Brown vs. Books
How one woman's war on wokeness is part of a national election strategy.
Shortly before Halloween last year a school district near Houston, Texas abruptly canceled its plans to host a virtual appearance by an award-winning children's illustrator and author—then temporarily pulled his graphic novel from school libraries, claiming the book promoted "critical race theory." A few months later a Tennessee school board voted unanimously to pull a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel from its shelves, stating the work contained profanity and female nudity. In March a local parent in Cherokee County, Georgia caused a stir (and scored an interview with Laura Ingraham) when asked to stop reading a racy passage from a novel during a school board meeting.
PEN America recently released a report showing that 1,586 book bans were implemented in 26 states between July 2021 and March of this year. In our own school district there has been an explosion of challenges filed recently when compared to more than two decades prior. What's going on?
Let's start by taking a look at the three books mentioned above:
The Katy Independent School District in Texas banned New Kid — an award-winning graphic novel about the experience of a twelve-year old black student who enters middle school at a majority-white private academy. Author Jerry Craft based the story on his own experiences and those of his sons.
The McMinn County School Board in Tennessee voted unanimously to ban Maus by Art Spiegelman — the only graphic novel to ever receive the Pulitzer Prize — that depicts the experience of Polish Jews during the Holocaust. To make the subject matter easier for younger readers the Jews are portrayed as mice while the Nazis are cats. The book was banned only weeks before Holocaust Remembrance Day.
And here in our school district local parent Michelle Brown spoke out against (among other books) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a dystopian novel speculating what would happen if zealous religious conservatives overthrew the United States of America, where women and their reproductive organs are treated as property by the men in charge.
According to PEN America's extensive "Banned In The US" report there is consistency and overlap in the types of stories being banned:
Identities - Titles that deal with LGBTQ+ characters and issues, fiction novels that have non-white protagonists, and those with prominent Jewish and Muslim characters.
Health-related and/or Sexual Content - Titles that discuss sex in some form, discuss abortion, cover teen pregnancy, puberty, and stories that include sexual assault.
Rights, Racism, and Social Justice - Both fiction and nonfiction titles that address racism, the work of activists, and universal human rights.
History - With a lot of overlap from the above subjects, these titles include biographies of figures including "Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, Duke Ellington, Katherine Johnson, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cesar Chavez, Sonia Sotomayor, Nelson Mandela, and Malala Yousafzai."
Death, Grief, and Suicide - These titles include difficult subjects (often memoirs) written about challenging subjects and are intended to be age-appropriate for the audience.
Here in our own school district we've seen 14 challenges as of April 15, 2022:
A quick look at the subject matter in the material above reveals the types of books being challenged fall in line with what PEN has seen all across the country. The committee is evaluating the material and making nuanced recommendations, which would seem to be the system working correctly.
Mama Chelle Speaks Out
Michelle ("Chelle") Brown, however, disagrees. She seems to believe there is an insidious conspiracy buried within the school district here in Cherokee County: Teachers and librarians providing access to pornography and other explicitly adult works—all for the purpose of sexualizing our children. On March 17th, 2022 she spoke at the monthly board of education meeting, reading passages from Homegoing Yaa Gyasi to shock and scandalize the audience. She looks delighted to be invited on Laura Ingraham in late March to talk about it with the hilarious chyron "Reading Sex Scene Gets Mom Cancelled." (Nothing says you've been Canceled like appearing on a popular national cable news program!)
Board member Patsy Jordan played into Ms. Brown's hands by asking her to stop reading, admonishing "We have children at home."
"Don't you find the irony in that?" Ms. Brown fired back. I will give her credit for crafting an excellent sound bite, even if it ignores all nuance and the reality of what books are in which schools. CCSD posted a response on their Fact vs. Fiction page:
Only four days after making her big splash at the school board meeting, Michelle Brown endorsed Cam Waters for District 3 along with the rest of the 4 Can Do More coalition.
On April 17th Ms. Brown spoke at an outdoor campaign event for the 4 Can Do More candidates. She claimed (not for the first time) that she represents a group of concerned parents and grandparents.
"We see this across the entire nation," she says in her speech—a reminder that the book-banning effort and other school district disruptions are part of a national GOP election strategy. "They are indoctrinating our children. They are sexualizing our children. And it's not okay." Who are They, exactly? She continues: "The only people who've attacked me are the school board, the administrators, and the Democrats that are running their campaign." Here I might point out that every single sitting member of our board of education is a Republican, but this is hardly the first time that an inconvenient fact is ignored in pursuit of political goals. She holds up a copy of the graphic novel (long-form comic book) version of The Handmaid's Tale, claiming it's a picture book "that's in every single one of our high schools." The school board stands behind this pornographic book, she tells the audience. As for the book itself, she claims "I've had grown people cry when they see it. It's disgusting!"
