An employee for the Alaska State Libraries, Archives & Museums Division is using his official government email to alert fellow librarians across the state to what he sees as potential threats regarding the removal of children’s books that promote LGBTQ identity and critical race theory.
Sorrel Goodwin works as the School & Tribal Library Coordinator for the Alaska State Libraries, a division of the Alaska Dept. of Education. On Feb. 25, he sent a mass email to librarians across Alaska, alerting them to the fact that many states are in the process of removing or relocating children’s books that promote LGBTQ and critical race theory ideology.
Goodwin’s email included links to a whole host of articles, which were critical of the fact that librarians throughout the nation are being instructed to reclassify, and sometimes remove, books that are found to be inappropriate for young children.
The email also contains suggestions for librarians regarding recommended books that cater to “LGBTQAI+ youth.”
Goodwin has a long history of promoting critical race theory and so-called “gender-identity” agenda. In 2021 he signed onto a statement castigating white library workers for not being sufficiently committed to the “equity, diversity, and inclusion,” while participating in an industry that “repeatedly panders to the lowest white consciousness in the room.” The statemen called for “a reckoning with the historical and ongoing trauma you have caused through your continued adherence to white supremacist culture and ideals.”
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
In 2023, Goodwin wrote an article for the Alaska State Museum, claiming that historical photography was used as a mean to advance colonialism and western expansion on “stolen lands.” He includes photos of colonists arriving in Palmer as part of the 1935 Colony Project in the Mat-Su.
It doesn’t appear that Goodwin’s activism falls under the original mission of the Alaska State Library, which was created by the Alaska Legislature in 1955 to provide reference library service to Territorial and other public officials and to cooperate with other libraries to increase effectiveness and reduce duplication.
In using the influence and access he enjoys as a state employee to advance a hard-leftist agenda, Goodwin is not alone. Over the past five years, the Alaska Watchman has documented numerous government employees, especially in the education and health and human services sectors, who utilize their official positions to push controversial cultural and political positions.
Additionally, the Alaska State Libraries, Archives & Museums’ website lists scores of resources aimed at infusing LGBTQ, DEI and Critical Race theory across Alaska’s libraries and museums.
TAKING ACTION
— Click here to contact the division managers for the Alaska State Libraries.
— Click here to contact Education Commissioner Deena Bishop, who oversees the Alaska State Libraries division.
4 Comments
And so when is he to be fired and waltzed out of his office?
What did he do wrong? This article is so boring — you’re making a mountain out of _nothing_.
Don’t fall asleep at the wheel. The Mat-Su Borough library board keeps trying to claw back the policy changes that have been implemented to keep adult-themed books in the adult section. The librarians don’t like being told they can’t peddle the porn books to your kids. If you let up at all, they will push to keep targeting children. If you haven’t been paying attention to what librarians put on the shelves, you need to. The deceit these people operate under is astounding. Libraries are a key area for where the Marxist agenda infiltrates the community.
Politicized christians are a meddlesome bunch. Always in the way, loud and ignorant, dangerous.