A is for…Activist?
When you visit the library with your 5 year old, he may reach for a board book called A is for Activist by Innosanto Niagara and ask you to read it. The title itself throws up a red flag, but you open the pages to take a look. Expecting to learn his ABCs, instead your toddler is told to agitate, demand, and defy. This book, pretending to be for children, ends with Z is for Zapatista. Many adults don’t clearly know what a Zapatista is; how would a small child begin to understand a Marxist political group? In between A and Z are the rallying cries we have heard from the progressive left, such as the following passages: “Environmental justice is the way!”…”We Demand equality!”…”Love who you choose!”…”…delight in Diversity!”
Not only are the topics and tone of the book wholly inappropriate for children, but the illustrations are ugly and scary. I counted thirteen raised fists. On the N page is an angry-looking child carrying a No Justice, No Peace sign. The scary-looking Zapatista is hooded in black, while a masked black cat lurks over his shoulder. According to Amazon reviewer Kyle Pratt, A is for Activist “allows progressive parents to virtue signal and would produce young radicals who shout slogans with no real understanding.” He continues, “It’s disturbing that we live at a time when parents must check the content of their children’s pre-school and kindergarten books, but as A is for Activist shows—they must.” What is eerily missing from the ABCs of social justice is F is for Freedom and L is for Liberty. Instead, this book teaches that if someone’s ideas are different than your own, you raise your fist in defiance and destroy their notions of liberty. I can’t think of anything more tragic than this book in the hands of parents and children today at your local library. A is for Activist is REALLY B is for Brainwash, or I is for Indoctrination, or T is for Totalitarianism! There are currently 8 A is for Activist books in circulation in Oklahoma County libraries. Please call Larry White, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Library System, to express your displeasure. Your tax-paying voice will make a difference! His number is 405-606-3725.
