Carolyn Foote and Becky Calzada. Photo: Allie & Jesse
Longtime friends Becky Calzada and Carolyn Foote couldn't sit on the sidelines anymore listening to people undermine librarians. All over the country, a narrative played out at school board meetings claiming that diverse titles are harmful, librarians are "groomers" and children are exposed to pornographic material in school libraries.
After a Texas lawmaker, Rep. Matt Krause, targeted 850 books for removal from the state's libraries, Calzada and Foote, joined by other silent partners, started the group's Twitter account and website, Freadom.us, which offers support for embattled librarian colleagues and guides for action campaigns. Texas lawmakers threatened to ban titles that tackled issues of race, racism and LGBTQ themes—or that merely featured kids whose identities reflected them. Calzada, 57, and Foote, 63, formed FReadom Fighters in November 2021 to rally an army of book lovers on social media and in their communities. Using the hashtag #txlege to gain the attention of the Texas legislature, the group started sharing their counter-message. A tweetstorm of 13,000 tweets went out with this hashtag, including personal stories of books positively changing lives.
"Books shouldn't be contraband," says Foote, a retired librarian from Austin. "We've lost our way in this contentious environment. We forgot what's at the core of libraries: getting kids excited about reading and seeing stories that reflect their lives."
Read more at People.