Librarian Hopes To Educate Voters At RNC By Handing Out Free Books

You’ve heard it before: Educated voting matters.

What that literally means is you should verse yourself on the issues ― and not just the scandals ― before heading to the booth. But Cleveland librarian Jonathan Harris took the idea a step further, showing up to the Republican National Convention with a bike bearing books, BuzzFeed reported.

He slung fiction and fantasy titles to everyone in attendance, including protesters. His goal? To raise awareness for library funding, which is so often ignored by those voting for lower taxes. “The Tea Party crowd can say they love libraries, but they need to put their tax dollars where their mouths are,” Harris said.

In a March 2016 statement, the American Library Association made its views on library funding clear; they strongly opposed sequester-forced cuts that’ve been made to library organizations nationwide. “Drastic, untargeted cuts in funding for libraries and education will badly undermine or delay programs that support, among many other things: student literacy, job training and searching, and communities already struggling to maintain critical core services,” the ALA writes.

Though far from radical, Harris’ altruistic campaign wasn’t the only creative form of protest at a 2016 RNC. In July in Cleveland, Ohio, 100 women posed nude to oppose the anti-woman language and platforms buzzing around this election cycle.

It’s no wonder social justice activists and librarians alike are opting for wordless forms of expression; the 2016 presidential race has proven that words can be insufficient, or worse, damaging.

[H/T BuzzFeed]