Texas cut ties with American Library Association last week amid controversy over group president Emily Drabinski being self-described 'Marxist'
Texas Republican bashes ‘woke', ‘Marxist’ ideologues in education: ‘Sure as hell has no place’ in the state
GOP Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison is speaking out against "woke, ultra-liberal Marxist socialists" in public institutions who are working to indoctrinate children.
Republican Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison pushed back on "woke, ultra-liberal Marxist socialists" in taxpayer-funded institutions, who he claims are working to indoctrinate children, during an interview with Fox News Digital.
"I think people are fed up of not just having this ultra-liberal extremist, Marxist, socialist ideology forced upon them and forced on their kids," Harrison said. "They're sick and tired of having to be the ones that pay for it themselves through their hard-earned tax dollars."
"They don't want their property tax money or their sales tax money or their school tax dollars going to fund some woke, ultra-liberal Marxist socialist to indoctrinate their children," he added.
Republican Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison pushed back on "woke, ultra-liberal Marxist socialists" in taxpayer-funded institutions who are working to indoctrinate children in an interview with Fox News Digital. (Fox News Digital)
Harrison declared victory on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the Texas State Library & Archives Commission (TSLAC) chose to cut ties with the American Library Association (ALA) less than one month after the representative sent a letter requesting the separation.
"This is a win for all Texans, and I applaud the courageous and decisive decision by Chairwoman Martha Wong," Harrison wrote in a letter posted to X Thursday. "Texas should be leading the fight against dangerous Marxist ideology – not subsidizing it with my constituents’ hard earned tax dollars. I’ll continue fighting to protect Texans from having their money weaponized against them, their values, and their children."
Harrison explained that the president of the ALA, Emily Drabinski, was "literally a member" of the Democratic Socialists of America.
KIRK CAMERON VOWS TO HOLD AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ACCOUNTABLE FOR 'RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION'
Harrison explained that the president of the ALA, Emily Drabinski, was "literally a member" of the Democratic Socialists of America. (Screenshot Emily Drabinski via YouTube)
Drabinski is a self-described "Marxist lesbian."
"I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary," Drabinski wrote in a post which has since been deleted. "I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity! And my mom is SO PROUD. I love you mom."
Jacobin, a socialist outlet, ran a feature on Drabinski in 2022. "Libraries are widely beloved in America, but they’ve been decimated by austerity in recent years," the Jacobin wrote. "Emily Drabinski is a socialist librarian who is running for head of the American Library Association to change that."
That story came out before Drabinski eventually won that bid to become president of the ALA. Drabinski did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Drabinski's political views have drawn criticism to the ALA. (iStock)
"If she wants to push this kind of socialist, this Marxist ideology onto Texans, onto Americans," Harrison said of Drabinski, "she can do that. That's fine."
"But do it on her own dime," he said. "Don't do it on the backs of the hardworking men and women of the great state of Texas who were being forced to subsidize this liberal organization with their tax dollars."
Harrison also questioned the need for Texans to fund organizations like the ALA in general. "Texas is the ninth-largest economy on planet Earth. What in the world do we need a [ALA] for anyway?" he said. "And even if we did, why in the world should this be something that my constituents have to fund? Taxpayer-funded indoctrination has no place in America. It sure as hell has no place in the great state of Texas."
The representative also rejected claims that removing or refusing to admit pornographic books into schools were "book ban[s]."
"If you hear somebody in the United States of America ever say the words ‘book ban,’ do not trust that person on any topic because there is not one book that is banned in any of the 50 states of the United States of America," Harrison argued. "Not one book is banned anywhere. And I wish the media would get this straight, but they don't want to. They've got an agenda."
Harrison argued that there was a clear difference between taxpayer money going towards "obscene or pornographic materials" to be given to third-graders and "banning a book."
Harrison explained that his problem was not with adults, who have the ability to "go buy whatever kind of material" they want, but with what is an "appropriate use of tax dollars" for materials that are "handed to little children."
A Virginia mother spoke out against a book that contains illustrations of "deviant" "sex acts" that she discovered in the Fairfax County Public School Library. (Fox News Digital)
Harrison gave a final message to Texans and to families across America.
"I am sick and tired of not just Texans," Harrison said, "but all Americans being forced by tyrannical governments and woke taxpayer-funded organizations to fund the very tyranny that they have to suffer under to fund the indoctrination of their children and to have their tax dollars weaponized against them, against their values, against their children, against the Constitution, against federalism, against individual liberty, against freedom."
"And I'm not going to take it anymore," he continued. "And that's why I'm standing up and speaking out against this insanity."
Before Texas cut ties with the ALA, the Montana State Library Commission voted last month to withdraw from the ALA over Drabinski's Marxist beliefs.
"Our oath of office and resulting duty to the Constitution forbids association with an organization led by a Marxist," the commission said in a letter to the ALA after making the decision.
The decision was approved in a 5-1 vote, with Elsie Arntzen, the commission superintendent of public instruction in Montana, issuing a statement at the time arguing that Marxism "directly opposed our Montana values."
The ALA did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Michael Lee contributed to this report.
For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media
Jeffrey Clark is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. He has previously served as a speechwriter for a cabinet secretary and as a Fulbright teacher in South Korea. Jeffrey graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019 with a degree in English and History.
Story tips can be sent to
