Defending Children's Innocence: Confronting Explicit Materials in Public Libraries and Schools- With Bonnie Wallace

Rick Green

Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. This is the Wall Builder Show, where we take on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. I'm Rick Green, America's Constitution Coach and a former Texas legislator, here with David and Tim Barton, David's, America's premier historian and our founder at Wall Builders. Tim's a national speaker and pastor and president of WallBuilders. Normally throughout the week you'll get some great interviews we have with folks on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Thursdays that's what we call Foundations of Freedom Thursday and if you've got questions you would like us to cover that are on foundational issues what's constitutional and what's not, what's biblical and what's not, what can we learn from history and applying these things All those types of questions you can send those into radio at wallbuilders.com. And then Fridays are our Good News Friday programs. I think maybe our most popular program for sure, because everybody's looking for some good news these days and there's so much that is good that's happening out there, in addition to, of course, all the darkness. But there's a lot of good things happening and we share that on Fridays. So normally I would jump into an interview real quick and David and Tim and I would talk about it, but today I'm actually going to take you back to the tavern. You heard an interview I did with Elisa Childers just a week or so ago in the tavern. Today we're going to share an interview I did several weeks ago with Bonnie Wallace. Now this is a lady that is on the front lines of this battle in both the public schools and the public libraries to keep this sexually explicit material away from these little kids, and you would not believe the things that she has faced Bonnie has faced in the little town of Llano, Texas. I mean this is a place I mean I've been hunting in Llano Texas for 30-something years my wife's family for way longer than that. I mean this is the hill country of Texas, it's the dear capital of Texas, it's rural Texas and yet the left has its claws in. They have been putting this trash in front of these kids and Bonnie is having to fight tooth and nail to get it removed. So we're going to learn from her what she's been facing there and what we can each do to be on the lookout to protect our children. So this is going to be a great interview. I know you're going to enjoy it.

The Tavern is a show I do for Warrior Poet Society Network. It's a talk show where I'm in a setting that looks a little bit like the old Revolutionary War period taverns, because they played such a critical role in Sons of Liberty the Constitution was ratified first ratified in Delaware and the Golden Fleece Tavern. It's just sort of a revolutionary theme where we talk about the revolutionary strategies and tactics that it's going to take to save this nation. What are the principles of liberty? How do you preserve them? How do you educate people? How do you rally them? How do you bring teams together? All of that that's what we talk about in the tavern. And you can watch the tavern. It's once a week on Tuesday nights. You can watch it at patriotacademy.tv that's patriot you patriotacademy.tv or over at Warrior Poet Society Network.

We did an interview with Alisa Childers in the tavern. We shared that. That just aired in the tavern last week, and then Bonnie Wallace was on a couple of weeks ago and we're going to share that one with you today. So let's take a quick break and then we'll jump right into my conversation with Bonnie Wallace in the tavern. We'll be right back. You're listening to the WallBuilder Show.

Break

Rick Green

 We're going to jump right in with Bonnie Wallace joining me in the tower. Bonnie Wallace with us. Okay, hey, you're on the border. You're about to go across the border. I am. We're going to talk about what you're doing there, but first of all, just thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Thank you for being a lioness, for being a warrior, for standing up not just for Llano County but for the whole country. You're being sued. They're after you. They call you every name in the book and you just keep that smile on your face. You're Ronald Reagan's happy warrior, man. I just, I love being around you because of that. So thank you.

Bonnie Wallace

Yes, my pleasure, no problem. Let me tell you, there's another lawsuit. Now, there's two lawsuits, and so it's so funny because 

Yes, there's another lawsuit. So you know you're over the target when you're getting sued, you know. So it's okay. I know that I'm fighting on the winning team so we will have victory. It won't be when I think it's going to happen and it won't be the way I think it's going to happen. But I'm leaving it up to God because I know he doesn't want pornography in our children's lives. Actually, he probably doesn't want it in anybody's. But that's not my battle, 

Rick Green

That's right. Let's talk about how you got started on this. You know this is, of course, the last year or two has just ramped up all over the country. You know, we met when Kirk Cameron came to town and we were doing that comedy constitution and revival event and of course he was already kind of starting to do those events around the country in libraries and you had been dealing with this battle in Llano County. And for our viewers around the country that don't know Llano County's, like I mean, this is the country man. This is the dear capital of Texas.

