Katy ISD
Under recent controversies surrounding Katy ISD, Riley gets upset over a new Texas law.
Banning authors
By Riley Barta
*Content Warning* This article discusses topics of racism and silencing.
After banning an author over a social media post, Katy Independent School District (Katy ISD) has seen the upset a new Texas law has created. Book banning, a thing widely thought to be history, has snuck its way back into the Texas school system. It is only a matter of time before Thomas Morton comes back from the dead to spread Puritan ideologies. Gather the torches and put on your blindfolds. It's time to burn some words.
Of course, this awry school district is settled in Texas. Yeehaw. From this point on, I expect you to read this in a southern accent. Katy ISD states, “We believe that collaboration which honors all voices, creates ownership that drives personal accountability.” This is such a sweet message. It is of utmost importance that diversity is supported at a young age. Unfortunately, “all voices” only applies to the voices they want to hear. God forbid: you want to talk about worms; we only care about snakes! An author recently had the misfortune of facing their wrath.
Katy ISD symbol via the Katy ISD website
The book cover of “Very Good Hats” via Amazon
An author recently had the misfortune of facing Texas school district wrath..Emma Straub– an author of the children’s book Very Good Hats-- was touring schools. (Tune in next month for my thrilling review on this book!) Students and parents were foaming at the mouth, waiting for her to talk about hats. However, disaster struck at the last moment. Emma Straub was not allowed to speak at Katy ISD elementary schools. “Why not?” I hear you asking. She did the most criminal offense. She cussed! How dare she be allowed to publish a children’s book with a cuss word in it! The children in public schools never hear such foul language! Oh, she didn’t cuss in the book. Did she cuss at one of the presentations? No. She cussed in a Facebook post. Adult language on an app made for adults… blasphemy. Straub posted a message filled with anger for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I just have to wonder what busy-body combed through her socials to find something to report her on.
I understand cursing is a big bad for schools, but this couldn’t possibly be the only reason for dropping Straub. If that were the case, then half of the student body would not be allowed to attend. According to Straub in her newsletter, “Here’s what I could find on my social media that a Texan school board might object to the abortion fundraiser we hosted at Books Are Magic, one of my sons in a dress, and our ongoing Melt The Guns fundraiser for Everytown.” Katy ISD does not have any official political beliefs that it adheres to. However, the board was likely encouraged to reprimand her cursing more severely than they would have to other speakers. This is not the only case of Katy ISD banning other beliefs.
Another author that Katy ISD has butted heads with is Jerry Craft. He is the author of New Kid and Class Act. Apparently, these books that included critical race theory were just too much for the school board. Actually, critical race theory is too much for Texas as a whole! A new Texas law states that “a teacher may not be compelled to discuss a particular current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.” The law also says, “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.” In Texas’s struggle with the concept of racism, they just banned it all together! Teaching children that racism exists will obviously be teaching the child to be racist. It won’t help them develop a sense of empathy for their peers or different cultures at all. Texas lawmakers heard the saying “racism is taught” and ran with it in the wrong direction. Books that highlight the struggle that kids of different races go through in predominantly White schools are no longer allowed in many Texas schools because even implying the fact that different races have been discriminated against is going to turn children into fascists–apparently. Why teach history in the first place if we are just going to pick and choose what to speak about? Oh, wait, schools already do that.
What in the world is happening with Texas? It is genuinely concerning that they have come to the conclusion that critical race theory is racism. Racism, more commonly than not, evolves from ignorance. Teaching the fact that racism is prevalent and exists won’t make kids racist. That is like saying, “learning about apples makes you a tree.” Let's leave book burning in history, Texas.
