After the head of the American Library Association (ALA) declared herself to be an open “Marxist,” the group has faced severe backlash that has led to at least one state pulling its funding altogether.
As reported by Fox News, Emily Drabinski celebrated her own election as head of the ALA last year by tweeting “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! And my mom is SO PROUD. I love you mom.”
The tweet has since been deleted, but the damage was done. Lawmakers in numerous states, including Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Wyoming, have called on their respective state libraries to defund the ALA. The state of Montana became the first to act upon these calls when the Montana State Library Commission voted last month to withdraw from the national ALA.
“Our oath of office and resulting duty to the Constitution forbids association with an organization led by a Marxist,” the commission said in a statement that was sent to the ALA after the vote.
Drabinski took to Twitter to complain about the decision in Montana, claiming that the action that was taken “is not the Montana – or Montanans – I know.”
In an interview after the backlash began, Drabinski said that she “didn’t anticipate these kinds of targeted attacks,” before claiming that criticism of her Marxist views has since been “used as a bludgeon against library workers across the country,” without any evidence.
“I really think that is regrettable, and I wish that wasn’t happening right now,” Drabinski added.