Northeast Ohioans are mobilizing after a social media post reportedly showed $1,700 worth of books from the Cuyahoga County Public Library Beachwood branch being burned.
The Interfaith Group Against Hate (IGAH) is holding an online book drive to replace the materials, which centered on Black, Jewish and LGBTQ awareness and history. In the coming weeks, books can be donated via the Shavuot book fair on May 30, Pride in the CLE book fair on June 7 and a Juneteenth book fair on June 19 at Loganberry Books.
“This kind of … borderline terrorism does not represent our community,” said State Sen. Casey Weinstein. The Democrat from Hudson shared a post on social media this week asking people to consider contributing to CCPL.
“My wife showed me the story just knowing that I would be concerned about it as somebody who's been opposed to censorship and as a Jewish person,” he said. “I'm incredibly heartened when people speak up after incidents like these and support the Jewish community, support the LGBTQ community, support the African American community and others that can be targeted in acts of hate like this.”
On May 2, Beachwood Police took a report that 100 books were checked out from the Beachwood branch and later shown online being burned. The Princeton University Bridging Divides Initiative (PUBDI), which monitors suspected online hate crimes, saw the library’s labels in the video — which was posted on a platform called Gab, and brought it to CCPL’s attention. The library system is not commenting, but did confirm that patrons can check out a maximum of 100 items.
On Monday, members of IGAH rallied outside Fairmount Presbyterian Church, an IGAH member, in reaction to the book burning. Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk of Congregation Mishkan Or in Beachwood was among them. He told WEWS that he’d seen the video, but it was not being made public. It appears to have been taken down from the Gab site.
“When you share a video like this, all you do is encourage the haters to increase their actions,” he said.
Nosanchuk described the video as containing a man’s voice saying he needed to “cleanse” the library of the books.
A city of Beachwood spokesman said he did not have a copy of the video. Ideastream Public Media has filed a public records request with Beachwood Police to obtain a copy. In a statement, the department said that once the investigation is complete, the City Prosecutor will determine whether to file charges.
It’s too soon to know if those charges could be civil, on behalf of the library, or criminal according to ACLU Ohio Legislative Director Gary Daniels. What’s clear to him, though, is that this is not a case of book burning as protected speech.
“People are permitted to, in almost all situations, burn their own property,” he said. “We have a history in this country. We've had people burn bras. We've had people burn disco records. Where this particular story differs from that is that this person in question was burning something that did not belong to them. If they wanted to go to Barnes & Noble and buy books themselves… those books would be their own property and if they wanted to burn them sure, First Amendment protects that.”
The controversy comes amid proposed changes to library funding in the Statehouse, such as eliminating the Ohio Public Library Fund and replacing it with a different funding method. Some federal funds for Ohio libraries have also been cut after President Donald Trump’s executive order to effectively shut down the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Ohio Library Council officials said they cannot comment on the book burning, but they have advocated against the changes in state funding. Weinstein said he’s received hundreds of letters from constituents on the issue.
“There is broad bipartisan support,” he said. “This shouldn't be a political issue for our public libraries. I'm submitting an amendment to the Senate budget to restore the Public Library fund.”
Numbers from the OLC show that this year, voters passed library ballot issues, on average, by 69% of the vote.
