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A Texas school district “temporarily” removed children’s books by an award-winning author and canceled a scheduled appearance for the writer after parents claimed his books taught critical race theory.
Katy’s Independent School District has temporarily removed Jerry Craft’s books from its library and will make a longer-term decision within the next 15 days after conducting a review, according to KPRC 2, a local news station in Houston.
Craft was to visit students in Grades 3 through 5 at Roosevelt Alexander Elementary School virtually. The school has allowed parents to remove their students from the visit, and at least 30 parents have done so, KPRC 2 reported.
But that was not enough for some parents. A Change.org petition, which was suppressed for violating website guidelines, called on the school district to cancel Craft’s visit and ban the circulation of her books to school.
“This is inappropriate educational material,” Bonnie Anderson, who was once a school board candidate and is now part of a lawsuit opposing the district’s mask mandate, told KPRC.
“The books don’t come out and say, ‘we want white kids to feel like oppressors,’ but that’s absolutely what they will do,” Anderson added.
Other parents were disappointed with the decision to remove the books.
“They want to live in this bubble. They are uncomfortable bringing it up. They are uncomfortable knowing that they are part of the problem,” Omerly Sanchez, a parent of two, told KPRC 2. biracial children of the school district. .
Last month, the Texas government. Greg Abbott
Greg AbbottYoungkin calls for audit of voting machines in Virginia Abbott disapproval rate rises 8 points to 59% in San Antonio area: Texas board recommends Abbott grant posthumous pardon to George Floyd in the 2004 PLUS case (R) enacted a bill that bans the teaching of critical race theory in public schools across the state. But critics argue that some people misunderstand the purpose of critical race theory.
“Critical race theory is certainly not about teaching white children that they are inherently racist. Rather, it is about understanding how institutional racism is instituted in society, organizations and government,” Darius said. Benton, assistant professor at the University of Houston. KPRC 2.
Craft, the author-illustrator of the books in question, won the Newberry Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award and the Kirkus Prize.
His website describes one of the banned books, “New Kid”, as “an honest and timely graphic novel about starting over in a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real.”
The author’s website added that Universal Pictures owns the film rights to his book, with a film to be produced by LeBron James’ production company.
The Hill contacted the Katy Independent School District for more information.
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