Now that someone has pointed out the charter of the ALS, I am even more opposed to the renaming. For some the local library IS the bookstore. Many cannot afford to go on Amazon or Barnes and Nobles and buy what they like for their kids ( esp if they are voracious readers). Likewise, when classic books ( for lack of a better name) are taken out of the school curriculum many will NEVER read them. If you are a poetry fan…Let’s say that Edgar Allen Poe suddenly comes under scrutiny. Suddenly an entire generation loses out on the macabre genius of his poetry. By extension, take books with terrible characters and situations out of the public realm and suddenly you have a blank page filled with only those books someone has deemed suitable until they too are one day deemed unsuitable. Too few people deciding for too many.
I am a fierce proponent of free speech even if it’s something I detest. My opinions should not silence someone else. (liable and other related terms withstanding).
I also find it odd that people expect LIW books to have refuted Ma’s racists comments within a work of fiction. ( You don’t discuss this within a fictional book, a historical narrative maybe but not in a kids book).