By Ben Solis, Michigan Advance
Three groups of activists fighting extremism and local policies that reduce free speech in libraries, schools and other public spaces are looking to grow and organize against future attempts by the far-right to curtail critical thought.
On Thursday evening, a small but mighty cross-section of those groups gathered in Hartland, Michigan to discuss strategy, and to hopefully recruit like-minded people as conservative activists have made strides in their communities to take over local, county, school and library boards — many with the aim of undoing those institutions and suppressing access to information.
The three groups that gathered for the forum, to discuss those advances and how to fight them, included members of Stand Against Extremism of Livingston County, or SAGE, Fight 4 the First Lapeer and Friends of Patmos Library.
Together, the groups recently found themselves in a struggle to protect their local libraries from new efforts to defund the institution and upend staff to change the culture of the libraries In several instances, those libraries and schools have attempted to sequester books some board members have deemed sexually explicit or inappropriate for children.
Many of the books in the latter instance have faced challenges from conservative groups and were targeted exclusively because they contain LGBTQ+ themes, or deal with other sensitive subjects, like racism or historical injustices.
While their work as individual units have helped prevent those efforts from taking root, or at the very least watered down new policies by bringing awareness to them, Julie Ohashi, cofounder of SAGE LivCo, said Thursday that those efforts have taken a great deal of time and energy to combat.
Simply put, Ohashi told the crowd that the forum was a call to action to bring new members into the fold and to help form a group similar to Fight 4 the First in Livingston County.
“This is how this starts,” Ohashi said. “This is a great start, because you can go home and have conversations with four or five more people, and then the next group comes in, and we’re three-times bigger.”
The panel also talked shop on ways average people could fight against hostile takeovers of small community boards by Christian and far-right activists.
Kate DeRosier, a former member of the Cromaine District Library Board of Trustees, which was at the center of a sequestration and labeling effort earlier this year, said it was important for new activists to understand that what is occurring is not a normal function of a library or school board.
She said that before the board came under the leadership of Bill Bollin, pastor of the FloodGate Church in Brighton, Cromaine officials were never involved with book challenges.
“The board is there for big picture [issues], fiduciary, advocacy, community outreach, planning and long-term views,” DeRosier said. “Its is not to operate on a daily basis. This is a new problem … since the 2022 election. It’s been painful to watch as a former board member but also a library lover. It’s not normal. This is not the correct conduct of a board anywhere.”
One of the first strategy steps discussed at the forum Thursday was to know your rights and never back down to bullies, even if those bullies hold high positions of power.
In that vein, several people who attended the forum, held at the Hartland Music Hall, said they were concerned about eroding free speech rights across the nation. Ohashi said that the first simple act of showing up to public meetings and not backing down has been a measure for some of their success.
It was also suggested that power in numbers was always effective.
One community member from Livingston County noted that the Cromaine District Library Board of Trustees has created a suppressive environment at public meetings.
In June, when the board was deliberating on its new policy to label books as explicit — again, those with LGBTQ+ content and themes — called the sheriff’s office and had activists thrown out for speaking out. One board member and her husband, who is a member of the local school board, physically removed some of them.
One advantage of joining an established activist group, like SAGE, Ohashi said, was that they were well versed in their rights.
Some panelists suggested making recordings of each meeting or event where activists might find themselves at odds with those they are trying to shine a light on.
Building bridges, not walls
Rhonda Laur with Fight 4 the First, said the group led an effort to have Lapeer District Library board member John DeAngelis resign from his position due to his affiliation with the AxMiTax anti-property tax ballot initiative. The initiative, if it makes the ballot and is approved by voters, would eliminate property tax in Michigan — which is a source of funding for some tax-dependent libraries.
In the case of the Lapeer District Library, property tax is a primary funding source.
While the cascading efforts to remove him or have him resign were ultimately unsuccessful, Laur said the group was able to gather nearly 300 signatures calling for his resignation. They did that by being relentless in their organizing efforts, which included pickets, writing letters to the editors of local newspapers and speaking up at every meeting.
Gigi Griffith, also with Fight 4 the First, added that it was OK to be annoying to those who might not uphold a community’s First Amendment and free speech rights.
Tricia Kryda, with Friends of Patmos Library, said it was important to be hyperaware of the opposition’s talking points and highlight them when they suddenly back away from them once they are elected. She noted that the Patmos Library Board flipped to a conservative majority that primarily ran on the wave issue of parental rights over what their children were reading, learning about or consuming in other media.
Kryda said once they were elected, the ethos changed to a belief that the board had been given a mandate by voters to take care of the issue of those materials themselves, disavowing their initial zeal in letting parents decide what is right for their children.
“You have to kind of hold those people back and say, ‘they did say this,’” Kryda said. “Well look at what they did. Don’t look at what they said, look at what they do. That’s really important, because it’s been a fight to get people to listen to someone [who might be considered more liberal on the issues facing schools and libraries].”
Kryda said you have to slowly peel the situation back to expose hypocrisies in some instances, and that includes slowly bringing your conservative friends back into the fold to help fight against censorship.
Ohashi said that was true in Livingston County, saying there were many anti-censorship conservatives who might be willing to join in the fight.
Griffith noted that it was a matter of letting them in and not alienating them.
“You’ve got to get them in by getting on their level and parents’ rights is a great way to do that,” Griffith said. “This shouldn’t be political.”
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