It's like I mean, this is where salt of the earth, country folk live and yet this trash is in the local library and you stand up to try to get rid of it and it's like the whole thing just descends on you. So let's back up to what started you in this fight.

Bonnie Wallace

Well, good question. So in the summer of 2021, I was hearing rumors about bad books in the library. Now, I'm an avid reader. I've always read tons of books. You'll never find me with not reading a book. I'm always reading a book. Lately it's been porn, but no, that's not true. I just finished John Wanchukwu's newest book, hoodwinked. It's fantastic.

So, the fact is, I was hearing rumors, but I think which

Rick Green

 which, by the way, bonnie and I don't mind, we'll just have our friendship conversation on the air here with a few thousands of our of our closest friends John's going to be coming to the Patriot Academy Leadership Congress and doing the charge in the new house chamber at the campus, so you've got to be there. You've got to be there, okay, anyway, we'll talk about that later.

Bonnie Wallace

We'll absolutely be there. So I was hearing rumors and I tell you, I confront people daily, multiple times a day, and I show them bad books and most of them are very surprised. And so I always give people grace because I was surprised. Also, and when you're talking about politicians or city council, school board, whoever, I give them grace because I did not know. So how can anybody know? Until you know, you didn't know. And so I really in my mind, I thought how bad can the books be? How bad can they be? How bad can they be? Well, I was very surprised. So, fast forward till November 10th of 2021, I saw my first picture and my hair started on fire and it has not stopped raging fire ever since because the images that I was shown were absolutely unacceptable. To be in a school library, in a public library, any children's section no, not acceptable. And so I went.

Rick Green

And isn't it interesting that the pictures have to be shown for people to wake up sometimes? I mean, you were already paying attention, but it was what sent you into, you know, mama bear mode and it's like that, because a lot of people will dismiss and go ah, it's just literature, it's just some novel or some whatever, and they're just reading words and they're not seeing pictures. I'm telling you, man, Paul Blair will put some of those images up at these pastors conferences and these pastors and spouses, as they should be, blushing and embarrassed and then angry, uh, anyway. So I just to point that out that these are not just literature books, these are picture books that they're showing to our children, with a lot of disgusting stuff. So go ahead. I interrupted you again, exactly right.

Bonnie Wallace

And, by the way, the literature. I I just I dispute that. I don't think it's literature, but that's what the left claims. The books that I'm going around reading to school boards it's unbelievable what's in the books. And there are books coming out. Today I found 17 new books. I haven't even looked at them yet. I got a list from a friend and so daily there are new books coming out. We're losing the battle. We were not prepared for this battle.

So in Llano, county um 

Rick Green

we're kind of getting our feet under us. We're starting to catch our breath a little bit, right like it's. It's. It's like a lot of things that happen in the culture. The left has been at it for decades and decades and they've been digging underneath, right they're, they've been undermining, and then, all of a sudden, everything collapses on us and we're like whoa what going on, and it takes a little while. We're so disoriented, and this is one of those battles where that's very much the case.

We wouldn't be getting oriented if it wasn't for people like you, though. So back to Lano, and, by the way, you talk about reading this stuff in front of the school boards and them shutting you down. I'm going to play a clip real quick for the folks and then we'll come back to Lano, but you in fact, governor Abbott shared the clip of you speaking in front of one of these school boards that's shutting off your mic, yelling at you, silencing you, basically calling you vulgar. Anyway, you handle it fantastic. We're going to play that real quick for the folks at home.

Clip

You can use your one minute. We just can't use vulgarities on the left.

I can't help it. The vulgarity is in the books that are in your high school. Sure, just don't read it. Why can I not read it, ma'am? We need to keep going. So, if you can follow the rules, just as we do, have people after you. I've got about 17 seconds left, so I'm going to keep going, as long as it's not vulgar. Yes, ma'am, I can't help it. If you don't like vulgarity, stop buying it for the children. Off the mic, please. It's already off. I don't need a mic because God gives me power. Excuse me, we need to keep going, ma'am. Thank you.