Brown then calls for parents to attend the upcoming school board meeting and to open their wallets to the only candidates accepting out-of-state PAC money. "I need you to donate to all these candidates. You're not donating to Cam Waters ... you're donating to those children that are running around. You're donating to yourself. What are they worth? What is your future worth? Add a zero."
Exploring Gilead
Let's step aside and take a look at Ms. Brown's favorite prop, The Handmaid's Tale, a novel that’s received lots of attention in recent years thanks to the television series starring Elisabeth Moss. I first became aware of it from the 1990 film adaptation and read the novel later in college.
The Handmaid's Tale was originally published in 1985. Here is the description on Goodreads.com:
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...
The novel depicts a future in which the United States is gone, overthrown by religious conservatives who use growing infertility to justify the total ownership of women's bodies—ideas very much inspired by societal trends in the real world. When speaking to CBS News, Atwood remarked: "[The novel] is a warning, simply because I never have believed it can't happen here. I've never believed that. And more and more people are joining me in that lack of belief."
Common Sense Media looks at books, movies, and other works to help parents decide what's appropriate for their children and when. They rate The Handmaid's Tale as appropriate for readers age 16 and up:
The blog Reads4Tweens comments on the merits of the book:
The world of The Handmaid's Tale is scary and depressing and shows many hints of issues we face in our world. Despite being over 30 years old, it has aged very well. It's one of the scariest books I've ever read, but because of its reflective tone I was able to take it in. If your mid teen is socially and politically aware, particularly if they are interested in women's rights, freedom vs. security, freedom of religion and thought, and similar issues, The Handmaid's Tale might be exactly the right book for them right now. I think if I were a 15 or 16 year old reading it in today's cultural and political climate, it would blow my mind. Consider reading it when your teen does—there's so much fodder for good discussions.
Sounds a lot like satire and social commentary rather than the violent porn Ms. Brown describes—likely why she focused strongly on the graphic novel version instead. In late April she began posting page spreads from the graphic novel to show the objectionable content and shock her audience. She helpfully censors the image with gray boxes to spare the delicate sensibilities of her audience. Two examples:
Penguin UK highlights "7 iconic scenes" to show how much-discussed moments from the novel were portrayed visually, which offers us an uncensored look at the above images:
Notice anything? There is no nudity in the book—at all. While there are absolutely sex scenes depicted in the graphic novel, Ms. Brown makes them seem more shocking with unnecessary censorship. In the scene set at Jezebel's (a club staffed by enslaved sex workers) Brown censors breasts already covered with tassels that would be acceptable on Instagram. While it's certainly fair to discuss what age group this content is appropriate for, she is not acting in good faith with her unnecessary censorship.
Brown's graphics claim "The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood – Written Or Illustrated Version: Cherokee HS, River Ridge HS, Creekview HS, Etowah HS, Sequoyah HS." Let's see about that.
Anyone in the public can search the Destiny system to find what is currently in our media centers for the entire Cherokee County School District. (If you wish to search multiple schools, I recommend browsing in private or incognito mode in a new window for each search to easily switch between libraries.) So as of today (5/15/2022) let's see what versions of The Handmaid’s Tale are in which high schools:
Cherokee High School: Novel version only—English & Spanish.
Creekview High School: Novel version only—English.
Etowah High School: Novel version only—English.
River Ridge High School: Novel version only—English.
Sequoyah High School: Novel version only—English. (SHS also has a copy of the sequel, The Testaments.)
Woodstock High School: Novel version only—English.
So Michelle Brown isn't lying when she says the "written or illustrated version" is in five of the high schools. (She seems to forget Woodstock High exists, but the book is there too.) The graphic novel is not listed in any of our high schools at time of writing. To be fair, that doesn't mean it was never there. According to CCSD Fact or Fiction page:
Social media posts now being circulated by School Board candidates and supporters falsely imply that an illustrated version of the acclaimed 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale is in all CCSD high schools. The 1985 novel, which is NOT illustrated, is in CCSD high school media centers for optional check-out by high school students (both Amazon and Lexile rate the book as appropriate for ages 14-18). The 2019 illustrated version, as pictured above, is available in only one CCSD high school media center (River Ridge High School); it is noteworthy to point out that this book has not yet been checked out by anyone. Neither the 1985 novel version, which has no illustrations, nor the 2019 illustrated version have been the subject of any book challenges filed by any CCSD parents or any other Cherokee County citizens.
