Rio Rancho Library Update: Protecting Our Freedoms

Several months back, we got a warning that Mass Resistance (a designated hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center) was going to request the Rio Rancho City Council remove books dealing with LGBTQIA+ lifestyles from the Rio Rancho Public Library. This was an intrusion on our rights; therefore, we mobilized the Democratic Party of Sandoval County to push back. It is safe to say that because we participated in this and other meetings, the Council passed a resolution to keep these books on our public library’s shelves. So, I want to thank the Rio Rancho City Council for unanimously passing this resolution and upholding our rights. It was the correct thing to do.

Mass Resistance then decided to speak directly to the library board at their June meeting. Again, we mobilized and stood behind the library’s decision to remain within the American Library Association (ALA) guidelines. Earlier this month we got another notice that Mass Resistance was going to be at the August library board meeting. As before, we mobilized our group. I am happy to report that we had a very large group of concerned citizens come out to support our public library at this meeting. Additionally, we had folks from outside of Rio Rancho and Sandoval County at the meeting. I hope that as word gets out and more and more people realize the importance of this issue, the engagement from our extended community will only continue to grow.

At this last meeting, Mass Resistance didn’t show. Is this good or bad? To me, it doesn’t matter. Every time I get a notice that a group is trying to take away our rights, I will try to mobilize as many of our group as I can. We need to stay vigilant and willing to fight back anytime our rights or our civil liberties are under attack. Therefore, I appreciate everyone who has taken part in these meetings. Without your participation, the outcome would have been very different. I read somewhere that “Apathy leads to the erosion of our freedoms”. We can never let this happen; we need to remain responsive to any threat to our freedoms or rights.

A recent article on this topic is: “Despite No Show, Opposition to Book Bans Remains Strong in Rio Rancho” by TS Last in the latest Signpost newspaper. It is a very good read.

Greg Bennett
Vice-Chair, Democratic Party of Sandoval County