Rick Green

All right, bonnie. So that was you in front of a school board. You've done this several times, like John Amachuku, and I got to admit I love John and I love the way he does it. But when you do it as a sweet lady, it's even more powerful and it causes, it's just like it's disorienting, it's like wait a minute, whoa, what's happening here? Anyway, thank you, thank you for the guts to get up and do that. So back to Llano. We were going to kind of tell how you got so involved 

Bonnie Wallace

so I wrote a letter that same evening.

The person that showed me this, this one picture I took a picture of it with my. I told her text it to me and she said no way I'll be, I'll be texting porn, I'll get in trouble.

Rick Green

Oh my gosh that's so true, it is true. So I told her text it to me and she said no way I'll be, I'll be texting porn, I'll get in trouble.

Bonnie Wallace

it is true. So I told her okay, put it on your phone, and I snapped a picture with my phone. I went home and it took me several hours, but I sent out one email to about a hundred people who live in Llano and I attached that picture and I said that the caption was pornographic filth in the Lano libraries, which it's true it is. And so I sent it to blind copy to everybody. I sent it to every teacher, every doctor, every parent, every school board member I know which is all of them, basically the superintendent, the principals. I sent it to every business owner, every pastor and the judge the judge is I go to. At the time I went to church with him. I changed churches now, but anyway so I sent it to everybody.

During when this all got started, when this all got started after November 10th, it started ramping up. The county commissioners stopped purchases at our library all three. We have three libraries that the county runs and funds completely and so they said no more purchasing until we can figure out how this stuff is getting in the libraries. That's a key component.

Rick Green

So let me stop you a second here, Bonnie. So just to get a picture of how this works and what we mean when we say library, because we have battles going in schools, in their libraries, and then we have battles that are going on in these community libraries. And just to put this in context, because a lot of times I hear library and I think, man, I hadn't been to a library in 20 years. So what do people still go to libraries? So help us to picture who goes into these libraries. Are they still active? And then, of course, the danger of not just having a book in a. Shouldn't have an adult section in your local library that taxpayers are paying for? But even if you did, that's different than the child having access to it. So kind of set this up for me in terms of understanding why this is still an important battle and this isn't some building that nobody ever visits.

Bonnie Wallace

Well, the Llano County libraries are small, obviously, because Llano County is small. We have a little bit over 21,000 people in Llano and we have three libraries. It's a great question, Rick, because, truthfully, people are not really going into the library to check out many books these days. Myself I had not checked out a book from the library in probably six years. When my daughter was in junior high, she had a library card. I would take her and she would check out books. Now, let me tell you, I would never let my sixth grader check out a book these days or be in the library. They are not safe places, and so the majority of people that come in, according to the Llano librarians, are homeless people, people that don't have internet, people that don't have a computer. They're job searching, they're sending applications. They do all of that there are a lot of. There's a need, but it's not really a library need anymore.

Yes, yes, and they're evolving into. It will be very interesting to see the end of the story, because it will not be like the beginning of the story. Things will be very different and you know I don't know if you heard the Fifth Circuit ruled on June 6th on our emergency injunction and it was very interesting. The ruling is about 74 pages and the federal district judge in Austin had required us to return all 17 books onto the shelves, 17 books that the majority have pornography. They have naked pictures, they have pictures of sex masturbation, putting on condoms, two men in bed, two women in bed, a man and a woman in bed all kind of images.

Rick Green

And when you say return to the shelves, was this where anybody could get access to them? The kids or a specific age, really. So this was why, of course, this is an Austin judge right. So you kind of expected a bad decision.

Bonnie Wallace

 We knew we would lose in Austin, and so we appealed the same day to the Fifth Circuit that ruling.

This is only on the emergency injunction because of course you understand it's an emergency if kids don't have access to porn. And so the Fifth Circuit.

