St. Joseph, Missouri school board votes to retain two more challenged books

A Missouri school board voted once again to keep challenged books in school libraries.

The St. Joseph School District (SJSD) board voted 4-2 on Monday to keep Crank by Ellen Hopkins and This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewel available “without restriction.”

The first book follows teenage Kristina as she becomes addicted to “crank,” or methamphetamines, spends time in juvenile hall and becomes a drug dealer.

It depicts a suicide attempt as well as a violent rape which leaves Kristina pregnant. She considers an abortion but later chooses to give birth. The novel ends with Kristina still trying, unsuccessfully, to overcome her drug addiction.

One particularly graphic scene illustrates why parents in the school district might object to the book:

“Kisses segued to bites. Bruises. Pain rippled through my body. ‘Brendan, please stop.’

“‘No. You promised, You damn little tease.’

“Off came my shorts. Down went his zipper. I realized I was in serious trouble. ‘I’ll scream.’

“‘Go ahead. No one can hear but skunks and coyotes.’

“Still, as I opened my mouth, his hand slapped down on it.”

This Book is Anti-Racist is a manual on social justice activism geared toward children as young as 10 and has been criticized as unsuitable for minors in districts around the country.

Written by Tiffany Jewell, it teaches readers that anyone who is white, upper-middle-class, cisgender, male, educated, athletic, neurotypical and/or able-bodied is a part of the “dominant culture.”

It also suggests readers keep a notebook of microaggressions they witness, record police interactions with black men on their phone, and accuse people who say they don’t “see color” of supporting “the dominant culture of white supremacy.”

Both books continue to be available to SJSD students despite their extremely graphic and controversial content.

The SJSD school board also recently approved The Bluest Eye, which contains graphic depictions of incestuous rape, by a 4-3 vote.

School board members LaTonya Williams, Mike Moore, Whitney Lanning and Rick Gehring voted to retain the books in all cases to date, while Rhonda Chesney and Kim Miller voted no. Isaura Garcia, who voted against retaining The Bluest Eye, was not at Monday’s meeting.