Pitts: Here is the full list of ‘reviewed’ books — Cumberland schools must halt book-killers

There are two vital things to know about anyone who would ban books, as some people are attempting to do in Cumberland County Schools.

-They are never right. Not in a free society, anyway. And last I checked America is still one.

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-We must oppose them for every inch of ground. Fight them to the gates of you-know-where and then fight them on the ice.

Because once the book-killers start removing books from shelves, they do not stop.

Look no further than Florida, where a governor who wants to be president is on an anti-“woke” crusade. He has schoolteachers so fearful of putting out books that some of them have maintained empty shelves in their classrooms. They are waiting for a committee to deem “OK” the very same books they had on the shelves just last school year.

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Now let us be clear: Cumberland County Schools is a long way from that — I think. But when it comes to book banning, the system has dipped its toe into the wrong end of the pool.

Black writers, LGBTQ themes targeted

It started when complaints were lodged about some books. The county formed a committee and put more than 80 titles under review. (Full list above.)

One could argue school officials did too much already with just that.

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I asked school spokesperson Lindsay Whitley if more than one person complained. He checked.

“More than one person raised concerns about some of the books in CCS media centers,” he wrote in an email. “Concerns were received from at least two individuals.”

The books on the review list include many by Black writers and other writers of color, or that deal with LGBTQ themes. That says to me they were targeted because of the so-called “culture war” — which is a matter for politics and right-wing media, not schools and libraries.

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Carmela McKellar-Smith spoke during the county school board meeting on Tuesday and reminded the board she had addressed them in November with her concern that books might be removed. She said Schools Superintendent Dr. Marvin Connelly Jr. sought her out after the meeting and said the system was not banning books. He said he understood the importance of Black children seeing themselves in books, McKellar-Smith said.

“Imagine my shock when I heard results of the book review committee,” she said.

She added: “A game of semantics was played at the expense of our children. Not ‘banned.’ ‘Removed.’ Not ‘audited.’ ‘Reviewed.’

“All of the CCS party line seems to be that books were being reviewed for sexually explicit content.”

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McKellar-Smith cited some books on the review list. They included: “Brave Leaders and Activists (Black Stories Matter),” “Warriors Don’t Cry,” a book about the effort to integrate Little Rock schools; “Ace of Spades,” which won the NAACP Image Award; “Blended,” about a biracial girl who is a child of divorce; “The Hate U Give,” the movie version of which has been used by the Fayetteville Police Department and Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office to help build community relations; and “Antiracist Baby,” by Ibram X. Kendi.

“Are we to believe CCS was looking for sexually explicit content in these books?” McKellar-Smith asked. “Almost 40% of the books removed were by Black, indigenous and people of color. Another 22% had LGBTQ characters.”

I think of the value of something like Kendi’s book, which deals with ways parents can discuss racism with young children.

I can tell you, with a 10-year-old boy and a 7- soon to be 8-year-old girl (“blended” at that) the discussion is not always easy. But it’s necessary.

I will never forget when Samuel and I were reading a book on Rosa Parks and how she was discriminated against in many parts of her life — not just on the bus.

He looked at me and said sincerely, almost sorrowfully: “But that’s not fair.”

No. No, it wasn’t. But it is our history.

Books already reviewed

I could not help but notice on the list were works by the brilliant Toni Morrison. She has become a favorite target of book-killers.

Honestly, you don’t review a request to remove Morrison. You can just reject that outright.

Toni Morrison — whose writings about the Black experience in the United States have made her one of only three Americans to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Her work has already been reviewed — by history. She stays, full stop.

Meanwhile, the school system through a spokesman sent an email Thursday that “the committee is finalizing a review of the books in question and working to determine their appropriateness for the grade levels and educational programs in which they are currently assigned.”

Books had not been removed from shelves, the email stated, but, pending review, they were temporarily removed from the system's online catalog.

The review has taken months, the school system says.

I say: Too much. Too much to appease the book-killers.

“Books should not be considered guilty until proven innocent,” said Roberta Waddle, who also spoke Tuesday during the public forum.

She’s right. You err on the side of protecting the book — not coddling hurt feelings or reacting to someone’s fears.

“Books are placed in the library based on professional assessment that each of them has educational value,” said Waddle, a former educator and past president of the local National Organization for Women. “Before pulling a book from the system, it should be evaluated by professional educators.

“Rarely would a book be pulled.”

She’s right again, and we all know it.

We defend books here

We defend books here in Cumberland County.

Waddle made reference to fights in the 1990s that the Cumberland County Library won against a previous generation of book killers, including a group in 1999 nicknamed the “porn posse” by the press.

For the book killers it’s not about the books. It’s about trying to force us to confirm to their worldview.

I say “book killers” vs “book banners” because a book is just pages and a cover, or characters and images on a screen. Book bans are about killing ideas, and for preventing other people from discovering those ideas.

“I do believe that a parent should have some say in the books that his or her students read,” Waddle said. “ I do not believe a parent should be able to determine what other students read.”

Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Pitts: The list of ‘reviewed’ books shows Cumberland schools must halt book-killers