Last year, in a town called Round Rock, 30 kilometers from Austin, Texas, complaints about a book on the history of racism in the United States led to threats to remove it from the school reading list.
But while the local school district debated whether Stamped: Racism, Anti Racism, and You, should remain part of the lesson plan, thousands of parents, teachers and community members organized to fight against the possible ban.
The Round Rock Black Parents Association was a crucial part of the mobilization against the attempt to ban “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” which is by the Black authors Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, https://t.co/lePxqOAAPz
— Tony (Pharaoh Don) Morris (@TA_Morris) January 28, 2022
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“If you value great works of fiction and non-fiction, believe that banning books goes against our First Amendment free speech rights, know that parents should be able to choose what their children read, and appreciate professionalism, the dedication and knowledge of your child’s teachers, then sign,” Aidan Larson wrote in a petition that received more than 3,000 signatures.
The book is by black authors Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, and is a young adult adaptation of Kendi’s book Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the national nonfiction book award in 2016.
The Round Rock Black Parents Association was a vital part of the mobilization efforts against the attempted removal of the book from the shelves. One of the ways they did this was by collaborating with groups like Anti-Racists Coming Together (ACT) to speak in support of diverse literature at a local school board meeting.
“Removing that book would have completely whitewashed history, and that’s not what we’re trying to do,” said Ashley Walker, 33, one of the more than 400 members of the parents’ association.
District administrators ultimately decided to keep the book on school shelves. Stamped, which, according to the American Library Association, is one of the most questioned of 2020.
Last June, Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill regulating how American history and certain ideas about race can be taught in schools. Before the bill was signed, Walker and his six-year-old daughter tried to convince senators to vote against it.
“We went to talk to them asking them not to support this bill because it was going to prevent children from learning the truth. My daughter was able to talk about how she wanted to look in the textbooks and in the curriculum,” Walker told NBCNews.
Walker said her first-grade daughter has a personal library of books featuring black characters, but that hasn’t stopped her from asking her mother to grow her hair long and blonde.
“At school, she’s getting the message that her black skin isn’t pretty, and that’s why we’ve had to have that conversation, and it’s heartbreaking. If my six-year-old daughter, who lives in a house with someone very active in the black community, is going through this, what about those kids who don’t have the same opportunity? Walker said.
Before the Round Rock Texas Board of Trustees overturned Stamped’s challenge, Walker said parents bought the book so their children could read it on their own because they were anxious about the board’s decision.
“In case the book was banned, there were still people coming out to support this book, and to show that we really are about to learn the whole story,” Walker told NBC.
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