To the Editor:

Smoke and mirrors: something intended to disguise or draw attention away from an often embarrassing or unpleasant issue, in this case, the Newtown Republican Town Committee’s (RTC) defense of the indefensible — censorship and book banning.

Recently the RTC has gone out of their way to change the narrative from their defense of book banning in the high school library to attacking the Newtown Democratic Town Committee. To honor the hundreds of people in our town who have taken the time and gone to Board of Education meetings, written letters both to the BOE and The Newtown Bee, and have peacefully congregated in public protest.

I will not take the bait, I choose to focus on the argument at hand.

A national book banning trend has arrived in Newtown and the four Republican members on the BOE and the leadership of the RTC are catering to this ultra conservative attack on the First Amendment. It is troubling that members of the RTC were the ones to initiate the book challenges in the first place. Not “concerned parents,” as they would have us believe.

It has nothing to do with the claims of protecting our children from indecent materials. They are following a formulaic plan drawn by national book banning groups such as Mom’s for Liberty. It starts with a petition for removal, which in Newtown’s case were petitions that were duplicated so that people could just add their name. Thank you RTC.

They then start to use inflammatory language about “grooming” and “pornography” and even file complaints with legal authorities against school officials, teachers and libraries. Sadly, this has already happened. The next step will be to demand newfangled rating systems for the books. This has already been brought up. So, we must remain vigilant even after the two book challenges have been addressed.

What is also sad is that throughout this process, or even in their recent diversion in The Newtown Bee calling for civility, never has the leadership of the RTC ever uttered a single word in defense of our educators. Considering that it was they who started this process, there is no surprise there. No wonder the Special Review Committee’s recommendations, their Superintendent, letters from parents, teachers, townspeople, and the overwhelming in-person testimony against book banning from the people in this town couldn’t change their minds.

The hijacking of the process by the Republican BOE members and the RTC has become understandably frustrating to Newtowners. Objectivity, experience and expertise is best left to our educators. The Newtown Democratic Town Committee will not condone censorship nor banning of age-appropriate materials.

We cherish and will stand up for the First Amendment rights of our high school students. We stand by our educators, the people of Newtown and the First Amendment in condemning the BOE majority and that of the RTC’s enabling of censorship and book banning.

Alex Villamil

Sandy Hook