Sara Paretsky reflektiert den US-amerikanischen Anspruch, in der Ukraine die Demokratie zu fördern, während gleichzeitig im eigenen Land die Demokratie bekämpft wird, und zwar mit Hilfe des PATRIOT ACT.
So hat man beispielsweise einer Bibiothekarin fristlos gekündigt, weil sie sich geweigert hat, aus ihrer Bibliothek bestimmte Bücher zu entfernen. Weil es in den USA offenbar keine Arbeitslosenversicherung gibt, wird die Bibliothekarin Suzette Baker bald auf der Straße sitzen.

Sara Paretsky, Writer 

Ever since the USA PATRIOT Act was passed in 2001, librarians have been our frontline in defending the First Amendment. The PATRIOT Act allowed the government to see what books patrons checked out and what websites they consulted. American librarians came up with systems to scrub their computers several times a day, and systems to protect our privacy over what materials we consult in the library. I’ve written extensively about the many ways the Act sought to curb our civil liberties, particularly in my essays in WRITING IN AN AGE OF SILENCE. I’ll just repeat here that four Connecticut librarians were imprisoned under one of the provisions in the Act making it illegal for librarians to consult their lawyers.

The PATRIOT Act was a federal law, affecting all citizens and all 50 states. Now individual states and even smaller government units are attacking speech by attacking librarians. Today, we learned that a librarian in Llano County, Texas, was fired for allowing books about transgendered experience to remain on her library’s shelves. It is now against Texas law for books that have „inappropriate“ or „pornographic“ material on their shelves. What constitutes such material? Whatever an angry patron or county board member decides.

Cute, isn’t it? We’re giving hundreds of billions of dollars to help Voldymor Zelensky protect democracy in Ukraine. Suzette Baker, one lone woman in a Texas library, was trying to protect democracy here at home. We owe her every ounce of support we can muster.