Author of 'I am Rosa Parks' calls out PA school district for banning book: 'You're on the wrong side'

[ZiprHead]

School district says books on race 'frozen' for further vetting

Brad Meltzer, author of "I am Rosa Parks," is speaking out after his children’s book was placed on a banned list by the Central York School District in Pennsylvania. On "Fox & Friends," Meltzer called out the school board for becoming part of cancel culture.

The ban, which impacts books that address race, social justice and history, was implemented in October 2020. According to the school district, the books were not "banned," but rather "frozen" until they can be vetted.

"I was heartbroken because there are all these little kids now that aren't going to hear the story of Rosa Parks," Meltzer said.

He noted the lessons children can learn from the example set by Rosa Parks.

"We wrote these books to give our kids these lessons of empathy and perseverance. That's what this whole series is about," Meltzer said. "And you're telling me they’ve got to vet a children's book about Rosa Parks?"

Full video of the interview in the link.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

(Board Vice President) Gemma claimed, “Everybody on the board except for a couple of people now voted this list down 9-0 because we could not vet it, and if we had questionable books on it we had to vote it down altogether. And because we were not going to have a curriculum committee back then, we had no other choice. This community needs to understand that we embrace diversity. We appreciate how diverse this district is. We want to vet this list and we will vet this list.” She claims that this is to prevent resources that teach hate of any race: “We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate.”

link

How long to vet a book by Brad Metzer? They aren't long. "We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate", the new mantra of racist at-right. "Division and hate" meaning anything that can be construed to look poorly on some white people.

 

[Keith&Co.]

How long to vet a book by Brad Metzer? They aren't long.

Well, evidently it was Go/No-go. The whole list, yes or no.
Put Moby Dick on the list, and ten Berenstein Bears books, no one's going to know if they want the Dick or not. Chuck 'em all.

 

[KeepTalking]

(Board Vice President) Gemma claimed, “Everybody on the board except for a couple of people now voted this list down 9-0 because we could not vet it, and if we had questionable books on it we had to vote it down altogether. And because we were not going to have a curriculum committee back then, we had no other choice. This community needs to understand that we embrace diversity. We appreciate how diverse this district is. We want to vet this list and we will vet this list.” She claims that this is to prevent resources that teach hate of any race: “We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate.”

link

How long to vet a book by Brad Metzer? They aren't long. "We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate", the new mantra of racist at-right. "Division and hate" meaning anything that can be construed to look poorly on some white people.

If the choice is to ban an entire list of books or none, you really have no other choice than to vote for none if you want to be on the right side of history.

 

[Keith&Co.]

(Board Vice President) Gemma claimed, “Everybody on the board except for a couple of people now voted this list down 9-0 because we could not vet it, and if we had questionable books on it we had to vote it down altogether. And because we were not going to have a curriculum committee back then, we had no other choice. This community needs to understand that we embrace diversity. We appreciate how diverse this district is. We want to vet this list and we will vet this list.” She claims that this is to prevent resources that teach hate of any race: “We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate.”

link

How long to vet a book by Brad Metzer? They aren't long. "We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate", the new mantra of racist at-right. "Division and hate" meaning anything that can be construed to look poorly on some white people.

If the choice is to ban an entire list of books or none, you really have no other choice than to vote for none if you want to be on the right side of history.

If they agree to all or nothing in the first place, they're not historically inclined.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

(Board Vice President) Gemma claimed, “Everybody on the board except for a couple of people now voted this list down 9-0 because we could not vet it, and if we had questionable books on it we had to vote it down altogether. And because we were not going to have a curriculum committee back then, we had no other choice. This community needs to understand that we embrace diversity. We appreciate how diverse this district is. We want to vet this list and we will vet this list.” She claims that this is to prevent resources that teach hate of any race: “We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate.”

link

How long to vet a book by Brad Metzer? They aren't long. "We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate", the new mantra of racist at-right. "Division and hate" meaning anything that can be construed to look poorly on some white people.

If the choice is to ban an entire list of books or none, you really have no other choice than to vote for none if you want to be on the right side of history.

How in the hell did it get on the list to begin with?!

Sorry, but it either burn all the books or none of the books. Arbitrary bullshit on the school board's part.

 

[ideologyhunter]

Considering the absolute pablum that makes up "social studies" textbooks and basal readers (which are usually meaningless samplers of dozens of books that apparently offend no one from Anchorage to Bangor) -- the kids are going to get a safe, cottony, dull curriculum that has little connection with life. They will hate history and consider it boring (which it is, in a lot of public school classrooms) and despise reading because every damn story they read is a 'text', and you get assessed for your mastery of 'texts'.
If I'm reading the school board statement correctly, they can't "vet" any books because they can't assemble a committee of adults willing to read the book list. In today's hyper-charged America, there's some sense in not wanting to get into a thicket of controversy that will bring all sorts of psycho parents with chisel-point mentalities into the discussion.
Every author has a viewpoint -- good teachers point this out and help students restate what the author is saying, and, with some latitude, students should be able to interact with that viewpoint and agree with it or take exception. Sheesh!! I am so glad I am out of the profession. I did teach the Trail of Tears and the slave trade and the Civil Rights Era -- retired in '07. To do the job right, a teacher has to counter the dullness of the state curriculum as much as possible. I was thrilled to find that every class I taught had a small core of very bright kids who loved to read and engage with ideas. School hadn't killed their curiosity, and sometimes they showed the other students a little of the glow of creativity and independent thinking.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Considering the absolute pablum that makes up "social studies" textbooks and basal readers (which are usually meaningless samplers of dozens of books that apparently offend no one from Anchorage to Bangor) -- the kids are going to get a safe, cottony, dull curriculum that has little connection with life. They will hate history and consider it boring (which it is, in a lot of public school classrooms) and despise reading because every damn story they read is a 'text', and you get assessed for your mastery of 'texts'.
If I'm reading the school board statement correctly, they can't "vet" any books because they can't assemble a committee of adults willing to read the book list. In today's hyper-charged America, there's some sense in not wanting to get into a thicket of controversy that will bring all sorts of psycho parents with chisel-point mentalities into the discussion.

