Libraries may need ‘a book that disputes the Holocaust,’ Washington school employee

[Guno צְבִי]

A suburban Seattle school district employee said Thursday that if the district chose to carry books about the Holocaust “you have to be willing to have a book that disputes the Holocaust.”

Pamela Hawley, who was introduced during a meeting of the Kent School District Board as a “policy coordinator” but is listed in the school’s staff director as an executive assistant, made the comment during a meeting to discuss revising the system’s library policy following months of rancor over whether to ban LGBT books.

Gavin Downing, a high school librarian in the district, pushed back on Hawley’s statement on Twitter.

“You don’t need to give facts and misinformation the same platform, especially in a school library,” Downing said. “These things are not the same.”

The incident is the latest in which teaching materials about the Holocaust have been swept up in debates over how schools are teaching about gender, sexuality and race. The rancor has been fueled by conservative parents and activists who want to eliminate discussions of race and racism, and of sexual orientation, from public school classrooms, or “balance” them to reflect their views.

https://forward.com/fast-forward/523794/public-school-libraries-holocaust-kent-washington-state/

 

[Guno צְבִי]

That same month a state lawmaker in Texas included an anthology about women’s experiences during the Holocaust among more than 800 books in public school libraries that could cause students to feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress,” and which he wanted investigated.

In March, a legislator in Ohio called for legislation similar to the Texas law requiring “divisive concepts” — including the Holocaust — to be taught from multiple perspectives.

“Maybe you’re listening to it from the perspective of a Jewish person that has gone through the tragedies that took place,” said State Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur. “And maybe you’ll listen to it from the perspective of a German soldier.”

 

[Nordberg]

Yep, the right wants to rewrite history. In a couple of generations, America would be very different. That is the long-term plan.

 

[Walt]

The first step is to claim that truth and lies are the same. The second step is to get rid of the truth.