Rick Green

And that, by the way, for those that may be totally uneducated on this, completely, it is an emergency because once a kid's exposed to this, you're literally rewiring their brain to this. You're literally rewiring their brain and anyway, we could spend all day just on that, but it opens up all kinds of major issues, especially the younger they are that are with them for the rest of their life.

Bonnie Wallace

So the injunction was filed by the plaintiffs and they claimed that it was an emergency, that the kids did not have access to these books, that we had removed, and so oh wait.

Rick Green

That's why I was being For them. It's an emergency to get the books in front of the kids, right.

Bonnie Wallace

That's why I was being sarcastic.

But we expected to lose in.

Austin and we did, and he gave us 24 hours to return it and we did because we were required to. We believe in following the law. But we appealed the same day to the Fifth Circuit and our arguments were held on June 7th of last year. On June 6th of this year their ruling came down A whole year, 

So for a whole year. Those 17 books and, by the way, this merits saying those 17 books, Rick. They are so benign compared to what I have found subsequently so benign and so. But God, God is so amazing. My daughter calls it God's fingerprints. Seeing God's fingerprints working in your life. You know you don't see him, but you can see evidence of him, and so this was totally God. He has propelled me into this battle. He's asked me to do it. I'm being obedient. It's not always easy, that's a fact. I go to places and they say, oh, that's the porn lady. Okay, well, I'll take it. Other people call me a religious zealot and I'm like guilty, totally guilty and proud right.

Rick Green

And, Bonnie, that's why so many people don't take on the fight Right. They don't want the community backlash, they don't want the people in their own church or their own you know where they go to lunch on Sundays, or where they go to tea or whatever. They don't want the negative, they don't want anybody, you know. They just don't want all that. And so there it's. Like the declaration says well, we'll put up with a lot of evil while evils are sufferable because we're not willing to do what's necessary. You have been willing and I got to say some people are probably thinking okay, you guys just said you know, only people use these libraries, blah, blah, blah. Why is it such a big? This is symbolic of everything that's happening in the culture.

This battle that you're waging, bonnie, is it's because it cuts to the heart of the real issue in our country. Is there a right and wrong? Is there truth? Are we going to have any societal standards? Or, as Robert Bork said 40 years ago, slouching towards Gamora? I mean, here's a guy that should have been on the Supreme Court. That's why we call it being Borked when someone doesn't get on the court and they get lambasted by the Senate. He would have been a great justice.

But he knew we were sliding towards this evil place where there is no right and wrong. And now we've gotten to the point where we're chopping off girls' breasts and we're doing all this grooming of kids and all this evil. What you're fighting is the tip of the spear of all of that. It's where they first get into the culture to start taking these minds of these young people and getting them to think anything's okay, everything's. You know, there's nothing wrong, everything's okay. So I didn't mean to derail us completely, but again, I want this in context for our viewers. I want them to understand why this is such an important battle and why you have been willing to put your life, your fortune, your sacred honor on the line now, for two years almost, to fight this.

Bonnie Wallace

Well, and also it's interesting to note that the Llano County, the first library in America, sued for relocating pornography out of their children's section.

Rick Green

And who were the plaintiffs? Who sued?

Bonnie Wallace

Yeah, seven residents of Llano County who are 100% convinced that this belongs in front of children. And so our case is very pivotal. We need our attorneys. Jonathan Mitchell, you may know, Jonathan, he wrote the heartbeat bill. He's a very, he's a courageous lion, he's a warrior and he is helping navigate for us. All of this because Llano County, we're a very poor, poor county, which is why I held the fundraiser um last November that you came to. We raised 82, 275 dollars for the county, so I was very proud of that um. We'll have another one at some point, but this is a pivotal. It's a it's pivotal in our battle and we have to win. We cannot back down, we cannot fail, we can't.

And so I go around and I teach people, I give them a list of books, because, guess what? Every library has these books, every school library, every public library. I have not found one library over almost 150 that I've audited that didn't have books, bad books. And so I teach people every day and I tell them. You know, I get up every morning and I ask God, what would you have me do today? And sometimes I don't like the answer. But we still have to get up and be obedient because in the end, I'm going to be the only person standing before the judgment seat of Christ and I want lots of jewels and lots of crowns. And I do not want him to say and I know he will, because he's going to hold me to account for every moment of my life right, but I don't want him to say why didn't you stand for the children? Why didn't you, why did you back down?

