The members of The American Library Association (ALA), the largest library association in the world, on April 13, 2022, elected Emily Drabinsky as their new president. How did Drabinski herself describe her win? As she tweeted:
“I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary. I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity!”
Significantly, Drabinsky did not try to hide her woke bonafides during the election; indeed, she flouted them. In her vision statement for her candidacy, she declared:
“So many of us find ourselves at the ends of our worlds. The consequences of decades of unchecked climate change, class war, white supremacy, and imperialism have led us here. If we want a world that includes public goods like the library, we must organize our collective power and wield it. The American Library Association offers us a set of tools that can harness our energies and build those capacities.”
In her platform, she pledged to promote “economic and racial justice for library workers and the communities in which we live and work,” “environmental sustainability,” and “collective organizing” to crush parents who dare to try to protect their children from woke ideologies. In regard to “Equity as action,” she stated:
“Social and economic justice and racial equity requires that we make a material difference in the lives of library workers and patrons who have for too long been denied power and opportunity on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, national origin, spoken language, and disability. As ALA president, I will direct resources and opportunities to a diverse cross section of the association and advance a public agenda that puts organizing for justice at the center of library work.”
In regard to “A Green New Deal for libraries,” Drabinski said:
“Floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and other consequences of climate change threaten libraries, library workers, and library publics around the world. We must build on recent association work in this area and connect to broader public legislation in order to preserve libraries and communities for an uncertain future.”
In regard to “Collective organizing for collective power,” Drabinski openly waged war on parents trying to protect their children from being taught woke LGBT ideology and racist critical race theory in schools:
“From organized attacks on library funding to attempts to ban books to state bans on what can and can’t be taught in the classroom, all of us face pressures that get in the way of our core missions. As ALA president I will bring an organizing approach to association leadership, getting us talking with each other as we collectively develop a national campaign for libraries. How will I make that happen? Let’s find out. Remember: there are more of us than there are of them, especially when we work together.”
Drabinski also had the right multicultural credentials to run for president of the ALA. As the ALA press release announcing her win stated:
“Drabinski is a member of several ALA affiliates: the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Reforma: the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking, the American Indian Library Association, the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, and the Chinese American Librarians Association.”
So there you have it. The woke American Library Association elects as its new president a self-described Marxist lesbian who believes in using collective power to crush parents who oppose the woke indoctrination of their children. Thus another elite institution goes woke. I don’t think I will be visiting my local public library any time soon.