Pastor Luis Cabrera and his conservative group threatened to shut down school board meetings if a superintendent of a school district in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas did not heed their demands to ban a wide array of books, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.
In the end, Superintendent Carol Perez agreed to the demands to remove 676 books, including a number of books that address the Holocaust and antisemitism.
"In Mission, the long list of books on the chopping block includes a recent illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary; both volumes of Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust graphic memoir 'Maus'; 'The Fixer,' Bernard Malamud’s novel about a historical instance of antisemitic blood libel; and 'Kasher in the Rye,' a ribald memoir by Jewish comedian Moshe Kasher," the report said.
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The list of 676 books is the same one used by the far-right group "Moms for Liberty," which “rates” books on its own scale and is known for seeking to remove books that include Jewish themes.
Pastor Cabrera purports to be an advocate of Israel.
Most of the books the pastor's group, Citizens Defending Freedom, were deemed objectionable for how they deal with race, sexuality and gender.
Pastor Cabrera was contacted by activist Martha Garza-Johnson in May with the list of books she called “very sexually explicit” and “filthy and evil." He immediately pressed that the books be removed.
“We are here to work with you,” Garza-Johnson wrote. “We are advocating for our children because we want to protect them from these extremely vulgar and offensive books that have no business in our schools.”
The report explained that school districts often require a formal challenge for each book. That didn't happen in this case.
"Five minutes after receiving the demands, [Superintendent] Perez agreed to them," said the report.
“We will certainly check to see if we have those books to remove them,” she wrote. “Thank you!”
Her deputy then followed up with another message saying she would “begin working with Library Services to track the books on the system and have them removed from the libraries.”
Perez was ultimately placed on administrative leave just 10 days later. The report said that the removal of the books didn't appear to have anything to do with her removal, however. Local reports say there was a conflict over the terms of her contract.