8/5/25 update on cromaine situation
The person who is challenging the 200+ books in Hartland is reported by library board president Bill Bolin as being “very active with the local GOP” and a member of his Floodgate church. She requested the library review each of these books individually to be considered for removal- see the list of book titles on page 31 here.
The highly experienced library Director is tasked with using her skills to assess and make a determination for each book. This process has always been respected by the board as the procedure for book challenges (which by definition is the attempt to remove or restrict books). However, this newly flipped MAGA board, with a completely unqualified majority, will now be able to reverse the Director’s book challenge decision if they don’t agree with it.
Official library meeting minutes and the recent press articles continue to document Bolin’s extreme agenda. He states “our desire is to desexualize the library”. Unlike Bill, who we have never seen inside that library before, our kids frequent Cromaine regularly and can attest there is nothing sexual about it!
The ACLU has stated that there needs to be a close eye kept on the situation to make sure censoring doesn't take place with the current batch of 220+ challenged books (for context a former Cromain board member of 27 years stated that they only had 2 total book challenges in that whole time period)! Cromaine is already placing pink labels on “LGBTQ books” and have withdrawn from the Michigan Library Association because it’s an “extremely left wing organization”.
Please continue to follow the situation by joining Cromaine's next library board meeting on Thursday, 8/21 at 7pm at the library. Agenda is found at the bottom of this page https://www.cromaine.org/board Additionally, the community has expressed desire to continue protesting Bill Bolin. Updates on these actions will be sent via email, send yours if you would like to be added to the email list.
And MARK YOUR CALENDAR for the Emergency Community Forum that SAGE is hosting at the Historic Hartland Music Hall on September 4th from 6-8pm to discuss this situation and ideas on how we can work together moving forward as we fight back. This event is open to surrounding communities. There will be speakers as well as a facilitated community discussion so please come and have your voice included. There is limited seating, you must register by emailing sagelivco@gmail.com to reserve a spot. There is a $5 suggested donation to help cover the rental fee of the hall, but it is not mandatory. Event link here
Lastly, a massive shoutout to the folks who showed up on Sunday The mission was to get press attention and numerous articles were done -see comments- we couldn’t have done it without you! This helps to bring awareness to the fact that dismantling libraries is literally apart of this administration’s agenda. Suppressing access to education and information is literally the beginning of fascism. It’s starting in Hartland, but all of Livingston County and surrounding areas need to understand that it could happen to your library next. With awareness, it is our hope that people will take action to safeguard the independence, diversity, and essential services that their library provides to their community. SAGE’s goal is to educate and move folks into advocating for the protection of these invaluable resources.
We had some great conversations and left with many new friends. Amazing energy as the group continues to grow with more democracy protectorsThere will be an email sent out in the next few days with the future action steps, check your spam if you dont see it by Friday. Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon! Post with protest pics.