North Carolina Public Schools See a Disconcerting Prevalence of Calls for Literary Censorship
Dear Martin by Nic Stone sits on a high school library shelf in Missouri. Source: Fairgrove News
Whether it be over COVID-19 regulations or the teaching of critical race theory, flaring tempers have become a regular fixture at school board meetings in the past few years. The importance of the school board is without question: it gives parents the opportunity to shape their local education system to reflect the needs and views of the community. Yet, when parents use it to censor books in schools, a move potentially in conflict with the First Amendment, its power may put liberty in peril.
A recent example of parents demanding censorship can be found at a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board meeting, where the parents pushed for the removal of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky — a story of a girl who faces identity struggles due to her biracial ethnicity — from the 9th-grade curriculum. Their concerns mainly revolved around the book’s rape scene and "racial stereotypes," which, they claimed, took away their children's "innocence." Another instance of censorship: in a Haywood County school board meeting, one parent complained about the "sexual innuendos" and "explicit language" in the required reading for his son, Dear Martin, the story of a 17-year-old black student slated to attend an Ivy League university who is the target of racial profiling by police.
Most parents' concerns center on one problem, illustrated in the two examples above and summed up well by one Charlotte-Mecklenburg parent’s commentary: "If you want to teach about racism, there are books that don’t sexualize our children." Yet, Janice Robinson, the North Carolina director for Red, Wine, and Blue, an Ohio-based organization that supports local moms and seeks to prevent book bans, believes that the concerns about explicit material are "just a smokescreen for the anti-CRT." What book bans are actually doing, claims Ms. Robinson, is allowing the "right wing" to push "their political agenda at the expense of our kids," as they are unable to use literature to encounter the uncomfortable experiences of those outside their community, which would prepare them for life beyond the classroom.
Currently, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board has not yet decided on the fate of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, while Haywood County has pulled Dear Martin from its curriculum.
Literature confronting racial issues, however, are not the only books targeted by parents. Literature centered on LGBTQ+ material, such as Melissa (formerly published as George), Lawn Boy, and Gender Queer — three books often targeted by parents — has also come under fire due to their alleged sexually explicit and controversial material. Parents in the Wake County school system have been especially vocal about these books, with one describing them as "obscene… sexually explicit," and "R-rated if not X-rated." Another mom even said that she "felt like this is a violation of both state and federal statutes regarding obscene material to minors specifically." Nine moms levied criminal complaints against the school district for having them in the library.
In addition to Wake County, Chatham, Moore, and Orange County school districts have also seen parents demand the removal of some or all of the three books above. Though, it should be noted that Orange County is the only system to take action on the demands, rejecting them.
The views of some parents calling for censorship, however, do not fully match those of all children, librarians, and parents. For example, one Wake County student, Sophia Dexter, 14, does not think that these books should be banned, believing instead that LGBTQ+ books “are inclusive,” and that “It’s something [students] need to learn about too.” Moreover, when Wake County initially decided to remove Gender Queer from its libraries, it was “backlash from librarians” that got Gender Queer reconsidered and “reinstated.” Finally, one mom at a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board meeting questioned whether those calling for censorship also had "the same collective outrage for Tik Tok challenges,” and if they monitored their children’s cell phones.
The calls for censorship of literature centered on racial and LGBTQ+ issues are not unique to North Carolina; a recent study cited by NBC found that 75 out of 100 randomly selected school districts in Texas had “formal requests” for book removal. In a country with a system of government designed to cherish liberty and freedom of speech, any rise in calls for censorship is disconcerting. Yet, with the increasing politicization of schools due to COVID-19 restrictions and critical race theory, it is unlikely that censorship demands will end soon.