Every year, the American Library Association releases the top 10 most challenged books. Overwhelmingly, they are books that deal with LGBTQ+ and racism, challenged by conservative parents and politicians. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King wrote: “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice.”

For some reason, the “concerned parents” over critical race theory never, ever mention this quote.

If the Sewickley Parents Organization wants to make sure their children aren’t ever confronted with uncomfortable topics, fine. If they want to make sure we teach both sides, and allow excuses for slavery and the Holocaust, fine. But it’s time we all stop pretending this is about keeping politics out of the classroom, and it’s time decent parents stop being afraid to make waves and fight back.

I am a former school librarian at Mt. Lebanon School District and a former part-time children’s librarian at Sewickley Public Library. The Sewickley Parents Organization claims to encourage free thought, but they’d try to have me fired for daring to express mine.

Lynne Hughes

Mt. Lebanon

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