Summer Boismier took a stand against censorship of books in her classroom. A teacher in the high school of Norman, she had been ordered to remove from her classroom any books that might violate state law HB 775. That law declares that if any educator makes part of their curriculum teachings that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex” or that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” they could be suspended or have their license removed. She said teachers were instructed to remove such books or cover them with butcher paper. She did cover them up and posted a warning not to read banned books but posted the QR code of the Brooklyn Public Library, where students can gain access to banned books. The state superintendent Ryan Walters moved to suspend her teaching license. He said, “There is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom.”
Boissier wrote the following opinion article in The Oklahoman to explain her opposition to censorship and book banning:
May 2, 2004, was a Monday. How do I know, you ask? Well, I was 15 at the time, and like most 15-year-olds, I was at school. I know, shocking! But what you might not know is that a mere 24 hours before, I had lost my father to suicide. I went to school the following day because that is where I wanted to be. That is where, in the worst moments of my life to date, I believed I’d be safe. School — specifically public school — had always been the place where I felt seen and heard and valued for who I was and, most importantly, for who I was becoming as a result. As both an educator and a public school proud Oklahoman, I want something similar for all — and I mean ALL — of my students, including the many amazing learners who often look, think, love, live and/or pray differently than I do. Every single child who walks through the doors of a public school in this state should have the opportunity to feel centered, to feel valued, to feel celebrated, to feel affirmed and sustained for who they are and for the lived experiences and diverse communities they bring to class.
Education is political, and the classroom — by extension — is a political space. Let me say it louder: Education is inherently political, but it is not automatically partisan. That would be, to use the word of the day, indoctrination. Politics encompasses the ideologies supporting a person’s daily choices, or lack thereof. Politics is power — who has it and who wants it. If knowledge is also power, then it would stand to reason that the classroom is indeed political. Who gets to learn what, from whom, and how is steeped in a political reality that Oklahomans would be foolish at best and reprehensible at worst to ignore. Laws such as House Bill 1775 fail to account for the fact that some pre-K-12 students are rarely afforded the luxury of experiencing “discomfort” only at school. When skin color and/or gender presentation is weaponized, discomfort isn’t just a poor word choice in some poorly worded legislation. It is a matter of survival.
Actions can sometimes speak louder than words; however, inaction can often speak just as loudly. Silence can even scream. There is power in what we say, but there is also power in what we don’t. What does it communicate when adults in leadership positions repeatedly and loudly target books by and about the 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities, among others? Make no mistake, when students — some of whom are also members of these communities — walk into public schools, they’ll get the message loud and clear that the state sees such stories as smut and such lives as less than.
Mother of multicultural children’s literature, Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, argued that stories are mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors. Stories are also telescopes and prisms and ladders. Stories are safety. Stories are possibility. Stories are connection and validation. Stories are power. And stories are political. Empathy is dangerous precisely because it takes a sledgehammer to fear. If we don’t “other” differences and hold them at arm’s length, then those driving division by justifying censorship in our schools lose the power they’ve amassed keeping Oklahomans apart.
This is not a zero-sum game. What a student gains when teachers prioritize inclusive stories in the classroom is not another’s loss. Privilege is not a euphemism for guilt; it is a means to better understand the power a person has and the ways they can use that power to uplift others. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need to defend a student’s right to read, to be represented and — by extension — to simply exist. But alas, this world is as far from perfect as I am from retirement. This incessant debate over (insert whatever term best reflects your particular belief system) books is evidence enough of that.
The lives of historically marginalized people should not be up for debate, but as Michael Brown, Ariyanna Mitchell, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, David Kato and George Floyd prove, they frequently are. Their stories cannot and should not be separated from the context of their lived experiences. No story — including the ones we teach and thereby validate in our public schools — exists in a vacuum. In the same way charges of indoctrination are an insult to their critical thinking skills, Oklahoma’s students are certainly capable of speaking for themselves. For instance, one student stated, “Being an openly gay student myself, who is witnessing LGBTQ+ characters for the first time emerging in our own curriculum, gives other LGBTQ+ students and I a more elevated self-worth and pride towards our own respective identities.”
It is time to come together as Oklahomans and side with a politics of critical thinking and compassion. This November you have a choice to make for the future of our state and the state of our public schools: a politics of inclusion or exclusion. So what’s your story? What side are you on?
Well, that bucked me up for the rest of the day! “Education is inherently political, but it is not automatically partisan.” Amen, sister! This is the fundamental problem of our times.
As the Nazis gained power, Kurt Tucholsky wrote „Nichts ist schwerer und nichts erfordert mehr Charakter, als sich in offenem Gegensatz zu seiner Zeit zu befinden und laut zu sagen: Nein.“ (“Nothing is more difficult and nothing demands more character than to find oneself in open opposition in one’s own age and loudly proclaim: No.”). He would have been mightily impressed with Summer Boismier.
A beautiful quote.
I love it.
I like to think I live it.
It reminds me of a similar Flannery O’Connor quote, which I paraphrase:
“We must push back as hard against the age as it pushes against us.”
Thank you, Greg, Diane!
As Oklahoma state Superintendent Ryan Walters said “There is no place for a teacher with a liberal
political agenda in the classroom.”
Or as Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, There is no place like Oklahoma”
Which
Not sure how the “which” got appended. Maybe it was the Wicked Witch of the WordPress?
There is no place like Oklahoma”
Of course, after saying that, Dorothy thought to herself
“Except Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Arizona. South Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming and a bunch of other red states.”
And North Korea
Ah, North Korea, another country that Vera and Dienne will soon tell us is superior to the US because of their universal health care and wonderful education system.
In other news, Russia, which is dramatically losing the war in Ukraine that it says is not a war, is threatening nuclear annihilation. The latest threat comes from former Russian president Medvedev.
And these threats are barely a blip in the news, evidently because no one takes them seriously.
I fear that Putin would rather launch a nuclear war than face the humiliation of losing to the Ukrainians.
That line caught my attention too. Liberal thought is to be banned. Can’t get much more Nazi than that.
“There is no place for free thought in a free society”
LOL
Can someone tell me if the Bible is banned under these definitions?
The Bible is undoubtedly grandfathered in.– by the Grandest Father of them all.
Amazing that you found this!
Matt 27:25 aloud, crying, “Let his blood be upon us and upon our children!” The Jews, who did not really kill Jesus, are said in the bible to claim the murder and have it be upon Jews forever. As Christopher Hitchens has pointed out, no one has the right to condemn children and unborn generations to collective guilt so this is simply bullshit. But, that said, this novel obviously contravenes the law in question.
We should be burning Bibles first and foremost! and Pentateuchs and Qurans, etc.
I’m on the critical thinking compassion side wearing my rainbow shirt!
History is history, and should be taught. Bring all chosen books to the classroom. The history is the reality of the past No one bears responsibility for past actions so all can be taught. Just continue and be prepared to strike. THINK WHILE IT IS STILL LEGAL.
“THINK WHILE IT IS STILL LEGAL.”
That would make a great bumper sticker!
“Education is political, and the classroom — by extension — is a political space.”
Bingo, bango, boingo! We have a winner. Give that nice lady a Kewpie Doll!
Extremely well stated. If we don’t give our students a voice, we might as well kill them, figuratively as well as physically. But then, that is the plan all along. If you are not white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, you don’t belong in this country! Education is no longer about making critical thinkers, it is about making White Anglo-Saxon clones! That is simply wrong!