From a CBDLF Blog Post:
CBLDF [Comic Book Legal Defense Fund] has joined the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Kids’ Right to Read Project in calling for the restoration of BUCK: A Memoir by M.K. Asante to Baltimore County School District classrooms
BUCK, which depicts the author’s turbulent upbringing in a low-income community in Philadelphia, was being used as supplemental reading in high school classrooms and was widely supported by teachers in the district. A single parent in the district complained about out-of-context profanity and sexual content in the book during a biased televised report from local NBC affiliate WBAL. The school district subsequently pulled the book from classrooms, claiming it was not part of the approved curriculum.
In official statements to NCAC, the school doubled down on the “it’s not censorship” defense by telling NCAC that the book was not removed because of the parental complaint but because “assigning BUCK in its entirety would have the effect of limiting time to complete the approved curriculum…supplanting rather than supplementing the core texts.”
Read the Complete CBLDF Blog Post
Note: Signatories on the Letter to the Baltimore County School District:
- National Coalition Against Censorship
- Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
- American Booksellers for Free Expression
- National Council of Teachers of English
- Authors Guild
- American Society of Journalists and Authors
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