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Bethlehem library books defaced with vulgar right-wing stickers

Feb 01, 2022 1:23 pm

Massarah Mikati and Kathleen Moore report in the Times Union that a number of books and signs in the Bethlehem Public Library were defaced with vulgar right-wing political stickers last weekend. Library Director Geoffrey Kirkpatrick said a handful of stickers critical of President Joe Biden were found on covers of former President Barack Obama's book "A Promised Land" and Robin DiAngelo's "White Fragility," and on a sign in the library's New York Times' Bestsellers section. The stickers read "FJB" and "Let's Go Brandon," both vulgar terms against the current president. The stickers were removed from the books in the southern Albany County library. "It's the first time we've seen it in quite a few years, probably a decade or more," said Tim Burke, executive director of the Upper Hudson Library System. "Not stickers so much, but flyers or pieces of paper advertising a particular radical viewpoint put in books about the Holocaust," he said. "There have been occasional instances of this over the country. Usually it’s driven by some political agenda. Many times it focuses on hate speech." Aside from the few stickers, no one is asking to ban any of the library's books yet. "We know that this current political climate has generated more material challenges across the country," Burke said. "We haven’t seen any in Upper Hudson at this point but we have been working with the libraries to be sure they’re prepared to respond to these challenges." Read more about this story in the Times Union.

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