And so I tell people put on your full armor of God every single day before you get out of bed, because you're going to need it. And the way you know if you need it is if you are holding on to a hand over here. You think it's Jesus's, but life is just perfect for you no battles, no strife, no arrows. Right, suddenly you're going oh, I think you should reconsider. I think you should reevaluate whose hand you are holding, because if you have problems, Jesus does not persecute us. He encourages us. He talks to us in a still, small voice and he encourages us and he wants us to stop and be still and listen. But he does not persecute us, but Satan persecutes. So if you're holding Jesus' hand, you will be taking arrows. There will be chaos and confusion. You're going to have financial problems or marital problems or you know, I don't even know what kind of problems. Unlimited supply of problems, so right, but people are so afraid of a problem they're afraid of lawsuit yeah, we, well, we anyway.

Rick Green

They've been taught that in the church that if you give your life to Christ, everything's going to be squeaky clean, perfect. You're not gonna. You're gonna be rich, you're not gonna have to worry about any problems, you're not going to have any family struggles. I mean, that lie has made them think it's going to be easy, and so they do everything to avoid the fight, when courage is actually run into the fight and recognizing, as he said, we're going to have battles and it's certainly if we're standing for him. In fact, I say to people exactly what you just said If you're not having any attacks from the enemy, well then the enemy's not worried about you being awake.

We want to be the people that when we wake up and our feet hit the ground, the enemy's going. Oh no, they're at it again. You know, that's the way we should want to be and you're certainly experiencing that, with the arrows coming from every direction, and the community is experiencing that right. I mean, the enemy knows that if they can get small-town America, if they can get our red-blooded Americans salt of the earth, I mean, why do you think they're going after our farmers and our ranchers and the whole nine yards? They're going after the heart of our nation, and that Atlanta County represents that. So I'm glad you were the first one sued because you've got people there standing with you. You're willing to stand.

I got to derail us for a second because before we hit record you said something to me that I had no idea and I got to share this with our viewers. So part of why you're so tough which I would have never guessed this in a million years you're so tough because you used to box. So I'm a big UFC fan. My boys and I that's all we do every weekend is watch UFC fights and sit around. But you used to box, were you in college? This was at Sol Ross, you said.

Bonnie Wallace

I went to Sol Ross State University and on Saturdays they would have female boxing. So two ladies, two young girls, would get in the ring and they would put on our gloves and we would just go at it, three rounds each. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I couldn't wait to do it and I would just you know, I can't say what I would do, but I would just kick their you know their butts, and it was fantastic. I loved it.

But I turned 57 two weeks ago. So let me tell you that that was a little bit of eye-opening experience because I realized that until I was 54, I was never using the personality and the skills that God gave me to fight for God. Wow, I was fighting. You know all kinds of things. I mean, give me a fight, give me any fight and I'll fight it. I loved it, but I was chaotic because I was not focused and I was not focused on the one right. So now people say, oh, you're just reading this to get reactions and get on social media. I do not do any social media y'all, so I don't. People send me things like Governor Abbott's thing that he retweeted, which I thought was really good, but I have an audience of one the one, no one else, and so every day I try to live in a manner that's pleasing to him.

Rick Green

All right, folks, that's all the time we have for sharing this interview with Bonnie Wallace. If you want to see the whole interview, you can go to PatriotU Right now. It's available at patriotacademy.tv. Available at patriotacademy.tv. That's patriotacademy.tv and all of the Tavern interviews are available there. I think we're at 30-something of them Fantastic guests in there talking about those revolutionary strategies and tactics to save the nation. But if you want to get the full interview with Bonnie, you can do that right now by going to patriotacademy.tv or if you're already a member over at Warrior Poets Society Network, you can find it there at Warrior Poets Society Network. Thanks so much for listening. You've been listening to the WallBuilders Show