After the right-wing ginned-up outrage over fake controversy "critical race theory," one Texas school has banned a children's book about Rosa Parks.
During the debate over CRT, many argued that the racist policies banned teaching civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and others, but the outrage was so insistent that the censorship laws were passed anyway.
The backlash already began in August when a Black principal was put on leave because he posted a photo of him and his white wife on Facebook. Now the York, Pennsylvania school is banning books depicting other Black leaders under the guise that it violates the ban on CRT.
Children's book author Brad Meltzer spoke to CNN about his book I Am Rosa Parks, ending up on the ban list. He has penned a series of children-friendly biographical books that describe historic figures and American presidents like Neil Armstrong, Anne Frank, Albert Einstein, Jim Henson, Walt Disney, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and more. Thus far the group hasn't banned the book about Marin Luther King Jr. but the Rosa Parks book ended up on the list.
"You know, all my friends were so angry, but I was heartbroken," said Meltzer. "I was heartbroken because it means that there are all these students that will never hear the story of Rosa Parks. And that's exactly why I started writing these books, is so kids can see these amazing members of history. They can learn empathy, and compassion, and kindness. They can call it a freeze, but when kids can't get these books, it's a ban. And these kids can't get the story of Rosa Parks or Malala [Yousafzai] or others, it breaks my heart."
He went on to say teachers are starting to say that they're "scared" to even talk about race now.
"Race is a hard subject matter, but nothing good comes from not discussing something that's hard," he said. "And to me, that's what these great leaders always stand for is you have to deal with these issues. If we don't, we can't go forward. What you're seeing now is a pushback against that boogeyman of critical race theory where they are scared of what to do."
"Listen," he continued, "you have an all-white school board who bans a list that is basically almost every person on there, is it a book about someone who's Black or by a Black author? Do the math on that. And when you hit Rosa Parks, a children's book about Rosa Parks, the reason I'm talking to you today is that you realize that in all the fighting back and forth and pointing fingers, we've lost common sense. It's Rosa Parks. You messed up if you're banning Rosa Parks."
See the video below:
Pennsylvania school bans Rosa Parkswww.youtube.com
