Book-Burning Season Approaches in Texas

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Now that the state legislature in Texas has launched attacks on the reproductive rights of women in the state and made it almost impossible for poor women to receive an abortion or, in some cases, to even access reproductive education and medical care - and now that the governor of Texas has, through executive orders, placed poor children, those consigned to Texas public schools, at greater risk of contracting COVID and sharing it with their friends, teachers, and relatives, than children in many other states - now that all of that has been done in the name of "freedom," the state of Texas seems to be preparing to take another tact in its incessant attacks on the underclass.  The state appears to be laying the groundwork for a purge of books in the libraries of its public schools - one more way of insuring that the poor lack access to things that Amazon will hand deliver to the homes of the wealthy in mere hours.

Representative Matt Krause, a member of the Texas House - and a Republican, of course - is the Chair of the House Committee on General Investigations.  Last week Krause sent a letter, along with a sixteen-page list of 850 books, to every school district in the Lone Star state.  He wanted each district to inform him which of the 850 titles they had in their school libraries, how many copies of each of the books were on the shelves, and the amount of money that had been spent on each of those titles.

Rep. Krause has not yet tipped his hand and told the districts why he wants that information, but it is unlikely that he will use it to reward the districts for their forward thinking.  What seems far more likely is that the bonfires at next fall's homecomings will include books that the Republican elected official deems objectionable.

Rep. Krause is reportedly considering a primary run against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2022, and in blood-red Texas it will be hard for any Republican to get to the right of Paxton - but Matt Krause is apparently going to try.  And some of people who will suffer as these two right-wing zealots collide will be the children of Texas, the poor ones who might have standard pre-teen and teen questions about racism, sex, gender issues, or even suicide - because the thought police will have swooped in and purged their school libraries of trash like that.

And white Jesus will be in his Heaven - speaking English - and all will be right with the world!