Protesters cite porn on shelves

[HighOnHotSauce]

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/lo...988310,00.html

Protesters cite porn on shelves

'Fotonovelas' drive crowd to demand that librarian resign

By Fernando Quintero, Rocky Mountain News
August 9, 2005

Protesters demanded the resignation of Denver city librarian Rick Ashton at a noon rally Monday after their recent discovery of what they call "pornographic" Spanish-language fotonovelas on library bookshelves.

Representatives from a number of Colorado groups "concerned about illegal immigration issues," led by local radio commentator Michael Corbin, met outside the Central Library to hand-deliver their letter to Ashton, who is out of town on vacation.

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The comic book-like fotonovelas, which are popular in Mexico and other Latin American countries, have nudity and sexually explicit scenes depicted in some of the books.

"It's outrageous that we've got the library, of all places, peddling porn," said Corbin. "This demonstrates an extreme lack of judgment and leadership on Mr. Ashton's behalf."

Denver library spokeswoman Celeste Jackson said all the fotonovelas have been pulled from the shelves and are under review by library staff.

Protesters voiced several other concerns, including their opposition to the library's proposal to increase its Spanish-language collections and services at specific branches to better meet the city's demographic shifts. Proponents of official English criticized the use of Spanish in libraries and all other public institutions.

Robert Copley, who represented the Colorado Minutemen, a group of volunteers who monitor illegal border crossings, called for Mayor John Hickenlooper to rescind what Copley and others claim is a policy of sanctuary that coddles illegal immigrants.

"Our city's sanctuary policy acts as nothing but a magnet, pulling people from across the border. You hear they come to work hard. They also come to kill, destroy our work opportunities, and demean our quality of life. We're not going to let that happen," he said.

An equal number of library supporters carried signs that read "Censorship is un-American" and "Multilingualism makes us smarter."

"I do not like that these people are using the pornography issue to move forward its immigrant-bashing agenda and racist beliefs," said Corey Sampson, a Denver resident who represented the group Colorado for Immigrant Rights.

Jackson said a search for "fotonovelas" in the library's catalog turned up 6,500 titles.

"Not all are sexually explicit. Not all have been circulated," she said. "It appears something slipped through the cracks. When they arrive, nobody looks through each of them.

"This may become part of our process now."

[viscousmemories]

Call me skeptical, but I'm going to have to see these fotonovelas for myself.

[Joshua Adams]

Me too, and I'll need a box of tissues and some hand lotion.

I mean, 6,500 books worth of turning pages is bound to dry out my hands, and strain my eyes.

[MonCapitan2002]

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

Call me skeptical, but I'm going to have to see these fotonovelas for myself.

I have seen a couple. I would not call them pornographic. They are more like the stuff you see late at night on Cinemax.

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by Joshua Adams

I mean, 6,500 books worth of turning pages is bound to dry out my hands, and strain my eyes.

[Adora]

Ahhh, racism. Will you never go out of style?

[Petra]

Jackson said a search for "fotonovelas" in the library's catalog turned up 6,500 titles.

Jackson makes it sound like all 6,500 titles are nothing but porn. Only some of them are pornographic.

Here is some info on fotonovelas. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/f...las2/what.html

This is most definitely nothing more than blatant racism.

Arseholes at work.

[MonCapitan2002]

Eventually. I think upon the extinction of the human race.

[Godless Dave]

Even though I think it would make sense for English to be the official language of the US, the antics of most in the "English-only" movement have caused me to remain silent on the issue. How you get from the reasonable position that most government business should be conducted and recorded in English to the insane idea that public libraries in the US should only stock English-language works is beyond me. OK, it isn't beyond me, I understand racists, I just couldn't think of a better expression.

Holy shit, I just found out my public library has a copy of the Magna Carta in the original Latin. Pandering to those illegal Roman immigrants, no doubt.

[HighOnHotSauce]

Originally Posted by Godless Dave

Holy shit, I just found out my public library has a copy of the Magna Carta in the original Latin. Pandering to those illegal Roman immigrants, no doubt.

There goes the neighborhood; you know how those Romans are.

[livius drusus]

[Godless Dave]

And is Old English a foreign language? It sure looks like one if you try to read it! I guess you could argue Beowulf is technically written in English but what if you're wrong and a horde of smelly Anglo-Saxons moves into your town because you didn't heed the warning signs?

[livius drusus]

Don't even get me started on French literature. There's so much porn in there any pictures would just be redundant.

[Clutch Munny]

It's true. We stocked American Lit in our Canadian libraries, and the unwashed fuckers have been trying to crowd in ever since.