The graphic novel no longer appears available in any of our schools and did not have the chance to corrupt our youth as it sat unread in a single library.
The Brown Email Barrage
Michelle Nicosia Brown lives in a very nice home near the Woodmont Golf & Country Club and her two daughters attend a local elementary school. Her first official communication (to my knowledge) with our school district happened almost exactly a year ago, when she wrote an email to board member Patsy Jordan (obtained by Open Records Request). She explains: "We chose to move to this area particularly due to the lower taxes and more importantly, the school system."
The email takes up four printed pages in which Ms. Brown makes a highly-technical case against the safety and efficacy of disposable and cloth face masks, discussing everything from airflow and oxygen to depression and suicidal thoughts, quoting sources ranging from the National Institutes of Health to the Epoch Times. "I cannot continue to watch us harm our staff and more importantly, our children," she declares. "I cannot sit back and watch a STEM‐based school system promote a poster contest that does not follow any fundamentals of Science, Technology, Engineering & Math." Here I’ll mention that while our school district "strongly encouraged" mask wearing and provided masks, there was not a mandate for them to be worn by students at any point. Amusingly, Brown's long email confused the board member who thought it was a sales pitch for different kinds of masks.
Through June of last year Ms. Brown continued to demonstrate concern over the school pandemic protocols for the 2021-22 school year, making it quite clear she was opposed to any mandates, incentives, or even encouragement for anyone to be vaccinated or wear a mask—asking why our district was following the Georgia Department of Public Health without additional "consulting, investigating, questioning, etc."
Next on Brown's list of concerns was the educational website Brainpop.com, per an email dated June 25, 2021. I'll fact-check as we go along.
I am assuming the Board is not aware of some racist, anti‐American and sex‐based content available to our K‐12 students via BrainPop. I'd like to ask the Board investigate the future of utilizing this program with our children prior to the 2021‐ 22 school year. I will be sending daily examples of the content our children have come across. Thank you for your time and please let me know if I can be of supportive service.
Example 1: BrainPop June Birthdays to Honor: Anne Frank, Helen Keller, Alan Turing, and... Che Guevara. This monster and murderer of the innocent was a Marxist Revolutionary and an advocate of communism. He worked closely with Fidel Castro to overthrow Cuba, which eventually forced many Cubans to dangerously flee the country . However, watch to see how BrainPop has decided to portray Guevara. They support his accomplishments so much they even made a few video games on him!
I checked out the Che Guevara page over on BrainPOP and watched the video—which I found quite balanced. You can read the full transcript here. It explains, correctly, that Che Guevara is a hero to many (especially in Latin America) and why you can't walk into a Hot Topic without seeing his face on a t-shirt. The video also tells the story of Guevara in the Cuban revolution, his later role as an oppressive judge who "sentenced hundreds of enemies of the revolution to long prison terms, and even death, without fair trials." It certainly doesn't glorify Cuba under Castro, stating: "That's part of the reason a lot of people don't see him as a hero. Under Castro, thousands of people were imprisoned just for their political beliefs. Many were executed. Cuba became one of the most repressive and undemocratic places in the world," going on to explain that Guevara was partially responsible for driving Cuban refugees out of the country. Its conclusion: "Che has to come to represent lots of different things to different people. To some, he was an idealist who dedicated his life to the poor and powerless. But critics say he abandoned those principles. Even if he started with noble intentions, he wound up hurting a lot of innocent people."
As for games? There is only one: Time Zone X. It's a simple game of putting historical events in chronological order, each one written in a rather neutral and matter-of-fact fashion:
Brown made good on her promise a few days later, emailing her next example of "racist, anti-American" content, their page dedicated to the Juneteenth holiday.
The Juneteenth page on BrainPOP is unavailable at time of writing (the page reads "Restricted Content"), and perhaps will never to return to Georgia screens because of a recent law signed by Governor Kemp. But the video is available on YouTube and you can read the full transcript:
Brown quotes the video accurately, a quote which truthfully declares many consider Juneteenth to be the day that all Americans were finally made free. (We will save the fact that the last American slave wasn't freed until 1942 for another discussion.) I'll leave Ms. Brown's motivations for not wanting children to learn about Juneteenth to your own judgment.
