Dear Neighbors:
I’ve never been so disappointed in our city. Last week I attended the Library Trustee’s monthly Board meeting which included an agenda item on the policy for reconsideration of a book the summer reading list. This was largely due to a letter that I and other Jewish residents sent regarding concerns with one book on the second grade summer reading list curated by the Watertown Free Public Library and Watertown School District. We shared our concerns with how it framed Israel as the oppressor and sought to teach a young reader a history of Palestine with ideological views often seen as anti-Israel propaganda. In our letter we asked for a dialogue so we could share our concerns and have a conversation. Did we expect the book to be removed from the list? Maybe not. Did we expect our public institution overseen by elected officials would at least hear our concerns? We naively did.
Watertown prides itself on diversity and inclusivity. However, in this case, we were faced with silence. The Library Director outright ignored our three requests to meet and discuss. All but one Trustee ignored our email. And then the propaganda machine arrived. Instead of having an informative discussion, a campaign was started claiming we were seeking to ban books and threaten people’s choice for what to read. Facebook groups started a campaign that said the Library was being “harassed.” And, as more comments flooded in (and still do), it was clear most never read the book nor wanted to consider its impact to a minority population already feeling threatened and vulnerable. Public comments from the Library Board Meeting likened our request to reconsider the book as facism and trying to remove Palestine culture from the library. Many said the summer reading list is purely optional and for parents to choose from, which seems contrary to the purpose of having a summer reading list at all. Even more, it devalues the work that staff have done to create the list. At last week’s meeting three of the 10 public comments shared concerns not just about a second grade book that had context well beyond a second graders critical thinking ability, but also about how the City ignored us. As we shared our concerns, people mumbled in the audience and two people approached us to argue with us afterwards. Despite all of this, at the end of the day, we just wanted a dialogue to share our concerns about one book — and be heard.
The rumors, lies, and rhetoric surfacing from this are both dangerous and disappointing. We all applaud the library’s intentions of representing diverse cultures. We also support the inclusion of other books sharing Palestinian culture and customs, along with Israeli culture and customs (for which no book was on the list), and the many other groups proudly represented in our City. The book we wanted to discuss did none of this. It was polarizing with pretty pictures.
The Middle East conflict is awful with so much suffering to so many innocent civilians. It requires the world’s humanity to help solve this tragic war. We need humanity and respect in Watertown, too — from our neighbors, elected officials, and the library. True dialogue doesn’t require agreement, only the willingness to listen to one another. I haven’t seen much of that here but remain optimistic that we’ll get there; I think we could all learn more about people’s concerns — and their hope for the future — if we actually didn’t just talk, but also listened.
Rachael Sack
Watertown, MA