Books

Back in Session, California Lawmakers to Decide More Than 1,300 Bills

Some of those bills are related to hot-button issues under increasing national scrutiny as the country approaches national elections in November, including Assembly Bill (AB) 1825. Titled the California Freedom to Read Act, AB 1825 would prevent library review committees from banning material that deals with race or sexuality. This proposed law requires state public libraries to outline their policies for approving or rejecting books. State public libraries will also have to establish a system that allows people to voice their concerns and objections regarding the books and policies.

Published

1 month ago

August 17, 2024

Oakland Post

California State Capitol. Courtesy of the California Assembly.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

After a monthlong summer recess in July, the California Legislature reconvened last week on Aug 5.

On their plates are more than 1,300, bills they must discuss and decide before their Aug. 31 deadline.

Some of those bills are related to hot-button issues under increasing national scrutiny as the country approaches national elections in November, including Assembly Bill (AB) 1825.

Titled the California Freedom to Read Act, AB 1825 would prevent library review committees from banning material that deals with race or sexuality. This proposed law requires state public libraries to outline their policies for approving or rejecting books. State public libraries will also have to establish a system that allows people to voice their concerns and objections regarding the books and policies.

According to the American Library Association, approximately 4,420 books were targeted last year nearly double the number of books since 2022.

“The number of titles targeted for censorship surged 65% in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching the highest levels ever documented by the American Library Association (ALA),” the organization said in a statement.

The Jewish Public Affairs Committee is one of the groups set to rally in Sacramento to support AB 1825 to expand disclosure agreements for school districts that use ethnic studies courses in the curriculum. State legislators backing AB 1825 include California State Sen. David Min (D-Irvine) and U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA-47).

State legislators are also working on two bills that would tax online platforms such as Google and Meta and use the funds generated to support local journalism. They are AB 886 authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and SB 1327 authored by Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda).

Other bills in the works include legislation that would ban legacy admissions at private universities such as Stanford. Authors of that bill, AB 1780, include California Legislative Black Caucus members Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City) and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento).

The Legislature has until Aug. 31 to vote on bills and pass them on to Gov. Gavin Newsom for approval.

Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto proposed bills that reach on his desk.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Oakland Landlords Allowed to Raise Rents Aug. 1

Don't Miss

Bay Cities Baptist Minister’s Union Holds 37th Annual Citywide Revival

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of September 11 -17, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 11 – 17, 2024

Published

6 days ago

September 13, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Book Reviews

Book Review: “The Fallen Fruit” by Shawntelle Madison

You’re lucky you didn’t hit your head! The damage you did to yourself was bad enough. You didn’t need a head wound to lay you low, too. You haven’t skinned your knees like that since you were ten years old. Your elbow still hurts from that tumble. But read the new book, “The Fallen Fruit” by Shawntelle Madison and be grateful: you’re still in the here and now.

Published

1 week ago

September 10, 2024

Oakland Post

Book Cover. Courtesy of Amistad Press, Author Shawntelle Madison

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

c.2024, Amistad

$28.00

437 pages

You’re lucky you didn’t hit your head!

The damage you did to yourself was bad enough. You didn’t need a head wound to lay you low, too. You haven’t skinned your knees like that since you were ten years old. Your elbow still hurts from that tumble. But read the new book, “The Fallen Fruit” by Shawntelle Madison and be grateful: you’re still in the here and now.

She should’ve just put a “For Sale” sign on it and sold the place, like she was told.

Cecily Bridge-Davis was warned by the locals that the portion of the old Bridge farm she’d inherited was “godforsaken,” but she had to see it. Maybe it would help her understand her father, who’d up and died when Cecily was just a baby. If she could find anything about him, the trip wouldn’t be wasted.

The property was overgrown, rundown, and there was a tumbledown cabin on it that she couldn’t resist. Inside the cabin, Cecily found a Bible, and an X-marked map.

Millie Bridge prayed that she’d be the one to fall.

It was 1920, and her brother, Isaiah, was meant for better things. She’d be able to handle a trip back in time better than he, but it was a fifty-fifty chance. Their father was a Bridge man, and the family curse that’d been around for hundreds of years would send one of his children to another time in the past, which is why the offspring of every Bridge man carried freedom papers with them.

Since one never knew if, where, or when they might fall, one could never be too careful.

Bridge-Davis looked over the Bible and followed the map to a hole in a tree stump, where she found an old satchel and more questions. Was she actually supposed to believe that, as an only child, she might disappear one day, only to reappear in another time?

How could that happen? Moreover, how could she tell her husband and children?

Autumn seems to be the right time for a spine-tingling, twisty-scary novel, doesn’t it? And “The Fallen Fruit” is just about the right book.

If you mixed together the movie Groundhog Day and Octavia Butler’s “Kindred,” you might have something close to what’s inside this novel. The difference is that author Shawntelle Madison adds a few more levels and a lot more characters to time-travel, meanwhile keeping readers guessing as to where this curse began.

Sometimes, that makes this novel scrape against your imagination until it’s raw. Other times, it feels oddly like an adventure story or a survival-type tale, a test of resourcefulness that you can place yourself inside. And then there are shades of romance, to keep you rapt.

If you’re someone who tends to overthink novels, you may not like this one; it leaves a lot of questions that don’t get answered. But if you’re up for a thrill-ride of a novel, “The Fallen Fruit” is a gem. A speculative fiction fan will go head over heels for it.