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BlueWaveNeverEnd

(13,220 posts)
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 06:02 AM 9 hrs ago

3000 Tennessee library books pulled: topics of slavery, the Holocaust, menstruation, ancient history, unclothed animals

Library books on slavery, Holocaust pulled in Rutherford County
Books featuring topics of slavery, the Holocaust, menstruation, ancient history, unclothed animals were flagged as potential violations of state and federal legal standards.


Books were flagged by librarians for possible violations such as:

“unclothed anthropomorphic animals, violence”

“Adam and Eve nude in the Garden of Eden; Violence”

“underpants shown during cartwheel”

“An image capturing an affectionate gesture where a girl gives a boy a kiss on the cheek on the school bus during Valentine's Day.”

“Fictional male rabbits get married”

“Civil War Hero, Mary, dresses in pants, history of undergarments present and modeled by chickens”

“Kissing”

“Words "ass" appears for donkey and "cock" for rooster”

“2 male neighbors speaking to one another, one has a rainbow and his produce bag**”**

“LGBTQIA+ rights”

“implied breastfeeding”

“nude mummified body”

“classroom discussion of book bans and censorship”

“discussion of teen getting period”

“woke”

Popular titles flagged and pulled include Aesop’s Fables, two Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne, multiple Harry Potter books by J.K Rowling, and a Charlie Brown book by Charles Schultz.

https://archive.ph/4Dmxf

Key Points
A letter from Secretary of State Tre Hargett prompting public libraries across the state to submit a review of their collections has led to the removal of nearly 3,000 books in one county.
The letter asked public libraries to complete a review of their entire juvenile collections within 60 days and provide a report to Hargett's office to avoid the risk of losing funding.
The letter sent libraries across the state scrambling over the holiday season, even as state officials deny it was ever an order.
Books on slavery, racism and the Holocaust are among the nearly 3,000 pulled from public library shelves across Rutherford County following a letter from State Secretary Tre Hargett prompting a review of juvenile collections across nearly all state public libraries.
Four Anne Frank biographies, more than 30 books focused on the Bible, five books on women’s history and suffrage and numerous books on ancient civilizations were among those removed for review.
32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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3000 Tennessee library books pulled: topics of slavery, the Holocaust, menstruation, ancient history, unclothed animals (Original Post) BlueWaveNeverEnd 9 hrs ago OP
Da fuq ? dweller 9 hrs ago #1
Produce bag is a shopping bag I would guess Celerity 8 hrs ago #2
"implied breastfeeding" whow just whow!! riversedge 8 hrs ago #3
Shocked the librarians cooperated to babylonsister 7 hrs ago #4
Looks to me like some are responding with decently contrived over compliance Easterncedar 7 hrs ago #5
The 'underpants shown during cartwheel' made babylonsister 7 hrs ago #6
Ban the Bible! TheRickles 7 hrs ago #7
These guys hate women. Well, you know what to do, ladies. Shut it down. No more nookie. Joinfortmill 7 hrs ago #8
You know what would make kids even safer? Red Mountain 6 hrs ago #9
removing Anne Frank biographies? OGBuzz 6 hrs ago #10
Menstruation!!! mysteryowl 6 hrs ago #11
Girls don't need to know about it until it happens to them and they think they are dying. milestogo 5 hrs ago #25
Just bdamomma 4 hrs ago #30
Tennessee striving to become the most illiterate state in the Union. sinkingfeeling 6 hrs ago #12
Here is an adorable book that riled up folks in the state of Alabama Collimator 6 hrs ago #13
Thanks for that little history lesson, Collimator! 70sEraVet 6 hrs ago #19
I'll bet nobody would make a wedding cake for them. milestogo 5 hrs ago #26
"Unclothed Animals"? hatrack 6 hrs ago #14
If you have ever lived that area, you would not be surprised at this. OldBaldy1701E 6 hrs ago #16
Do they clothe their animals there? travelingthrulife 5 hrs ago #22
I tried to stay away from there as much as I could. OldBaldy1701E 5 hrs ago #24
"Adam and Eve nude in the Garden of Eden" So, the Bible then? flvegan 6 hrs ago #15
What gender is God? Do the true believers ever ask or imagine? Ping Tung 6 hrs ago #17
My home state evolves 6 hrs ago #18
What a bunch of snowflakes Picaro 6 hrs ago #20
What snide, sniveling rodents we manage to elect here in TN! 70sEraVet 5 hrs ago #21
These religious loons need to be taxed back into political silence. travelingthrulife 5 hrs ago #23
Will the ignorant be dancing? WmChris 5 hrs ago #27
This is your brain on Christianity Mysterian 5 hrs ago #28
I was a senior at the University of Memphis when Hargett was in student government there Rob H. 4 hrs ago #29
Wake up America. bluestarone 4 hrs ago #31
As a retired high school librarian, this makes me absolutely sick. PittBlue 4 hrs ago #32

dweller

(27,950 posts)
1. Da fuq ?
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 06:16 AM
9 hrs ago

Snoopy has no pants on?
and what is a “ produce bag**”** ?

