Popular book, Dear Martin, was pulled from Tuscola High School in Haywood County in January, based on the complaints of only one parent.
Parent Tim Reeves contained sexual innuendos and profanities like ““f-word,” the “s-word,” and “GD””, as listed by Smoky Mountain News. Reeves and superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte both believe the messages are being ruined by the language used.
Dear Martin, written by Nic Stone, follows a high academic achieving teen who gets racially profiled by police. Searching for answers, he seeks the advice of and writes letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his journal.
The removal of the book was also part of the discussion on the Haywood School board from Feb. 15 where additional people commented on the decision to pull the book out of the classroom.
Patricia Bricker, mother to the 10th grade Tuscola student and a WCU professor, said that Haywood County and its schools have a history of racial issues, as reported in The Mountaineer.
Michael Boatright, an English professor at Western Carolina University, discussed in an email about how many books taught in high school classes contain the things Reeves complained about. Instead, Boatright argues that it was most likely pulled “because of how the author [Stone] directly addresses America’s long and unsettling history with race and police brutality.”
This is common in many books that get pulled off the shelves. The Washington Post reports that books involving sexuality, gender, and race are the first to be pulled off the shelves.
Boatright continued on to talk about how the events that happen in the book, are very real events that happen in real life.
“If students aren’t allowed to have honest conversations about race when they are in safe places like the English classroom, what happens after they graduate high school?” said Boatright.
“Books and media are essential portrayal that enable kids to learn about people beyond themselves,” said Schuyler Bailar, a transgender author and swimmer, to the Post.
Stone spoke about her book being pulled with Smoky Mountain News, saying she wrote this book with kids in mind.
“I was really jarred by some of the things happening in the news media around the deaths of unarmed Black boys, especially as the mother of one. So I wanted to explore and get a better handle on why things work the way that they do, […] and what would a kid do if he found himself in some of the situations that we were seeing on the news?”
Barnes and Noble has a list of over 100 banned books to choose from on their website, including the recently challenged Maus graphic novel series.
Dear Martin can be bought from anywhere books are sold, or you can buy it locally from City Lights in Sylva.
