Well before playing Geordi La Forge on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," LeVar Burton was encouraging children to read in the iconic "Reading Rainbow." I remember watching the show as a youngster in the '80s and have had tremendous respect for Burton’s commitment to encouraging children to read. But that respect is out the window now.
Burton hosted the National Book Awards this week and remarked at the opening of the ceremony, "Before we get going, are there any Moms for Liberty in the house? No? Good. Then hands will not need to be thrown tonight."
LeVar Burton threatened physical violence against Moms for Liberty at last night's National Book Awards ceremony.
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 16, 2023
"Are there any Moms for Liberty in the house? No? Good. Then hands will not need to be thrown tonight." pic.twitter.com/dSVUFClBqu
Why did Burton joke about assaulting members of Moms for Liberty? What did this group do that was so horrible that Burton had to, apropos of nothing, trash them at the National Book Awards? Well, he mentioned Moms for Liberty in an interview with Esquire before the National Book Awards.
"In these conversations around banned books, we hear from politicians, parents, and school boards — but we’re not hearing from the young people who are actually suffering because of the decisions adults are making. In all of your advocacy work, do you hear anything from young people affected by book bans?” Esquire asked.
"Here's the thing,” began Burton. "I think it's the responsibility of the adults in the room to advocate for those kids. Because in many cases, they don't know what they're missing. And they won't know what they're missing because they won't get it, because these people are in some cases being successful. One of the things I'm most thrilled about is that hardly any candidates backed by Moms for Liberty won their races. There are bright spots, but these are people who would rather children not know the truth. Those kids will never know what they're missing, but it's our job to stand up for them, to be their voices and their advocates. That's what being an elder in this society means to me."
Related: If 'Banned' Books Are Harmless, Joe Biden Should Read Them to Kids
But Moms for Liberty doesn’t want to ban books. What it does want is for schools not to carry books that depict graphic sex acts. We’ve shown examples of the kind of content leftists want available to young children under the guise of LGBTQ inclusivity, and this is apparently the kind of stuff LeVar Burton, former host of Reading Rainbow, wants our nation’s children to read in the name of “truth."
Moms for Liberty makes it clear what kind of material it opposes being made available in school libraries where young children can access them. It is also not telling authors to stop writing and publishing their work, demanding retailers stop selling these books, or even contacting public libraries to censor what books they carry.
Burton, like many others, wants the public to believe that Moms for Liberty wants to censor classic novels like "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or "To Kill a Mockingbird" — two books, I might add, that are often censored by leftists over ridiculous allegations of racism.
Moms for Liberty responded to Burton’s comments in a post on X/Twitter:
American moms weep as a childhood favorite, Reading Rainbow, calls for physical attacks against us because we are protecting the innocence of our children. @levarburton, why have you sunk so low? Threatening physical violence against women? https://t.co/qui0iP3McW
— Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty) November 16, 2023
I guess LeVar Burton believes porn should be available in schools. Would he read a book like "Gender Queer" or "Let’s Talk About It" to a bunch of young children?
.@OshkoshSchools voted this week to keep pornographic books in their school library.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 10, 2023
“Let’s Talk About It” encourages exploring kink on the internet, watching porn, using sex toys, and contains graphic depictions of sex.
“Gender Queer” discusses chest binders, masturbation, sex… pic.twitter.com/xa1mrOhBYH
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