[Regarding “Exposure to Darkness: School Library Book Bans Come to Buncombe,” April 3, Xpress:]
When Mr. Greg Parlier or anyone else uses the Southern Poverty Law Center as a source for appraisal of any group to any degree right of center, they forfeit credibility. (This opinion is so widely held and so demonstrable that one wonders why a journalist hasn’t enough perception or self-regard to avoid using SPLC as a reference. Surely other sources or none at all — relying on a wide variety of news sources — would be a wiser choice.)
The SPLC labels most conservative groups, usually erroneously, as a “hate” or “extremist” group. It is itself one of the country’s leading bona fide hate and extremist groups.
The Moms for Liberty group, by today’s definitions, is certainly conservative in trying to protect young children from sex-related matters (many quite extreme) until they are more mature in their abilities to sort out reasonable choices, and they deal with those questions responsibly. It is risible for Asheville schools to determine, categorically, that school officials are better able to make those judgments than parents.
—Michael Childs
Vance Elementary School alumnus
Charlotte
