Big Country Politics: Abilene bookstore owner discuses concerns of House Bill 1375

BIG COUNTRY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – In this week’s episode of Big Country Politics, Arlene Kasselman, owner of the bookstore Seven and One Books, discussed House Bill 1375 and her concerns.

House Bill 1375 is legislation in Texas aimed at regulating businesses that distribute obscene content.

“The thing that caught my attention was the wording on the bill because it actually says, ‘anything that is deemed harmful.’ But there’s not an excavation as in harmful or in bullet points on what this could be. And so when you try to parse out what that means as a bookseller, I’m going, ‘Oh, so now it’s up for definition,’ because it’s not just, I think you use the phrase obscene, but I think the language is: is this harmful to a minor?” Kasselman said.

Kasselman mentioned that it’s scary that this bill allows people to sue businesses based on what they’re selling. She noted that book stores are striving, but their profit margins are small.

“If an independent bookstore like mine gets sued, I can’t afford the legal fees. I can’t afford the potential payouts, and what we noticed is that, in a few cases with certain bookstores that have come under scrutiny, they’ve tried to settle out of court. We can’t afford that either. A bill like this potentially has the effect that small bookstores will close their doors because they can’t afford the lawsuits. And the other option is to try to avoid the lawsuits; we either have to close our doors to minors entering the bookstores, or we would have to card people as they are buying things,” Kasselman said.

Kasselman expressed her concerns about what qualifies as harmful content, particularly in relation to “obscene content.”

She noted that if a teenager visits a bookstore and their parents discover this, it could potentially lead to a lawsuit. Kasselman also highlighted several important books, including The Diary of Anne Frank, writings by Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler, George Orwell’s 1984, and Fahrenheit 451.

“And if a parent deems that it is harmful, we’re not talking pornography, I’m a mother, in fact, I’m a Christian mother. And I’m not out there to put things in the hands of children that are developmentally inappropriate or that would be harming them. But, it’s this idea that we’re going to censure what a book is allowed to carry,” Kasselman shared.

Kasselman sees this issue as a form of censorship and explains how she lived through censorship of books and TV when she lived in South Africa.

“I think if we can depoliticize some of these conversations and make them human again, we are probably more similar than we are different. I think the desire is to protect children, and from a bookseller, we’re saying, ‘Yes, let’s make sure children have access to books and bookstores have similar experiences we had as children,’ and we would never have something in the store that is directly harmful to children. We are opening a world to children where they can explore, and families can pick… We’re not forcing anybody to buy anything, but as a private business, we have multiple options and can invite people in so they can find their own representation in the bookstore, but we’re not forcing anybody to buy something against their will,” Kasselman said.

Seven and One Bookstore provides a diverse selection of books, including bestsellers, essential historical reads, and current titles that reflect shoppers’ trending interests. Kasselman describes the content of each book to ensure that customers feel confident in their choices. While she prefers not to inquire about what someone is purchasing, she is always open to discussing the content of the books.

“We are not screening books; going ‘oh, that book has got, this book is written for adult romance that adults will purchase.’ I’m not going to say ‘you shouldn’t buy that book.’ I’m going to let you pick that because I feel like that’s your right as an American to have that kind of choice. But the way we have the store laid out, I don’t have young adult books with my adult romance books; they’re put in a separate part of the store,” Kasselman said.

Kasselman believes that the vagueness of HB 1375 is problematic and could result in frivolous legal actions.

“What if I have somebody come in who picks a book in my faith section and takes that home? And they have a parent who is not of a faith perspective who feels like everything to do with faith is culty or harmful because they have church hurt? And they may want to sue over that… And then I have another child or young adult who picks up a clean, closed door, which is the term we use when there’s nothing sexually explicit in it, a romance book, and takes it home, and that parent doesn’t like it, and then they sue? It could be coming from both sides. So what we’re saying is, let’s have these conversations in bills that specify certain very specific things if you have to have a regulation, or let’s have people able to come and make their own decisions in a private business,” said Kasselman.

Texas HB 1375 is left pending, and BigCountryHomepage.com will continue to follow this story as it develops.