A Southern California town known as a bastion of far-right politics is emerging as a battleground for the fight against MAGA.
Huntington Beach, known as "Surf City," has become the center of a struggle to wrest control of the public library system away from conservatives, Politico reported Sunday.
“Our public library is one of the most loved institutions in the city,” said Carol Daus, a longtime library volunteer who has gotten involved in the campaign. “Nothing needed to be fixed.”
Our Library Matters, a coalition of progressives, is fighting to convince voters to back two measures on a ballot that would wrest control back of library content back into the hands of librarians.
They’re being hit by opponents who have plastered the town in placards that read, “PROTECT OUR KIDS FROM PORN.”
“We’re watching Huntington Beach closely,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “We’ve traditionally looked to the courts to preserve our civil liberties, but in a time when litigation takes years, it might be more effective to go to the ballot box … to preserve the freedom to read and prevent censorship at local libraries.”
Huntington Beach is historically strongly Republican, and it’s staunchly pro-Trump.
Last year, the local council took control of who decides which books go on library shelves away from librarians and gave it to a special board which now has to approve all books that go into the children’s section.
But the move galvanized opposition.
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“That’s book banning,” said Carol Daus, a library volunteer who hadn’t been politically invovled before this issue. “I mean, they can fight it as much as they want, but it is book banning.”
A newly evolved group of pro-library activists pushed to get Measure A and B on the ballot. A would get rid of the review board and give control back to librarians, while B would stop the city from selling of leasing the library system to private companies.
They won enough signatures to take a place on the ballot — and the council surprised campaigners by putting it in a special election.
“For reasons unbeknownst to us, the city has opted to go this route,” saod Cathey Ryder, the organization’s co-founder. “My suspicion is that they’re expecting low voter turnout.”
But the election has gained national attention as book banning takes a central role in a conservative-driven culture war.
“Just let our library be a library,” said Shapiro. “That’s all we’re asking.”