Tackett, who is a former trustee of this school board.

Pie chart guy for the Texas-- for all the state reps.

-He does pie charts, right... -Pie chart man.

-for all the conservatives to show where all the "dark money" goes.

It was kind of an eyeopener for me to realize that there was this bigger agenda behind everything.

[Audience applauding] Some of the people that are pushing this agenda believe it is their duty to take over everywhere, government, public schools, media, every aspect of our lives.

You're going to read about certain verticals or structures that the enemy is working on.

Satan wants to occupy the seat of influence over the Supreme Court, over the government, over education with indoctrination.

We're the force that is hindering the devil from doing what he wants to do.

God takes what the devil meant to harm us and He turns it into good.

He blesses us with it.

Every time we're attacked at Patriot Mobile, our sales just go through the roof.

We increase our sales.

And so what does increasing our sales mean?

It means we can give more money back to organizations like Moms for Liberty.

[Audience applauding] This is a spiritual war, not a political war.

[Audience applauding] Anonymous Librarian: Is the agenda to gain power and money, or is it to make our country a Christian theocracy?

Or are they one and the same?

[Keys clacking] Thank you for having me, all of you.

I moved to Granbury in 2020, and the word I have on my heart is repentance.

Not all of us had a hand in what's happened here, but we are the ones who are present to solve the issues.

The last book I read was 600-plus pages, and it was a whipping for poor quality, number one, but also sexual content.

And I'm sorry to point fingers, but we have librarians who are misunderstanding what is healthy and good for children.

I think you ought to have people of good moral standards, people in the community that maybe even are voted on.

Pastors like Paul Duncan, he would never steer you wrong, and he'll put you in a safety zone with your books.

You don't have to have these ultra controversial books in your library.

Man: Hey TikTok, I got a wild one for you.

In 2018, I received this text from my mom after coming out and was effectively cut off my family and eight younger siblings.

I came across this video showing my mom speaking at a school board meeting in Texas, calling for the district to remove books, repent, and appoint a pastor to review and approve educational material.

She even filed charges against librarians in Granbury, Texas.

Literally, you have thousands of books, so what harm is it to let go of some of them?

And that's all I have to say.

Board Member: Thank you, Ms.

Brown.

[Cheering and applause] Woman: Boo.

Boo.

Boo.

[Applause continues] Your kids do not go to school here.

-No, they don't.

-You're on a political agenda, everybody knows what you're doing.

You're trying to get school staff arrested.

You've already tried it.

That's what you're doing, and we know that's what you're doing.

That's fine with me if you know it.

I'm not hiding anything.

You'll notice I haven't hid a thing.

-I'm not hiding anything.

-Me neither.

And I do have a problem with sexually explicit books in the library.

-I'm sure you do.

And expose the wrong.

You're trying to arrest librarians.

I have nothing to say to you.

You're trying to arrest librarians.

You're trying to arrest librarians.

You're a fascist.

You're a fascist.

-There you go.

Fascist.

Fascist.

Fascist.

[Seagulls squawking] When I moved here to San Diego, I got a bunch of prints.

My siblings from a few years back, one of the last times I got to see them.

And my partner here, his name's Andrew.

Growing up, none of my siblings, there's nine of us total, none of us have stepped foot in a public school.

Every piece of printed material that came into our home was curated by my parents.

I'm starting a little collection of books.

It's off to a small start.

The book that started it all, "All Boys Aren't Blue".

Right off the bat, this book is saying, "Hey, there are some heavy topics.

Like, Be aware."

[Keys clacking] It all seems so much smaller and, like, depressing.

Heh.

I hope my siblings can make it out unscathed.

And I'm worried that they're growing up in even more extreme circumstances, and I hope that they're able to find their own path as well.

What my parents, the people that my parents learned from, are doing is so harmful and they deserve to be put back in their lane.

Hello, everyone, my name is Weston Brown.

I was born and raised in Texas, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak here tonight.

A few months ago I saw my mom Monica Brown standing at this podium calling for the removal of books and asking the school to follow the guidance of a religious leader.

Board Member: Weston Brown.

From a young age, I was taught to give a voice to people who were disregarded, elevate the marginalized, and love my neighbor.

Today I strive to be the person I needed when I was young.

Someone who would stand up, speak out, and protect the kid that felt alone.

