4 August 17-23, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ‘Entryway to Censorship’ Dallas Booksellers Slam GOP’s Latest Book Law. BY SIMONE CARTER C laudia Vega, founder of Whose Books in Oak Cliff, once worked as an educator in Dal- las ISD. She knows how impor- tant it is to encourage kids to pick up books, particularly since many Texas students are having trouble reading at grade level. Vega fears that instilling that love of books for some students could get trickier thanks to a new Texas law set to take effect on Sept. 1. House Bill 900 by state Rep. Jared Patter- son, a Frisco Republican, requires book ven- dors to issue ratings to titles they sell or have sold to school districts in the past. The eval- uation is focused on two classifications of material: “sexually explicit” and “sexually relevant.” Under the law, the former will be barred from shelves and the latter will be re- stricted. But critics argue that such requirements may serve as pretexts to remove titles that conservative lawmakers don’t like, such as those dealing with issues of sexuality and race. “I think that this law is a slippery slope,” Vega said. “I think it is an entryway to cen- sorship and to further marginalize commu- nities of color and people in the LGBTQ+ community.” Booksellers in Dallas and other Texas cit- ies are blasting the law as unconstitutional and wholly “anti-business.” Interabang Books, for instance, has a page on its website encouraging people to contact their legisla- tors with concerns. “HB900 continues a worrying trend in our state to curtail free speech in schools, and to encumber hard-working teachers and booksellers who provide valuable re- sources to Texas students and children,” the Dallas store’s website states. “If en- acted, this law will disrupt independent bookstores like ours, and threaten our com- mercial viability at a time when indies are most vulnerable.” A coalition of booksellers, publishers and authors filed a lawsuit in July asking a fed- eral court in Austin to block the law. The plaintiffs are arguing that the so-called READER Act forces sellers to comply with vague, arbitrary and subjective government standards. The suit further states that Katy ISD near Houston has already halted library book purchases because of the law. And while HB 900 could stop some harmful and obscene material from reach- ing school shelves, it “also prohibits a wide swath of constitutionally protected mate- rial,” the lawsuit contends. Vega is waiting to learn more about what the rating process will look like. “It’s going to be really challenging and impossible for some stores, based on their size and their capacity, to keep up with the requirements that House Bill 900 is laying out,” she said. “Which is unfortunate, be- cause it’s going to hurt small businesses.” On top of that, there could be inconsis- tencies in how the books are rated from seller to seller, she said. The onus now falls on vendors to determine what content is in- appropriate for kids when they often don’t have the proper training or educational background to do so. Many booksellers are frustrated because they won’t have the capacity to meet HB 900’s demands, Vega said. But Patterson defended the law in an email to the Observer. “I don’t care if you’re a small business or a big business; if you’re selling something that’s going to be in the hands of children, you should know whether or not it’s safe for that child to consume,” Patterson said. “The book vendor is the one with the financial re- lationship with the school district and, so they’re the ones that can most easily be held accountable for this.” Last year, Missouri lawmakers approved a similar measure that led to the removals of art history and sex education books, graphic novels, titles featuring photography and books about the Holocaust, the free expres- sion advocacy group PEN America noted in a press release. More than half of the books banned under that law were reportedly ei- ther written by or about people of color or LGBTQ+ people. PEN America expects that HB 900 could usher in a “similar chilling effect.” Kasey Meehan, the Freedom to Read pro- gram director at PEN America, told the Ob- server that the Texas law amounts to government overreach. She also expects it to lead to increased censorship in the state; the burden for implementation is too high, she said. Lawmakers’ use of vague terms like “sex- ually explicit” is likely intentional, Meehan said. She expects it’ll lead to “confusion and an overly cautious response. “When it comes to books, time and time again, we also see the way in which terms like ‘sexually explicit,’ ‘sexually