People who want to protect children from pornography and propaganda are making progress in Jacksonville.
Citizen advocate Blake Harper has recruited eight people to help challenge books in government school libraries. They have held training sessions, and he is continuing to offer sessions for adults who are interested.
Of the eight people, one is the parent of a child in school. That makes a difference because that person can challenge an unlimited number of books. Those without a child in school can challenge only one.
Harper’s activities began after the Duval County School Boad, following much study and discussion, enacted a new policy on book challenges, which can be found on the board’s website.
Harper hopes to emulate the success of Clay County watchdog Bruce Friedman, who has had more than 1,000 books removed or restricted from school libraries in that adjacent county.
Eye on Jacksonville recently purchased a library catalog from the school system and matched it with lists of challenged books, enlisting the aid of artificial intelligence. Several hits were found, indicating that the work of local challengers could produce helpful results.
It is anticipated they will meet resistance from pro-pornography forces on the Far Left, but Harper is undaunted.
Leftists like to refer to efforts to enforce state law as “book banning,” with their usual lack of clarity.
The local activity may produce nothing but even in that unlikely event, it will have been worth the effort. School systems are supposed to be cleaning up the libraries themselves, but trusting them to do so effectively or in timely fashion would be unwise.
