‘Violation’ or ‘developmentally appropriate’: Nationally recognized author talks book bans, challenges, hypocrisy, and America’s racial lexicon

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - We’re learning more about a lawsuit involving an area school district, the NAACP, and ACLU of South Carolina. It centers the book, “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.” Opponents argue the book is a “divisive violation,” but proponents call it “developmentally appropriate”.

It’s past Hampton Memorial Library hours and there’s a long line in the parking lot still heading in.

“I think if a book’s banned, that’s more reason to read it,” said Megan Hartley.

“Why is this needed? Because students need to see themselves in the books that they read,” added S. Moye Dombrosky.

Both are talking about the work of Jason Reynolds, internationally recognized author, writer, and poet.

“I think it challenges all people,” said Cassie Owens Moore, SC ACLU member and educator.

His name and arrival even brought out the state’s Teacher of the Year.

“I believe that each and every child deserves to feel seen, honored and respected in their classrooms and that’s the reason why I’m here,” said Deion Jamison.

And Reynolds is a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature: Ban his book and he’ll show up in your neck of the woods to empower and sell more.

“There’s no greater support than to show up actually to really put my body in this space that says, ‘I hear what people are saying, but I still got love for you and I know you got love for me,’” Reynolds said.

Reynolds came to Pickens County for a Q&A about his notable works, his youth, and the hip hop artists who inspired him to write.

“We must be doing something right,” Reynolds said.

He calls book bans “a baffling and strange” power tool.

“What if (their) kid reads this book and now knows that (their) daddy might be a racist,” Reynolds said.

He also believes there’s too much hypocrisy “stealing opportunity and intellectual promise.”

“It says that you actually don’t respect the young people that are reading it,” Reynolds said.

“Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” is a book about the history, dynamics and ideas around race.

“I think it’s something for us to learn and create our own lessons out of,” said Owens Moore. “I think you are to take it, ingest it, and digest it.”

“Imagine what it would be like for young people to grow up with a lexicon around race. A race conscious lexicon,” Reynolds said. “So that by the time they’re 16, 17 and 18 it’s natural for them to have conversations about the world in which they live. It’s not uncomfortable anymore. They understand the realities of it and therefore they can break them down and deconstruct them.”

Pickens County School board removed “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” from all county school’s last fall. Last month, a lawsuit was filed by the ACLU of South Carolina and NAACP saying it’s “unconstitutional”. And the book is “developmentally appropriate” as a high school resource.

“My book is not critical race theory, my book is history,” Reynolds said.

In response, the district sent a statement May 8:

“The school district is aware of the complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of South Carolina; the district is unable to comment at this time.”

Allen Chaney is legal director for the ACLU who says this is the first case of its kind they’ve filed in the state. They hope they get clear guidance from the federal judiciary what the First Amendment protects, and what it prohibits.

“If you look at the content of the book itself, it says that a racist idea is one that views one racial group as superior to another, and an antiracist idea as one that views all racial groups as equal,” Chaney said. “So, if anything this book jives with the supposed anti-CRT (critical race theory) budget proviso.”

He’s also optimistic about the precedence and example the case sets.

“We think this is a really clear-cut case and our hope would be to get both “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” back on the shelves and into the classroom in Pickens County, but also to send a clear message across the state about the principles that govern how a school must behave with respect to ideas in the classroom,” Chaney said.

In the interim, Jason Reynolds is off with books to somebody else’s neck of the woods.

“This could be the game changer. One of the game changers,” Reynolds said. “You change the language around the conversation, you change the culture around it.”

To view the lawsuit in its entirety, visit https://www.aclusc.org/en/cases/naacp-v-pickens-county-school-district

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