relevant’ are being conflated and inappropriately used to target books that have LGBTQ+ characters, identities or themes represented,” Meehan said, “or books that have any — in the broad- est sense — sexual content.” The lawsuit raises concerns that HB 900 could lead to the removal of classic literature like Romeo and Juliet, Of Mice and Men and “even the Bible.” In a tweet last week, Patterson took aim at the READER Act’s naysayers, writing: “HB 9oo hAs A cHiLiNg eFfEcT bEcAuSE wE cAnT seLl pOrN tO kIdS nO MoRe.” Many conservatives have echoed the idea that pornography is making its way onto school library shelves. But Meehan slammed such rhetoric as “complete misin- formation,” adding that no school books would fit under any colloquial or legal defi- nitions of pornography. Meehan said publishers already assign age-relevant categories to books. The vast repercussions of HB 900 are “hard to wrap one’s head around,” she added. “Coupled with the current climate of ed- ucational censorship already in Texas [and] nationwide, this type of law is just a tool for constraining access to books and informa- tion,” Meehan said. “We see that effort in HB 900 and similar efforts across the coun- try as deeply undemocratic.” ▼ FOOTBALL DAK IS BACK IS THIS THE YEAR FOR THE DALLAS COWBOYS? PROBABLY NOT. BY KELLY DEARMORE W hen Texans get tired of small- talking about the weather, there’s one topic that, for gener- ations, reliably becomes the go-to chit-chat subject for locals looking to safely connect without diving into politics or religion: the Dallas Freakin’ Cowboys. The splashy NFL franchise is the gift that keeps on giving in many ways, but in other ways, it can feel more like the curse that keeps inflicting pain. Almost against any sort of logic, the Jerry Jones-owned team rises in value, year by year, while not achieving any- thing on the field to warrant its growing value. To be fair, head coach Mike McCarthy has coaxed two consecutive 12-win regular seasons, along with one playoff game vic- tory, which his team won last year. That’s a start, right? That’s good, but it’s nothing the team hasn’t done a few other times in the nearly three decades it’s now been since the Cow- boys last finished the season as the undis- puted titans of the sport. In the here and now, however, the fact is that the Cowboys have the look of a team that should make some winning noise in 2023. With training camp in California well underway, now is a good time to see what some of the people who follow the team the closest think about the season ahead. Stop us if you think you’ve heard this one before, but the Las Vegas oddsmakers like the ol’ cowpokes. BetMGM has the Cow- boys listed with the sixth best odds to snag the Vince Lombardi Trophy at +1500, just ahead of the New York Jets and their new star QB, Aaron Rodgers. The sportsbook also has star defensive end Micah Parsons as its favorite to be named NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Even some local experts can’t help themselves from feeling some kind of hope about the home team heading into the new season. David Mino, host of 1310 The Ticket’s 1–3 p.m. show, admits he’s a Cowboys op- timist and that staying hopeful breaks his heart at the end of each season. In fact, he’s not all that sore about the way the ‘Boys were bounced from the playoffs last year by the San Francisco 49ers, a team that has ousted Dallas in the playoffs two years running. “The team this year has higher expecta- tions, which they should,” Mino said. “The Cowboys have a top-five defense and the best defensive player in the league, Micah Parsons. They’ve added a weapon to their offense in veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks. I’m not expecting a Super Bowl from the team this season, heck, even an NFC Championship game appearance. But with a great defense, and cutting down on turnovers, I think the Cowboys will be a top-three team in the NFC.” Joining the Cowboys in many predictions of the top three teams in the NFC is a pair of Dallas rivals that many fans aren’t in a hurry to play again. The Philadelphia Eagles have arguably been the Cowboys’ most hated en- emy for many years now, and especially after the Jalen Hurts-led squad reached the Su- per Bowl last season. The other NFC power the Cowboys must contend with is that pesky playoff foe from the Bay Area, the 49ers. Mino’s Ticket colleague Ty Walker places his concerns toward the east rather than the west. | UNFAIR PARK | Jamie Taylor / Unsplash >> p6 A popular talking point among conservative officials and voters is the possibility of school libraries possessing pornographic material.
