A closing story about activism in action, by Leslie McColgin
Struggles to protect our democracy and basic liberties are happening all over our country, and public libraries are one of the targets. Nicole Wallace asked Timothy Snyder the other day how the media could do better, and his response included making sure to report on and shine a spotlight every time there is success in pushing back against these forces that are leading us to fascism and Christian Nationalism. Any time we have a success, we need to shout it from the rooftops and beat back the cynicism and despair that can so easily take hold as we have so many battles to fight right now. Every local battle where this threat is successfully addressed can give us strength to sustain the fight.
The Christian Nationalist threat to the Metropolis Public Library in Metropolis, Illinois, which began in January of this year, is now held at bay and the extremists have lost this battle. The story eventually received national coverage by NBC both in an investigative online story, and an NBC Nightly News segment. This piece particularly, In Superman’s ‘hometown,’ a pastor vows to fight Satan’s influence at the local library, gives a succinct summary of the events as they occurred up to April 18, 2024. It was followed up by an NBC Nightly News piece on May 14th: Fight over the role of library in small Illinois town.
I grew up in Metropolis and still live nearby in Kentucky. I began writing stories about what was happening, as I attempted to make sense of what I learned was happening and trying to figure out ways I could help. There is a lot of detail in those stories for those that are interested in exactly how citizens responded and organized to deal with this threat, as well as the nature of the main players leading this threat – primarily Pastor Brian Anderson of Eastland Life Church, but aided and abetted by Rosemary Baxter, former library director, and Metropolis Mayor Don Canada, who was appointing and attempting to terminate Library Board members to support a censorship agenda. To put icing on the cake, Brian Anderson was a member of the City Council. And be clear, it was pretty much all about LGBTQ+ literature and issues, although reportedly the library was also down to one Halloween book under Director Baxter’s tenure.
Here are links to my first three stories: Red, White, & Kryptonite Part 1, Red, White, & Kryptonite Part 2, Red, White, & Kryptonite Part 3.
And now we come to what seems to be a conclusion to celebrate in Part 4.
The library board had become clearly divided, with the two most recent appointees, Cheriah Herring in the fall of 2023 and Carl Johnson in January 2024, selected by the mayor without input from the existing board. Those two were clearly aligned with Pastor Anderson and library director Rosemary Baxter, Herring being a teacher in the Eastland Life Home School Co-op and Johnson attending the church where Baxter’s husband is pastor.
So after the majority of the Library Board voted to terminate director Rosemary Baxter when she opposed complying with the Library Bill of Rights — as required under a new Illinois law signed in 2023 — and vowed to continue practices such as having children in the after-school program engage in group prayer, Mayor Canada responded by attempting to terminate board president Rhonda James, along with another board member, a retired public school librarian with many years of experience. However, he did not follow proper procedures, and those terminations were put on hold at a city council meeting in front of a full house of grassroots citizens. Those citizens held a rally in support of the library board before the meeting, and then spoke up clearly and forcefully in opposition to the terminations.
Then within a few weeks, national media attention focused on the town.
One other long-time board member (who stopped attending meetings after January) resigned voluntarily, and there was a strong push to have the Mayor appoint one of two candidates recommended by the board instead of going to his announced “list,” which he had stated at a City Council meeting was just people who showed up first to his office. This was a disingenuous “new” approach, since the appointments of Johnson and Herring had been initiated by the mayor approaching them and asking them to serve on the board.
Before the Illinois law changed in 2023 to prohibit banning of books, the mayor had taken recommendations for new board members from the current library board. At the May 16th meeting, just following the airing of the NBC story, the Mayor did the right thing and selected one of the board-recommended applicants, Pam Tyson.
However, things were still somewhat up in the air. While the mayor declined to proceed with his termination move against board president Rhonda James and the other board member, he noted that the appointment of Rhonda James would be reviewed when her term ended June 30th. Also, Pam Tyson’s term would end then and require renewal, since it was to complete the term of the board member who resigned. No one knew for sure if the mayor’s newly found diplomacy would continue.
And this week we had our answer. In June, it was announced to the Library Board that the two board members (Johnson and Herring), who had previously been voting with former director Rosemary Baxter, wished to end their terms June 30th. This allowed for the other candidate proposed earlier to be considered, and additionally another candidate to be nominated, as recommended by the Library Board.
On Monday, July 8th, the City Council voted unanimously to approve all of Mayor Canada’s recommendations, which were in agreement with the Library Board:
- Accept the resignations of the two board members (Cheriah Herring and Carl Johnson)
- Appoint the Library Board-recommended candidates – Theo (“Ted”) Wells to complete Carl Johnson’s term, and Katie Parker to complete Cheriah Herring’s term
- And extend the contracts for Rhonda James and Pam Tyson.
The extremist elements on the Library Board are now gone, and have been replaced by candidates the Library Board itself unanimously recommended to the mayor.
I attended all of the City Council meetings where these decisions were discussed or voted on. It was very satisfying last night for all of us democracy supporters to clap as Rhonda James contract was announced as being extended. Oh, and Brian Anderson was not present for the votes this time to be the lone “no” vote; he was reportedly on a mission trip. And the mayor’s wife with the Eastland Life Bible study group that showed up unexpectedly at the May 13th City Council meeting were nowhere in the room (see my Part 3 description of how she confiscated the Four Rivers Indivisible AGREE/DISAGREE signs I had brought ... and yes I had a talk with the mayor about that ... and he told me he had a talk with her).
So – success for now, and the library appears to be moving forward. The community seems ready to move beyond the acrimony. The interim director, Colby Kennedy, seems to be liked by all and doing a good job righting the ship. The citizens I have talked to there seem to be hoping he will be appointed as the next Director. They are trying to build back up the collection (Baxter reportedly removed/sold approximately 5,000 titles). Links to pages for donating money or books from the Amazon Wish List can be found on this page: Metropolis Public Library: Support Our Library Page.
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Written by Leslie McColgin, the leader of the Four Rivers Indivisible group.
