by Michael Strickland
"So Meridian, because of your White fear and discomfort, the youth of your school district will now be deprived of a deep and rich opportunity to understand what it's been like for people who have been on the target end of a systemic oppression you benefit from." -
A colleague of mine who asked to remain anonymous.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie has been banned from an Idaho school district.
According to the Idaho Statesman, some Meridian School District parents and students cautioned the board about banning the book, while others labeled it pornographic and racist.
Brady Kissel, a Mountain View High School student, brought a petition with 350 signatures asking the board to keep the book as part of the district’s curriculum.
“It is the very idea that our education is being censored,” she said.
More than 100 people came to the board meeting, with most speaking against keeping the book.
Lonnie Stiles complained that it subjects children to filthy words “we do not speak in our home.”
Stacy Lacy, a Meridian teacher, countered that the book appeals to many teenagers.
She told the story of one boy who was turned off to reading and was in summer school - a boy who was glued to his cellphone instead of doing his work. But when he got the book, he “devoured it and passed the class,” she said.
In the book, Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written,
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live.
Board members rejected a recommendation from an earlier committee that said the book should stay on the 10th grade English supplemental reading list, with parental permission required for children to read it. ... Trustees say they want school officials to look for a book covering Native American cultural issues, but written at a higher reading level than Alexie’s book. They also want the district to review its curriculum on cultural diversity, which has included the book.
A friend who attended the meeting said:
The people there last night didn't much care about how it impacted anyone- they were conservative, religious and they focused only on their own discomfort and fear.