Photo courtesy Lexington County School District 2.
“Imagine a rainbow. Now imagine a rainbow without just seven colors, but hundreds of colors, lights and darks of every shade, neon colors, in-between colors, colors you’re not sure what to call. Now imagine that someone points to this rainbow and says, ‘There are only two colors.’ Imagine that this person says, ‘One color is a boy and the other is girl.’ What would you say? Maybe you would run your hand along it like a river, point to all the hues and tones. Maybe you would ask, ‘How could you say that? Look at how many there are.’ The truth is there are so many shades between boy and girl. People who are neither. People who are both. People who live somewhere in the middle. We don’t have to choose, we can just be.”
This is an excerpt from “Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice” by Elizabeth Acevedo, Mahogany L. Browne, and Olivia Gatwood. On September 12, 2023, the Lexington School District Two board voted to retain the book at an elementary and middle school level. They praised it for being “inclusive.” They argued that it taught “empathy.”
PACE will not stand for it.
Parents Advocating for Children’s Education, a parent advocacy group also known as PACE, is fighting to detox school libraries. In July, PACE submitted 29 books to Lexington School District Two for review. At the most recent meeting, the voting committee reviewed three:
1. “Ellen Outside of the Lines” by A.J. Sass
2. “Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F Saad
3. “Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice” by Elizabeth Acevedo, Mahogany L. Browne, and Olivia Gatwood
At the beginning of the meeting, Board Chair Beth Dickerson Branham asked the room to model appropriate behavior. She said, “We can disagree over issues––issues that can be very controversial and go to the heart of our beliefs, and even our own faith.”
After her introduction, the book review began. For each book, a complainant discussed his or her concerns. Branham asked the complainants to only address the book in question. Next, the district committee chair shared the committee’s comments. Then, the Lexington School District Two board voted on the book.
“Ellen Outside of the Lines” by A.J. Sass
Published in March of 2022, “Ellen Outside of the Lines” follows 13-year-old Ellen Katz as she navigates changing friendships during a class trip to Barcelona. The book explores anxiety disorders, autism, Jewish culture, homosexuality, and gender-fluidity. Ellen herself is a lesbian, and she makes friends with a new classmate who claims to be nonbinary.
According to the complainant, “So much emphasis on [sexuality] puts children in a position to become more confused.” She argued that it is not the public school system’s responsibility, nor place, to address issues related to sexuality and gender-fluidity. She said, “There are parameters where you want families to help their children.”
There is one “Ellen Outside of the Lines” available in Lexington School District Two. It has been checked out three times since it was introduced to the school library ten months ago. The board voted 4-3 to retain the book at a middle school level.
“Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F Saad
This New York Times and USA Today bestseller takes readers on a 28-day journey, complete with journal prompts, to dismantle their own white privilege and create social change.
According to the complainant, the book promotes the lie that white people are “stained by their whiteness and must do the work to defeat their inner white demon.” She clarified that she believes racism exists. “However,” she said, “this book and others like it reduce us all to our race and, by extension, our identity as oppressed or oppressor.” She claimed that she supports this book in the marketplace and the college library system, as she believes in freedom of speech, though “critical race theory has no place being presented to minors.”
The district committee generally agreed that the book caused more division than unity. During the chair’s speech, she reported that one committee member said, “This book does a better job shaming white people than it does shedding light on the wrongs committed toward people of color.”
There are two “Me and White Supremacy” books in School District Two–one at Airport High School and one at Brookland-Cayce High School. It has been checked out a total of four times since April of 2022. The board voted 4-3 to retain the book at the high school level.
“Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice” by Elizabeth Acevedo, Mahogany L. Browne, and Olivia Gatwood
This collection of poems by women of color tackles topics from discrimination to empathy, justice to injustice, joy to sexuality. Its purpose is to inspire a new generation of activists.
After reciting the aforementioned poem, the complainant said, “To use the myriad of shades of colors in a real rainbow and falsely compare it to the myriad of make-believe shades of gender…is evil and a lie.”
The district committee generally disagreed. During the chair’s speech, he reported that one committee member believed the book “honors people from all walks of life” and “encourages children to stand up for what is right, and to stand up for those who can’t do it themselves.”
Branham also commented on the book, despite her typical objective to solely run the meeting. She read aloud another poem from the book and said, “This book touched my heart. Some of the other books don’t deal with it in this sensitive manner, but it was gentle. It was loving. It was inclusive. It celebrated diversity. And that’s what we have in our community. That’s what we have in our schools. And that’s something that we should be celebrating.”
The board voted 4-3 to retain the book at the elementary school level, and 5-2 at the middle school level.
The next Lexington School District Two board meeting is on September 21, 2023 at 6pm. It will be held at the Lexington Two Innovation Center. All are welcome to join. You may reach out to your elected School Board members at the addresses below:
LEXINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT TWO
715 Ninth Street, West Columbia, SC 29169
(803)796-4708
Superintendent Lexington County School District Two, Dr. Brenda Hafner
(803) 739-8399
bhafner@lex2.org
Board Chair Beth “Beth” Dickerson Branham
beth@bethbranhamlaw.com
Vice-Chair Cynthia M. “Cindy” Kessler
ckessler@sc.rr.com
Secretary Elizabeth “Liz” Castles
l2b-lcastles@lex2.k12.sc.us
Kevin Key
l2b-kevinkey@lex2.org
Linda Wooten
lwooten15865@sc.rr.com
Christina Rucker
christina.rucker07@gmail.com
Abbott “Tre” Bray
l2b-tbray@lex2.org
Camryn Hambrick lives in Lexington, South Carolina with her family and labradoodle, Bob Ross. Her writing has appeared in Interlochen Review and Fish Barrel Review. If you want to continue to see independent thought and reports please “like”, comment, share with a friend, and donate to support The Standard on this page to assure the continued availability of news that is ignored too often by the dominant media.
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