Growing up we read the Bible cover to cover from the earliest age I can remember.

We repetitively read graphic depictions of sex, violence, genocide, sexual assault, and incest.

However, topics related to dating, safe sex, drugs, alcohol, or sexual identity were deemed inappropriate or too heavy to discuss.

I would've given anything to read a book with a character that felt the feelings I felt, ask the questions I couldn't ask, and learned the lessons that I needed to learn.

It's been nearly five years since I came out to my family.

I'm not allowed to join in family celebrations or holidays or be a part of my eight younger siblings' lives, solely because I'm not straight.

I am here today to implore you to listen to librarians, educators, and students, not those speaking from a religious perspective or at the bidding of a political group.

If you choose to marginalize difference and remove representation, you will only cause harm.

History will remember your decisions and demand accountability.

Show the world that Granbury will not succumb to fear... but will shine brightly, leading the way for the next generation of Texans.

Thank you for listening.

[Cheering and applause] Board Member: Next up, we have Monica Brown.

Thank you, and I knew that was coming, what came tonight.

It's no surprise.

Not all true, but it is true that we have said no in our home for what we expect in our family, whether that matters to any of you or not.

Just as an example, you know, in the scripture it says Adam knew Eve.

That's not the same as saying he stuck his [bleep] in her body, but that's what you got in your library.

Listen, that's what you got.

Man: It's in your library.

It's in your library.

Weston: That's my mom, who birthed me, who raised me and fed me and took care of me.

Is it some sort of religious psychosis?

Years of messaging from extremist pastors and political leaders?

'Cause when I look at my mom, I see someone who absolutely believes what she's saying, and I see someone who looks scared.

Courtney: Thank you for coming.

Weston: Thank you so much.

Wait, let me get behind you just in case.

Weston: Okay.

It's like the chances of getting hate-crimed are low, but never zero.

Your mother has been involved in this process.

What was it like to stand here tonight knowing she's here, as well.

You know, in my mind, that wasn't as interesting.

It wasn't what was top of mind for me.

I don't have a message for my family or for my mom or my dad specifically.

I have brought and said everything that I have to say to them in many conversations, many times over.

And so my perspective tonight isn't to try to reach through to my parents, that's a conversation that they have the tools they need, they know what they need to do to build the bridge.

But my goal, not my goal, my plea is for librarians, educators, student, and the boards to pay attention to what matters.

Interviewer: Monica, do you have any comments?

This is Monica Brown.

Monica, we're with NBC 5.

Is there anything that you would like to say?

Anonymous Librarian: I think as librarians, we recognize that we're on a continuum, but the swing between these polarizing views are having catastrophic effects on our social structures and our communities.

We are on the precipice of some very, very bad things happening in this country.

I just hope and pray that people are waking up.

It's gone way beyond the Krause list, honey, way beyond the Krause list.

We are going to take back our schools.

This is what I will do to the grooming books when I become Secretary of State.

[Flame thrower roaring] Man: Being offended is the basis for House Bill 666.

Reporter: They feel that this legislation could be used to threaten schools to remove books or face arrest just because someone does not like a book.

I think that there's going to come a time in some of these books where it crosses a criminal line.

It's called contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

[Body camera beep] Man: Good seeing you.

I had been home for three days... and in that last day, I had people calling me left and right, "Are you okay?

What's going on?"

I was like, "What are you talking about?"

Anchor: A Hood County constable attempted to bring felony charges against three librarians for providing students with library books the constable deemed obscene.

Now, I'm not one of those crazy, overthrow the government anarchist types.

But it is a legitimate question to ask, what do you do when your government doesn't follow its own rules?

How does a sheriff arrest someone for violating your constitutional rights?

I had some complainants come in on Friday and talked about making a report about the books.

-Okay.

-Do you know if they use student aides in the libraries?

Yes.

I was told that my library aids were gonna be pulled because for every piece of pornography that was found in the library I would be served with one felony for every student.

Courtney: Constable London--he was trying to tell the librarians that if minors had actually put those books on the shelves, then it was then elevated to a felony.

Scott: I'm doing a criminal investigation into some of your staff.

Obviously, there's been an allegation of books that were in conflict of the penal code in the library.

Essentially, the librarians are my suspects.

If they're the ones that are choosing books and putting 'em in there, you know, they're the ones that are carrying the criminal liability.

