Thread: Protesters cite porn on shelves

rockymountainnews.com

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.

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."

Ran across another article.

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_2924783

Article Launched: 08/09/2005 02:49:50 AM

Library protest becomes rift over immigration
By Karen E. Crummy
Denver Post Staff Writer



Opponents of illegal immigration rallied outside the Denver Public Library on Monday to demand the resignation of city librarian Rick Ashton, contending he was accommodating illegal immigrants at taxpayer expense.

The protest was in response to copies of a Spanish-language novella with sexually explicit illustrations found on library shelves last week. Library officials are pulling all 6,000 of their novellas to review them, even though the vast majority do not contain sexual or violent illustrations.

Library spokeswoman Celeste Jackson said the library is taking community concerns seriously as it reviews whether the novellas are appropriate.

But the issue of novella content was quickly pushed to the side, as the protesters focused primarily on illegal immigrants, especially those from Mexico.

"You always hear they want to come and work," said Robert Copley of the Colorado Minuteman Project. "Well, they also want to come and kill, and destroy wages, and just demean our quality of life."

Lisa Duran, who works for an immigration-rights group that showed up to counter the protest, said she considered Copley's attitude racist.

"They're just bashing Mexicans," she said.

An exchange between two women revealed the deep division. Wanda Weatherford has lived in the U.S. all her life. Gabriela Casillas' parents are Mexican and moved to America when she was a little girl.

"You need to speak English," Weatherford told Casillas.
"I am speaking English, but I can speak Spanish too," Casillas replied.

"You need to speak (English) all the time," Weatherford said.

The two sides managed to remain generally polite, even as they pointed fingers and waved opposing signs.

Justin Irwin of Loveland came to protest the novellas because he has four children and said he doesn't want them to be exposed to pornography.

"They are explicit and graphic and violent towards women," Irwin said, wearing a T-shirt with silhouetted pictures of naked women that said, "Experienced professionals wanted. Several positions available. Flexible hours."

"Oh, this is mild in comparison," Irwin said, looking down at his shirt. "This is like stuff you see on TV."

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=15657

Denver library yanks Spanish comics from shelves

By The Associated Press
08.12.05
DENVER â€â€