Why Is The Blount County Public Library The Only Library In Tennessee To Partner With The Radical American Library Association In This Propaganda Campaign Promoting Illegal Immigration?
Image Credit: Blount County Public Library / Facebook
By Mark Pulliam [Misrule of Law] –
In a red state county that voted for President Trump by a 71-27% margin, and that has a 21-member County Commission, all of whom were elected as Republicans, one would think that the appointed overseers of the local public library would represent the conservative values of the community they serve. In the case of the Blount County Public Library (BCPL), that assumption would be badly mistaken.
American Library Association (ALA) President Emily Drabinski, a self-described Marxist lesbian, has publicly declared that she intends to use the ALA as a platform to promote her radical views. Even as taxpayer-funded libraries in other red states have severed ties to the far-left ALA, due to its radical pro-LGBTQ agenda, in Blount County the woke administrators of the BCPL continue to march in lockstep with the ALA’s left-wing leadership.
The ALA’s progressive activism is not limited to LGBTQ advocacy; it extends to other issues, such as DEI, climate change, and open borders. Right now, the greatest crisis facing the United States is the unprecedented invasion of our southern border by illegal aliens, due to President Biden’s reckless abandonment of border security. Since Biden assumed office, millions of unvetted illegal aliens have poured across our border, including military-age men from countries hostile to the United States.
Illegal immigration will be a central issue in the 2024 Presidential campaign. Just in time to attempt to influence public opinion on this critical topic, the ALA has unveiled a thinly-disguised propaganda campaign to legitimize illegal immigration.
Unbelievably, the BCPL has agreed to participate in this biased propaganda effort. The ALA, working with the American Anthropological Association, has developed an exhibit called “World on the Move: 250,000 Years of Human Migration.” The exhibit attempts to re-frame the illegal immigration invasion as normal “human migration.”
According to the Daily Times, “By presenting case studies from across human history and an array of cultures, World on the Move invites visitors to recognize that migration is a complex and diverse shared human experience. The exhibition aims to expand the public conversation on the topic of migration and displacement.” This risible propaganda program is coming to Blount County shortly, and BCPL Director Manny Leite, a liberal from Massachusetts, is delighted: ““We are so excited to bring this exhibition to Blount County and surrounding communities,” said BCPL Director, Manny Leite.”
The ALA does not even try to hide its bias. The ALA website describes “World on the Move: 250,000 Years of Human Migration” as a “public education initiative” designed to “change the public conversation about an important, yet difficult topic—migration and displacement. Through the development of the traveling exhibition and the learning resources on this website, we aim to help visitors recognize that migration is a shared human experience that connects us all.” (Emphasis added.) Illegal immigration is good!
What about national borders, the source of a country’s sovereignty?
The ALA contends that national boundaries are merely artificial lines on a map. Immigration laws are just a recent invention, and an impediment to progress: “Human migration has been going on for millennia, while the idea that official documentation is required is at most a few hundred years old. And yet, while national borders are a comparatively recent invention, border policies are real and have real effects on the lives of migrants, as well as the lives of citizens on either side of the border.”
In other words, if people want to violate our laws and enter the country illegally, who are we to complain, let alone resist? The ALA’s exhibit undermines American sovereignty by suggesting that our immigration law are arbitrary and/or unjust: “Much is made of ‘illegal’ or ‘undocumented’ immigrants, for example, but the very idea that migrants ought to have official documentation is itself a recent invention. By presenting case studies from throughout human history and from the world, World on the Move helps visitors distinguish what is really new about contemporary migration from what has remained constant over many tens of thousands of years.” The goal, the ALA concedes, is to generate “greater empathy towards migrants in their communities and elsewhere.”
Instead of fostering an understanding of citizenship, the ALA promotes the notion that people are free to roam the world at will, ignoring national borders and immigration laws. “Home” is wherever someone has chosen to live. Therefore, even illegal aliens have rights. According to the ALA, “Despite these differences, how do we protect the rights of everyone to belong in the places they consider home?” This is a left-wing talking point, calculated to prop up President Biden in an election year.
The ALA acknowledges that it is trying to “transform communities” through what it calls “community engagement.” What is “community engagement”? The ALA describes it as “the process of working collaboratively with community members — be they library customers, residents, faculty, students or partner organizations— to address issues for the betterment of the community.” The Marxist lesbian President of the ALA aims to make Blount County “better” by proselytizing our children to accept illegal immigration as normal. This is indoctrination.
In the slippery parlance of the ALA, indoctrination is assigned a euphemism: it is an “initiative that reimagines the role libraries play in supporting communities.”
Conservative residents of Blount County should oppose their tax dollars being used to indoctrinate the public into accepting illegal immigration as normal (or even laudatory). Defending our borders is a national imperative. President Biden’s surrender of the border is a disgrace for which there is no justification or excuse.
The BCPL Board of Trustees once again has rubber-stamped the woke agenda of the BCPL staff. The Blount County Commission, which appoints a majority of the BCPL Board of Trustees, is ultimately accountable to the voters for the mismanagement of our public library. The ALA is a snake pit of leftist influence. The BCPL should sever all ties with this radical organization.
About the Author: Mark Pulliam writes from East Tennessee. A Big Law veteran, he retired as a partner in a large law firm after practicing for 30 years. A contributing editor to Law & Liberty since 2015, Mark also blogs at Misrule of Law. He considers himself a fully-recovered lawyer.
