After a contentious board meeting, a book by Anne Frank that had previously been judged “too explicit” for students to read has been reintroduced.
The 2019 graphic novel adaption of the diary, which is based on the little child who was murdered by Nazis during the Holocaust, was taken off the shelves for having “pornographic material,” but the ban in Tarrant County, Texas, sparked a fierce response from Jewish organisations.
After the district was asked to remove a list of books last week, including the graphic novel that contained inappropriate sexual references and mention of homosexuality, including details about genitalia, Simon Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, and other organisations expressed their opposition.
The district is “not prohibiting the Bible or the Diary of Anne Frank, as has been suggested in certain headlines and shared on social media,” said Superintendent Rick Westfall after calling the restrictions a “miscommunication.”
Westfall clarified that the original copies of Anne Frank’s renowned diary had not been prohibited; only the graphic version had. He said it will be “quite shortly” before the graphic novel was made available in classrooms.
41 books were ordered to be removed by the Texas school district’s staff after parents expressed their displeasure with the practise last year.
The Bible, Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Ashley Hope Pérez’s “Out of Darkness,” and Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” were among the others, in addition to the graphic novel adaptation of the diary of Anne Frank.
According to The Jewish Chronicle, a businessman from a New Jersey supplier of kosher meat vowed to deliver copies of the book to the school district in protest after the motion to remove the book was made.
Seth Leavitt observed that “antisemitism and Holocaust denial take various shapes.” One of them is removing a book that details the real-life murder of a Jewish girl by Nazis.
A different parent of a Keller child expressed her disapproval and threatened to mail an extra 100 copies of the book.
According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Laney Hawes assured the school board that she would have enough copies of the journal for each school library.
‘Before this, our school district had only a few copies of the books,’ Hawes remarked. We now intend to have them in each and every middle, high, and intermediate school library.
I’m sending these books so that Keller, Texas residents can read about her life. History cannot be changed.
The school board adopted revised book regulations on Monday, although some parents and teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the “inappropriate” content that pupils will have access to about sexual assault.
One outraged parent attended the conference and presented a passage from the Anne Frank graphic novel that addressed her genitalia in detail.
The parent was horrified that school officials were lifting the book’s restriction.
The school district was upset by the issue but said they weren’t banning the Anne Frank novel.
The motion to remove the graphic novel was made ‘to safeguard our children from pornographic material,’ school board president Charles Randklev insisted, adding that Keller ISD was not outlawing the Bible or Anne Frank.
The Keller School District is located in a polarised political region with both conservatives and liberals.
According to The Washington Post, Joe Biden won the county in the 2020 elections by fewer than 2,000 votes.
In a conservative effort to unify the districts in their ideas and get rid of “pornographic pictures” in books, some parents wished to have the books taken out of the classrooms.
According to a report by Pen America, the debate over banned books in the public school system has grown in the last year.
Between July 2020 and March 2020, 86 school districts banned more than 1,500 books. The research includes districts with more than two million pupils in 26 states.
These works frequently include details regarding the LGBTQ+ community, those with disabilities, and explicit material.
Pen America contends that banning these publications violates kids’ First Amendment rights while they are enrolled in public schools.
A Texas lawmaker informed school districts in a letter that there were 850 books they should look into.
More than 500 books have been removed in bulk by the state.