August 7, 2024, 12:42pm
Governor Tim Walz, the K-Hive’s lately anointed candidate for America’s first vice-uncle, has been charming optimistic electoralists all week with his pleasure-to-have-in-class energy. Walz’s blithe bona fides stand out in a party whose best-known leaders tend to be millionaires with cold New English hearts. The man’s commitment to public education is a major and somewhat novel selling point. And I’m here to tell you that the well-read waters run deep in Minnesota.
Earlier this year, in honor of Reading Month, Governor Walz placed a Free Little Library at the Minnesota state capitol. The gesture, produced in cahoots with the Little Free Library organization and Minnesota public librarians, was a pointed response to the hundreds of attempted book bans that have been running roughshod over America’s stacks.
And better yet? The governor’s little, free symbol foreshadowed a big, free policy change. In May, Walz signed a Minnesota law “banning K-12 schools, colleges, and public libraries from complying with [book] removal requests… based solely on the viewpoint, content, message, idea, or opinion conveyed.” The act meaningfully protects LGBTQ+ books from the crosshairs of conservative censors.
While unveiling the Little Free Library, Walz affirmed his commitment to free reading. “In Minnesota, we are focused on investing in education, our future, and children and families across the state. We’re not in the business of taking books away from kids and schools and we certainly don’t believe in banning books that tell our history,” he told reporters.
Elsewhere, the governor has been more modest about his agenda. As he told Minnesota Public Radio, “Trying to tell someone else’s children that they can’t read The Hobbit, or whatever it might be, you’re in the wrong.” Which? Okay, Unc. You’re on.
Look, I’m not immune to the strategic charms of a reading veep. Especially when that reading veep is a teacher, beloved by former students and praised for his conspicuously thoughtful lesson plans on genocide.
Free idea for the governor? Start a book club, next. We can keep exchanging little, big ideas.
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