Press coverage of the Community Forum!
Excellent event last night!! We’ll share the YouTube link as soon as the recording is uploaded. If you were not able to make it, but want to be included in the next planning meeting organizing the follow up Cromaine library action send us your email to be added.
“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 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. . .
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 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.” Link to full article.