Book Bans

 Book Bans Never Work

Religious Beliefs do not Govern

 

It always amazes me when our local history repeats itself. Once again, local Christian fundamentalists seek to impose their views of public morality on the rest of us. This time it is ostensibly about the “bad books” being made available to the community’s children in West Bend public schools.

 

We have an impressive history of similar attempts of the few to try and regulate what the rest of the community finds important. The common theme is the agenda of imposing a form of governmental theocracy when it is constitutionally impossible. All the previous attempts have been soundly rejected.

 

Here’s a recap. 

 

In the 1980s, Christian evangelical pastors petitioned the West Bend School Board to add “scientific creationism” to the high school curriculum. After public outcry, the Board tabled the proposal and it later died. 

 

In the early 90s, a community group proposed adding “intelligent design,” a lightly concealed version of creationism, to the science curriculum in West Bend public schools. After more public input, the School Board rejected the proposal. 

 

In the early 2000s, a local Baptist pastor proposed the establishment of a fundamentalist based charter school in West Bend and sought the School Board’s approval. After public input, the proposal was rejected by the Board. 

 

In that same time-period, West Bend School Board member Monte Schmiege attempted to introduce religious theories into the school curriculum. Once again, public input caused the Board to reject his proposals. 

 

We cannot forget the efforts of Ginny Maziarka and Mary Weigand to impose their fundamentalist religious beliefs on the community when they sought to have the West Bend Community Memorial Library ban certain books that discussed LBGTQI issues that offended their homophobic beliefs. The Library Board heard their arguments and those expressed by community members opposed to the ban and unanimously rejected the proposed ban.

 

Mary Weigand, who ran for West Bend’s school board, tried to convince the Board that abstinence only sex education based upon her biblical beliefs was the only appropriate topic in human growth and development courses. That too was rejected. 

 

Mary’s husband, Dave Weigand, was a staunch hold out when the West Bend School Board voted to approve the Gay Straight Alliance’s application for official recognition after they sued the District in Federal court for initially denying the club recognition. Weigand’s opposition was clearly based upon his fundamentalist Christian beliefs openly stated during discussion during Board meetings. 

 

Fast forward to the present and once again we have a few vocal religious fundamentalists seeking to remove certain books from West Bend public school reading lists because they offend their views of public morality. Their public comments at meetings and the letters by their supporters published on these pages clearly reveal their religious underpinnings. 

 

I was glad to see that the public school committee charged with reviewing the book challenges unanimously rejected the complaints. They recognized that the books in question have value in today’s pluralistic society even though they contain words and discuss subjects that some find offensive. 

 

The debate on the Benders for Better Public Education Facebook page shows there are parents and other community members who understand what is happening and oppose the proposed bans.

 

Should the ban proponents appeal to the District Superintendent, school policy and public opposition to the bans should be the basis for affirming the committee’s decisions. If the Superintendent removes some or all the books, the issue then goes to the School Board for a final decision. 

The West Bend School Board would do well to remember the opposition to theocratic governance that has so richly favored our community over the decades. Hopefully, the Board would vote to keep the challenged books available for those who want to read them and have an appropriate classroom discussion about them. 

 

Parents who do not want their children to read those books or discuss the topics they contain are free to opt their children out. They can also home school or send their children to faith-based charter schools if they so choose. Contrary to the book banners’ claims, no one is forcing them or their children to participate. 

 

We live in a society that has chosen to erect a wall between church and state that is enshrined in our founding documents. We must remain vigilant and work to keep it that way, so we remain free to believe what we want and not have the beliefs of others forced down our throats. 

Una Chin Riley Matters

 Who is Una Chin-Riley? 

Why she matters.

 

I have been fascinated with science fiction since high school. I loved reading Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlien, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Larry Nevin, and a host of others who saw futures not yet realized. 

 

With the advent of television, I became hooked on Star Trek and later, Star Wars, which reminded me of the serial western movies I went to as a kid on my bike. I love most current TV sci-fi like Picard, Discovery, Foundation, and Silo, all streaming serials of different futures.

 

One of the recurring themes in these are societies built upon ideals of equality. Equalities of race, gender, species, brought to life with universal translators, fully integrated populations, and prime directives.

 

The Star Trek franchise has seen several sequels and prequels. Most recently, streaming on Paramount Plus, is Star Trek – Strange New Worlds. It is supposed to be a prequel to the original Star Trek but comes with much more modern looking technology and a much clearer embrace of the equality theme compared to Captain Kirk’s time on the screen. 

 

In the prequel, the Enterprise Captain is named Pike. His first officer is an Illryian woman, Una Chin-Riley. She is the quintessential first officer, telling Pike when he is about to go too far and providing a compelling role model for the command staff and crew. She is a mentor to younger officers. She has an unblemished 20 plus year career in Starfleet. 

 

Even though she is of a different species, Chin-Riley looks all the world like the humans she serves with aboard the Enterprise. In a previous episode she is outed as an Illryian, a fact she failed to mention on her application to join Starfleet. It turns out that Illryian’s are genetically modified humans, and the utopian United Federation of Planets has barred members of that species from serving in Starfleet. 

 

The basis for this discrimination goes back millennia to the Eugenics Wars that almost tore human civilization asunder as genetically modified humans tried to change human evolution by breeding out “undesirable” human characteristics through genetic manipulation enhanced by artificial intelligence. It does not escape to recognize the parallels to Hitler’s Master Race programs.

 

In the most recent episode I watched, Chin-Riley chooses to go to trial on the charges against her rather than accept a plea bargain that would keep her out of prison. Captain Pike hires an Illryian civil rights lawyer to defend his first officer. Starfleet prosecutors add additional charges that threaten to sweep in others on the Enterprise who might have known about her deception and failed to disclose it. 

 

The trial is a masterpiece, reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird and Inherit the Wind, that puts the clearly discriminatory basis for Chin-Riley’s prosecution on trial. 

 

In the end, the Illryian lawyer finds a Starfleet regulation that provided Una Chin-Riley and those who knew of her deception, a complete defense. By exposing the hardships and life-threatening experiences Chin-Riley had growing up and her desire to find a safe space in the Starfleet family set the stage for her self-disclosure of her species identity so she could finally live her life as she truly is, an Illryian. That completed the requirements of an asylum request that the Starfleet regulation required Captain Pike to grant.

 

After watching this simple yet complex television program, I marveled at how the writers and actors captured many of today’s conflicts about race, gender, sexual orientation, artificial intelligence, immigration status, and species while offering a simple solution. 

 

As a society built upon justice and equality, how can we not grant asylum and equal status to all on these shores asking to be part of the grand experiment in democracy our founders started centuries ago? Those who have lived oppression borne out of ignorance or bigotry, like our founders, deserve asylum just as those early immigrants did. We just celebrated our founding with a four-day holiday complete with fireworks, parades, family gatherings and fun. That celebration recognizes we are all equal in spirit and should reignite our national passion to make it so in reality. Star Trek just helped that process along by reminding us of our founders’ aspirations for us in their future generations. That is the way.

 

Waring Fincke is a retired attorney and guardian who lives in the Village of Kewaskum.