Courtney: Constable London was able to get the names of the minors that checked out those books.

To me, as a parent, that is extremely concerning, [Door squeaking] Anonymous Librarian Two: So then I got to tell those poor kids that they were not gonna be allowed to be library aides, because people are afraid that there's pornography in the library.

I'm definitely on that list.

I was in the library literally every single day of my senior year.

That is really, really scary, and that is information that can be used in such a evil way.

If the student was underage, was he gonna go after the parents for the kids checking out pornography?

Was he gonna go after other students who may have been 18 at the time?

Anonymous Librarian Two: As someone who's not had anything to do with breaking the law and that, I mean, maybe a speeding ticket, but who would've thought child pornography?

I fear that we are at the point now where we're gonna see teachers in handcuffs.

Anonymous Librarian: There are forces that want to manipulate and to control the dissemination of information.

Some of us feel that depth of responsibility to help our communities navigate.

That's why we're here.

Librarians are the firewall.

[Indistinct chatter] Martha: I happened to come in contact last year with our State Senator Andrew Zwicker, who after hearing my story, put forth the New Jersey Freedom to Read Act.

[Keys clacking] I went down to Trenton to testify in front of the education committee in favor of the bill.

Senator: There is a proposed committee substitute, which establishes requirements for library material and public school libraries and establishes protections for school library staff members and librarians.

Being your vast experience over the years in your role, do you see a distinction between book banning and restricting access to pornography for minors?

In my professional role, there is no pornography for minors in school libraries, so there is no need to restrict it.

Book restrictions are, however, a form of censorship.

Your personal opinion about obscenity does not make it so.

Thank you for sharing.

I believe a penis is inappropriate for fifth grade, but thank you, we can talk offline.

Thank you.

Martha: Had I been permitted to speak further, I would've reminded her that fifth graders have penises.

[Indistinct chatter] Reporter: A county in central Texas will consider shutting down its entire public library system because a federal judge ordered it to return banned books.

I am in favor of closing the libraries temporarily until we find a solution to the pornographic filth we do have.

How do we think it's okay that the librarians would actually facilitate that and deal that like a drug dealer to our kids, and now they're becoming porn dealers?

Is that what our librarians have become?

My name is Suzette Baker.

I'm the former head librarian for Kingsland, Texas.

I'm also a military veteran.

The books that are in the library are not pornographic.

None of them are.

I would like to know how the history of the KKK is pornographic.

"How to Be an Antiracist," how's that pornographic?

It's not.

This is about taking away rights.

Keep the libraries open, keep the information available to all equally.

This is not a communist nation.

You do not get to pick our reading material.

It is ours.

So with that, I'll take a motion.

I'll second.

The library will remain open.

We will try this in the courts, not through social media or through news media.

Reporter: Libraries in Llano will stay open after a passion-filled afternoon.

[All laughing together] Suzette: It's good to know we're not alone.

[Keys clacking] -Hey, you!

How are you?

-Hey!

Good!

How are you?

I'm proud of you.

I forgot my FReadom shirt at home!

Will you take a picture of me beside it?

I just took a picture.

Woman: I couldn't be more delighted to introduce Amanda Jones to you, author of "That Librarian," part memoir, part manifesto.

No one should have to endure everything that Amanda has had to endure, and I fear that other people in this room may have had similar experiences.

We are so grateful for all you do on the front lines.

[Audience applauding] How can you stay?

-Oh, stay in my town?

-Yeah.

Oh, it's my town.

They can all go to hell.

[Laughter] [Applause] You my hero.

You know that, right?

-Thank you.

-You absolutely my hero.

[Camera beeping] Anonymous Librarian: I don't know what's gonna happen next.

I cannot imagine us being on a cliff.

That's just too much.

But I don't know.

Maybe we are, and we've gone over.

Our stories have power.

I can't stay anonymous.

I can't stay in the shadows anymore.

I can't let them keep my story in the dark.

I won't be censored.

Just like we can't let them keep censoring the stories in our books.

What I do know is that our story is still being written... but now it's everyone's story.

Announcer: Independent Lens is made possible by: the Action Circle for Independent Lens, with major funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Acton Family Giving, the Ford Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation and contributions from the following... Support for this Independent Lens presentation was provided by... Additional support for this series has been provided by: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.