(most every sentence in those books have a ‘ period ‘ at the end of sentences )


✌🏻

Easterncedar

(5,693 posts)
5. Looks to me like some are responding with decently contrived over compliance
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 07:58 AM
7 hrs ago

Adam and Eve? Biblical violence?

babylonsister

(172,629 posts)
6. The 'underpants shown during cartwheel' made
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:09 AM
7 hrs ago

me produce a big eyeroll, but that's a lot of books.

mysteryowl

(8,447 posts)
11. Menstruation!!!
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:38 AM
6 hrs ago

What the hell are men afraid of? Those foolish religious right... $&@#*!
Just stop it!

milestogo

(22,759 posts)
25. Girls don't need to know about it until it happens to them and they think they are dying.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:53 AM
5 hrs ago

Back in the day this was not uncommon. Ignorance is not bliss.

Collimator

(2,096 posts)
13. Here is an adorable book that riled up folks in the state of Alabama
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:51 AM
6 hrs ago


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rabbits'_Wedding
A black bunny rabbit and a white bunny rabbit wear flower crowns and get married. Very Subversive stuff.]

70sEraVet

(5,316 posts)
19. Thanks for that little history lesson, Collimator!
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:25 AM
6 hrs ago

I had never heard of that book, nor the silly controversy.
I enjoyed the comment the author made, after the book was attacked by The White Citizens Council of Montgomery Alabama; "I was completely unaware that animals with white furs, such as white polar bears and white dogs and white rabbits, were considered blood relations of white human beings,"
(Same link)

hatrack

(64,419 posts)
14. "Unclothed Animals"?
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:53 AM
6 hrs ago


Also, I checked. This isn't some remote rural county in the Great Smokies. This is almost immediately south of Nashville (the country seat is Murfreesboro).

OldBaldy1701E

(10,506 posts)
16. If you have ever lived that area, you would not be surprised at this.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:07 AM
6 hrs ago

Especially if you know Murfreesboro.

(Go ask those that live there about why they refuse to pay anything for the upkeep of Davidson county (Nashville), where they all work and spend most of their time, while moving to Williamson country and turning it into a wealth enclave that favors the rich and won't tax them appropriately. Go on... ask them.)

OldBaldy1701E

(10,506 posts)
24. I tried to stay away from there as much as I could.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:46 AM
5 hrs ago

But, knowing what I know about that area, I would not be surprised if they did.

flvegan

(65,885 posts)
15. "Adam and Eve nude in the Garden of Eden" So, the Bible then?
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:55 AM
6 hrs ago

Did they ban the Bible?

Unclothed animals and underpants. These are the things they're concerned with. Imagine this was your life.

70sEraVet

(5,316 posts)
21. What snide, sniveling rodents we manage to elect here in TN!
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 09:40 AM
5 hrs ago

“We made a request. We asked, we said please," (State Secretary Tre) Hargett said in a video posted to social media. "There’s been no order, there’s been no directive.”
(Same link as above)
No, no order -- just a good old-fashioned threat!

WmChris

(655 posts)
27. Will the ignorant be dancing?
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 10:10 AM
5 hrs ago

Around the bonfires with confederate flags and swastikas. When will the madness end?

Mysterian

(6,224 posts)
28. This is your brain on Christianity
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 10:23 AM
5 hrs ago

Get rid of the evil books and go to church and play with rattlesnakes.

Rob H.

(5,797 posts)
29. I was a senior at the University of Memphis when Hargett was in student government there
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 11:15 AM
4 hrs ago

After I graduated, the student LQBTQ+ group (known first as GALA, for Gay and Lesbian Awareness, then B-GALA for Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Awareness, and now Stonewall Tigers) was working to get sexual orientation added to the university's nondiscrimination statement, and Hargett was a very vocal opponent and fought against it.

At an anti-LGBTQ+ protest at the University in the early to mid-1990s, Hargett carried a sign saying: “Blacks can’t help being black, Women can’t help being women. Gays=/=Minority.” I don't know whether he realized that the sign made him look racist and sexist in addition to being an outspoken homophobe. He also passed out religious tracts saying gay people are going to hell at a panel discussion about religion and sexuality organized by the student LQBTQ+ group (GALA or possibly B-GALA then).

In the last 30+ years, he's learned nothing and hasn't changed.

bluestarone

(21,484 posts)
31. Wake up America.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 11:20 AM
4 hrs ago

Religion used wrong again. Nothing worse than these religious FANATICS!! That's a FACT!

PittBlue

(4,729 posts)
32. As a retired high school librarian, this makes me absolutely sick.
Tue Jan 27, 2026, 11:23 AM
4 hrs ago

I was a librarian for 20 years in a school district in SW PA. In those 20 years, I had two book challenges and my administration backed me in both cases. Tre Haggert is obviously a Nazi with mommy issues.

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