Local Texas officials are facing intense scrutiny from community members, after they learned about a vote to label a children's book on Native American history as fiction.
Native American historian Linda Coombs' book "Colonization and the Wampanoag Story" was shelved as fiction in Montgomery County public libraries Oct. 17 by a citizens review committee, as reported by Lonestar Live.
The county commissioner-appointed committee has the ability to review books challenged by the public without input from librarians, according to the Texas Freedom to Read Project.
News of the book's move sparked intense backlash. An online petition was created by the National Campaign for Justice, which has since garnered more than 35,000 signatures.
On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Commission reversed the decision and put the book back in the nonfiction section, but not before multiple community members spoke before the panel slamming the committee's prior decision, as reported by Lonestar Live.
"We can't just decide that someone's story is fake or fiction," local resident Candance Godfrey said at the meeting. "I implore you to start using librarians, who are masters in their own right. Stop weaponizing everything. Let them do their jobs."
The Montgomery County Commissioners Court also ordered all future actions to be put on hold, and created a committee of commissioner's office employees to review library policies.
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