Dear Editor,
I am glad they’ve decided to remove the books but I don’t want this to be the final step they take. This issue is larger than one book series. Skippyjon Jones was just an example of how racism is as normal to us white people as taking a breath of air. Our children were growing up reading it thinking it’s OK, and adults were reading it and may have felt uncomfortable with it but continued to let it sit on the shelves.
Not every book is a good book or one that should be read. As adults and community leaders we need to vet every book in our library as well as the information we’re teaching.
We just celebrated Dr. King’s birthday and the landscape-changing work he did. However, in the Creslane Elementary school, at least one of the classrooms was taught, “because of his work, the laws eventually changed and everyone has the same rights in America today!”
This is either an ignorant statement or a blatant lie. Minorities of all kinds are still fighting in our country to be treated with the same dignity and support that white heterosexual cisgendered landowning men have received since this nation was founded.
Teaching our next generation of leaders that every person in this country has the same rights is ignorant to the experience of almost any minority person in our country, just as reading books that stereotype groups of people is harmful to our future.
I hope the schools and community continue this conversation, because this will not be a quick fix, if the community intends on fixing it.
Joelle Jordan
Creswell