This is not one of those instances. This is a alt-right control of a school board that is using arbitrary thresholds to allegedly tie their hands behind their backs.

"We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate". That is code, just like W's "Dred Scot" comment in the Presidential debate.

 

[laughing dog]

It should not take anyone much effort to
1) put together a list of books,
2) create a committee of teachers (not parents) to see which books are appropriate for which grade levels and make a recommendation for each book where it is best placed in the curriculum, and then
3) the school board to review that recommendation book by book.

This school board and school system is run by idiots.

 

[Keith&Co.]

It should not take anyone much effort to
1) put together a list of books,
2) create a committee of teachers (not parents) to see which books are appropriate for which grade levels and make a recommendation for each book where it is best placed in the curriculum,

Yeah, but they said,

"And because we were not going to have a curriculum committee back then, we had no other choice."

They don't want those socialist Marxist teachers being the ones to pick books. They keep picking BAD books. Books that don't glorify the White History of White America.
They want PARENTS making emotional reactionary judgements based on incoherent rage and dogwhistles.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It should not take anyone much effort to
1) put together a list of books,

They got that part down.

 

[Jarhyn]

It should not take anyone much effort to
1) put together a list of books,
2) create a committee of teachers (not parents) to see which books are appropriate for which grade levels and make a recommendation for each book where it is best placed in the curriculum, and then
3) the school board to review that recommendation book by book.

This school board and school system is run by idiots.

That's the problem. The board is not run by idiots. The board is fun by intelligent, motivated, racist parents.

Their goal is to remove books from the curriculum which tell the story of how society ended up the shape that it was, so as to hide that a lot of it was unfair and so free their children from the weight of the responsibility for fixing the fucked up patterns and traps in it.

They do this by asking for something that is only a little apparently dumb "let's make this easy by doing all or nothing blocks" and then gerrymandering all the books that they find objectionable into a list with a few must-ban titles like "five words that rhyme with 'bigger'" and then suddenly that a-little-dumb thing you agreed to (or that they shoehorned through) doesn't seem so "dumb" anymore (just evil).

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Book ban has been rescinded... apparently the alt-right woke school board wasn't completely powerless as they alleged. No word yet on if the children burned down the schools after being exposed to Brad Metzer's book I Am Rosa Parks as retribution for historic racism.

Oddly enough, the ban was ended, a few hours before the thread was started..

 

[Keith&Co.]

"That's a stupid ban!"
"It's not 'banned,' per se, they're 'frozen.' For review. Book banning is a process we haven't tried to follow."
"The whole WORLD is watching this frozen shit."
"Oh. Well, we'll rescind the ban, then."

 

[KeepTalking]

Oddly enough, the ban was ended, a few hours before the thread was started..

The protest that ended the ban started before this thread (5:00 pm Eastern as opposed to 6:18 pm Eastern), however, according to the article, the ban was not overturned until three hours later, which would have been about 2 hours after this thread was started.

 

[Shadowy Man]

I think it was because of all the Fox News hosts and politicians reading Brad’s books in solidarity against cancel culture.

 

[TomC]

Call me a cynic if you must.

But unless kids have changed since I was in elementary school, the best way to get them interested in something is to forbid it. Let them show their rebellious side by reading books like the one in question, or "To Kill a Mockingbird", or whatever.
Pass around a list of books banned(at your grade level), or put "Parental Advisory" on them, or somehow make them forbidden fruit.

It worked in the 70s.
Tom

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Oddly enough, the ban was ended, a few hours before the thread was started..

The protest that ended the ban started before this thread (5:00 pm Eastern as opposed to 6:18 pm Eastern), however, according to the article, the ban was not overturned until three hours later, which would have been about 2 hours after this thread was started.

I must have read the article wrong. Thanks.

 

[ZiprHead]

Call me a cynic if you must.

But unless kids have changed since I was in elementary school, the best way to get them interested in something is to forbid it. Let them show their rebellious side by reading books like the one in question, or "To Kill a Mockingbird", or whatever.
Pass around a list of books banned(at your grade level), or put "Parental Advisory" on them, or somehow make them forbidden fruit.

It worked in the 70s.
Tom

I think that works better with older kids, not lower elementary.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

(Board Vice President) Gemma claimed, “Everybody on the board except for a couple of people now voted this list down 9-0 because we could not vet it, and if we had questionable books on it we had to vote it down altogether. And because we were not going to have a curriculum committee back then, we had no other choice. This community needs to understand that we embrace diversity. We appreciate how diverse this district is. We want to vet this list and we will vet this list.” She claims that this is to prevent resources that teach hate of any race: “We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate.”

link

How long to vet a book by Brad Metzer? They aren't long. "We will not teach a curriculum that teaches division and hate", the new mantra of racist at-right. "Division and hate" meaning anything that can be construed to look poorly on some white people.

If the choice is to ban an entire list of books or none, you really have no other choice than to vote for none if you want to be on the right side of history.

Never assume intellect.