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Published:
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 09:06 AM.
RAMSEUR, NORTH CAROLINA — “Invisible
Man” by Ralph Ellison is banned from the shelves of Randolph County Schools
libraries.
By a 5-2 margin, the Randolph County
Board of Education voted Monday night, at its regular meeting held at Eastern
Randolph High School, to remove all copies of the book from school libraries.
The action stems from a Randleman High
School parent’s complaint about the book. Committees at both the school and
district levels recommended it not be removed.
Voting in favor of the ban were Board
Chair Tommy McDonald and members Tracy Boyles, Gary Cook, Matthew Lambeth and
Gary Mason. Voting against the action were Board Vice Chair Emily Coltrane and
member Todd Cutler who both first introduced a motion to keep the book in the
schools. This first motion was defeated by a 2-5 vote.
The book, originally published in 1952,
addresses many of the social and intellectual issues facing African-Americans
in the first half of the 20th century.
It was one of three books from which
rising Randleman High School juniors could choose for summer reading for the
2013-14 school year. The others on the list were “Black Like Me” by John Howard
Griffin and “Passing” by Nella Larsen; honors students had to choose two books.
There was little discussion after the
board was presented with the Central Services Committee recommendation
concerning the parent’s complaint about the book. All board members had been
supplied with copies of the book last month to read.
McDonald
asked if everyone had read the book, stating, “It was a hard read.”
Mason said,
“I didn’t find any literary value.” He also objected to the language in the
book. “I’m for not allowing it to be available.”
Cutler asked
if there were other options to which Catherine Berry, assistant superintendent
of curriculum and instruction, replied that there were other choices. She also
explained that the book is on the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s list
of suggested supplemental works for high school students.
It was at
this point that Cutler made the original motion which was defeated. Lambeth
then made the motion to ban the book which passed.
The board
action was prompted by a complaint about the book from Kimiyutta Parson, mother
of an RHS 11th-grader. She submitted a request for reconsideration of
instructional media form, which detailed, in a 12-page supplemental document,
her reasons for the book’s removal. She stated,
in part, “The narrator writes in the first person, emphasizing his individual
experiences and his feelings about the events portrayed in his life. This novel
is not so innocent; instead, this book is filthier, too much for teenagers. You
must respect all religions and point of views when it comes to the parents and
what they feel is age appropriate for their young children to read, without
their knowledge. This book is freely in your library for them to read.”
Parson also
objected to the type of language used in the book and its sexual content.
A
school-based, six-member media advisory committee met, according to board
policy, and recommended it not be removed from the library.
A 10-member
District Media Advisory Committee also met, agreeing with the school-level
group’s decision. According to its recommendation, “the committee appreciated
the parent’s concern for their child and the interest taken in their education.
The District Media Advisory committee unanimously agreed that the book does
relate directly to curriculum and RCS should keep the book on the shelf and as
a literature piece for instruction.”
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