The Ventura County Board of Supervisors Censors Black Author Toni Morrison

By Deborah Baber Savalla

Earlier this year the U.S. Senate passed a resolution calling June 19 a national holiday and naming it Juneteenth to commemorate the formal ending of slavery in Texas after the Civil War. Texas has been celebrating this holiday since 1979.

Saturday June 19^th marks the first national day of celebration. On Tuesday June 14, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors honored the day with a proclamation and recognized a local group planning a celebration in Oxnard. The California Secretary of State, Dr. Shirley M. Weber, a black woman, is supposed to attend the celebration.

About an hour after awarding the proclamation, Chair Linda Parks silenced and censured the reading of a passage from one of Toni Morrison’s novels. Yes, you read this correctly. Linda Parks and the Board of Supervisors censured Toni Morrison! They censured a black author whose material is being taught to our children in Ventura County public schools.

Why would the all-white Board of Supervisors do this? Board of Supervisor Linda Parks gives us a clue when she censured Ventura citizens seeking to have their public comments made a matter of record.

Chair Linda Parks would not allow my public comment to be read because I “had spoken previously”. My comment included a passage from one of Toni Morrison’s novels, The Bluest Eye. It is true I spoke via zoom previously, but my remarks were about a specific agenda item and not part of the public comments section. Why did Linda Parks allow others who spoke previously to also speak during public comments but not me?

Is it because she knows I am involved in her recall, and she is fearful? Or is it because she is being recalled and wants to keep the public in the dark?

Linda Parks does not have a mandate to govern. She barely got 30% of the vote and, hilariously, she was the only person on the ballot! Linda Parks ran against nobody and got only 30% of the vote.

Or is it possible that Linda Parks’s censure move is more revealing?

Parks refused to allow the reading of a passage from one of Toni Morrison’s novels being taught in our public schools. Where is Linda Parks real Juneteenth celebratory heart?

Who the heck is Linda Parks anyway and why is she sitting in an elected office where she was picking winners (big box stores) and losers (churches and small business owners). She only got 30% of the vote but has 100% responsibility for the damage done to our families and businesses.

Chair Parks likes her power of censorship. She censored another resident by claiming the material he asked be read during public comments was not “within the Board’s jurisdiction”.

Both public comments that Linda Parks censured, Toni Morrison’s passage and that from Teen Talk’s dictionary, are part of the downstream deployment of The California Healthy Youth Act passed in 2015 as AB-329.

How is it possible for Linda Parks and the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to claim health prerogatives demanding compliance from county residents:

• that they wear masks and stay away from people;
• that churches cease operation and congregates stay home (and don’t sing);
• that schools be closed, and kids’ sports be canceled;
• that walks on beaches and hikes on trails be forbidden;
• that you forsake someone you love who is alone;
• and, that you are banned from gathering to mourn in the company of others.?

… and then deny residents the opportunity to speak in public comments?

What part of “public health” does Linda Parks and the Board of Supervisors not understand? Do they have jurisdiction for public health and the year of COVID “mandates”, but no jurisdiction or responsibility for California’s Healthy Youth Act?

Who is Linda Parks anyway?

She is the Chair of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. She governs with only 30% of the vote.

Why should she be recalled? The reasons are too numerous to recount

Recall Linda Parks, Conejo Valley Cares, and so do the rest of us who must live under the harsh and destructive decisions made by the Chair Linda Parks and the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Deborah Baber Savalla is a former New York City book publishing executive with over 20 years of experience. I believe in moral clarity because it leads naturally to individual responsibility which WILL RESULT in small governments. I strive to be scrupulous when identifying my work as a private citizen versus that of a reporter or Journal contributor. The views expressed as a private individual are mine alone and are not necessarily that of Citizens Journal.

Get Citizensjournal.us Headlines free  SUBSCRIPTION. Keep us publishing – DONATE