On Sept 23rd Iredell Free News posted an opinion piece by Statesville NAACP President, Eric Todd Scott Sr. titled, Book Banners present real threat to freedom, unity. Article here It began by identifying the subject, “book-banning mommas” and compared them to Hitler’s Nazi regime, claiming ultra-white nationalism and antisemitism is evident in the actions of the organization that he did not name.
As the Chapter Chair of Moms for Liberty Iredell, since May of 2022, and a mother who learned that there are obscene books in our public schools, I’d like to offer some truth to counter the misinformation and accusations in that article. First of all, I believe that “We the People” are the government and that it is our responsibility to be educated, moral citizens who keep leaders and government in check because power corrupts. The Constitution was written to create a balance of power and citizen representation also known as self-governing, we are a Constitutional Republic working to form a more perfect union. I do not support socialism, communism, or fascism. Our chapter is not antisemitic, it promotes Judeo-Christian values. We honor the Bible, the American Flag and believe that all people are created equal and have inalienable rights given to them by Almighty God. We are focused on parental rights, believing that most parents love their children more than anyone else ever could. Myself and my vice chair Stacey Gorham emailed Mr. Scott in response to the article, and asked if he would like to meet to have a conversation about the divisive rhetoric and misinformation in hopes that some civil discourse could bridge the gap. I received a few sentences back that communicated, no. Stacey never got a response.
Back to the article. Scott goes on a diatribe to claim the actions taken to get pornographic books out of the reach of children is “right wing propaganda and a pre-staging of state censorship and control of culture.” Scott, went on to describe books that we have no problem with about the disabled, civil rights, black history, industrial workers, and the right to vote for women. These few sentences were baffling as no one to my knowledge is challenging books with those topics. This after he referred to “book banning mommas…as consciously ignorant.”
It is not difficult to identify age-inappropriate material and a parent should be the first line of defense. School districts also have policies that enable book challenge and review. Parents need to pay very close attention to the books children are being assigned, checking out, and the Scholastic book fairs as well. The public school should absolutely be paying attention to and curating an appropriate selection of books for our school aged children. There was recently a House Committee meeting in Washington D.C. about this topic. Experts explained very well that no one is banning books. hhttps://www.youtube.com/live/XAbbtAKO0Ds Reasonable people should stop saying that. But many will not. It is just too darn effective in creating an emotional and hateful reaction toward the people they are targeting.
Later in the article, the name calling intensified to “double-tongued serpents” with a strawman argument that compares school library access to the access children have to HULU, Netflix, HBO, and their phones where children can watch pornography. Followed by another false claim that there are efforts to rid libraries of the work of “Black writers who speak their truth about the struggle for Civil Rights and Black History.” This is simply not true. Each of the books challenged at Iredell Statesville Schools were challenged due to explicit, graphic language about sex and sexual activities often including minors and a pervasive amount of profanity. Like 70 F words, 20 P words, 25 GD words, for example. As well as descriptions of oral, anal, and promiscuous sex including molestation and incest. There is a very large number of community folks who agree books like that are not educational or appropriate for school.
Scott goes on to claim “these groups want to paint a lily-white picture of our nation’s past” ….and continues with no evidence or specifics about this, because they do not exist. He then blames “these groups” as the reason teachers are leaving. I have discovered teachers are leaving due to low pay, disrespectful student behavior, and not feeling supported by administration. The end of the article just gets mean, accused of using “trickery and sneaky ways…to keep those who are different and less fortunate down.”
I did find one sentence I agree with. He wrote, “God is love and reaches people, especially the lowly, unfortunate, the sinful, humbly through love and compassion.” I am one of those that Jesus reached. I think it is important to clear up the false accusations made by Mr. Scott and set the record straight.
I could never have imagined that trying to remove pervasively vulgar books from public-school libraries that make grown people queasy, cause school boards to shut off mics, and motivated a black pastor and author John Amanchukwu, https://johnamanchukwu.com/ to go on a nationwide tour would garner such a reaction. But here we are. Let’s talk about it.
Kelli Harris