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Her next objection on the platform was about children learning about the Black Lives Matter Protests and the concept of "Structural Racism." This was swiftly followed by an objection to the page on Personal Pronouns, and watching the video revealed that while explaining how personal pronouns work in the English language there was a brief aside explaining that "some individuals prefer 'they' as a pronoun"—something that is objectively true. Her next email accuses BrainPOP of being a "racist and Marxist brainwashing program" targeting children, promising now that she was back from vacation she would "continue sending my examples why BrainPop must be removed from Cherokee County School District." And she did. In July the next target of her wrath was the BrainPOP video explaining the Voting Rights Act, so egregious that she demanded the removal before the board meeting the very next day. The BrainPOP site remains in use by CCSD as of time of writing, and after mid-July Ms. Brown seems to have given up this particular crusade. But there would be more.
Her next request of the school district were exact copies of what would be asked on the Panorama Survey, Social Norms Survey and the Cognia Student Engagement Survey, replying to an email that very clearly explains the surveys including example questions and how parents can opt out. When she was told she couldn't get advance copies of the surveys she asked conspiratorial questions about what "they would do" with private information. Next she revealed the shocking news that "Panorama is a CRT company," citing a fringe article linking the daughter of the United States attorney general to the Panorama publisher by marriage. She assured CCSD she not only opted out her children from the surveys but would convince as many parents as possible to do the same.
Chief of staff Dr. Debra Murdock wrote back to assuage Ms. Brown's fears, and explain the value the surveys provide—mentioning CCSD doesn’t use other Panorama materials. With a link provided to the CCSD Social Emotional Learning curriculum, Brown veered her objections toward SEL and accused public schools of "creep[ing] more and more into the 'Parent Lane' virus staying in their 'Academics Lane.'" (I think she means “instead of” rather than “virus,” but that’s a direct quote.)
On March 11th of this year Chelle Brown resumed her email barrage with her objection to none other than The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, bringing us full circle.
She continued the constant stream of emails to the Cherokee County school board and superintendent’s office, though this time the specific language and strategy appears to shift, leading me to wonder if she's working from an organized playbook. While objecting to the book Homegoing (which became her ticket onto Fox News) she assured the staff and board she would be sending "a list of 150-200 books that should not be in our public tax-funded libraries" and demanding they be "removed immediately." Next she counted the uses of profanity in The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and continued her demands. CCSD Chief Communications officer Barbara Jacoby explained that there was an existing process for objecting to material.
At ten o’clock the next evening Brown used even stronger language:
I am very well aware of past and current GA legislation regarding explicit materials in schools. I do know a Superintendent and School Board have autonomy in deciding what to implement. I also know if you gave one of these books to a child personally, you'd be charged criminally. For those of you who say you are from God, why would you give this obscene material to OUR babies?
It may be worth noting here, that while Ms. Brown has every right to express community concern (as do we all) none of the books she had objected to at this point were available in her children's school media center. Her email contained 225 books she insisted be removed from schools. The next evening she spoke at the school board meeting, telling the body "this all could have been avoided if you'd just responded to me." For their part, CCSD updated its Fact vs. Fiction page:
Bad Faith Book Banning
It might be easy to believe the push to remove books from our schools is just a local concern and particular passion of an unhinged parent. But we've known since last fall that the Republican party considers the cultural debate over schools a driving issue for this year's midterm elections. When Glenn Youngkin won the governor's race in Virginia he made parents vs. “Critical Race Theory” in schools a key issue, and it was swiftly adopted for the party as a whole. And this isn't even a new tactic. An earlier version of this idea was attempted in the 1960s by the John Birch Society.
The John Birch Society comparison fits, as it reflected the extreme anti-communist and conspiracy-prone beliefs of its founder, who was convinced that a group of shadowy elites were attempting to form a totalitarian world government under Communism. (The Civil Rights movement was portrayed as part of this plot.) You can see echoes of this throughout "Mama Chelle" Brown's emails and spoken statements. In her extreme world view a child seeing diverse representation is racism, learning about non-binary pronouns is grooming, and critically-acclaimed works of literature are pornography. She also champions school board candidates who might believe that the president of the United States is a satanic blood-drinking pedophile.
In one last piece of news, Micelle Brown was recently elected president of the Macedonia Elementary Parent Teacher Association.
I recently learned my school librarian from Johnston Elementary in the 1980s is still working for the Cherokee County School District at 90 years old, which is amazing and inspiring. I may criticize and question our school district's and current board of education’s leadership, but I'm often reminded of the dedicated educators, administrators, and staff who've done amazing work in this county for generations. It's disgusting that suddenly our friends and neighbors are being treated like the enemy who are secretly indoctrinating and grooming our kids, or that they would willfully place inappropriate material in the hands of our students—all in service of some spooky global conspiracy.
I will give CCSD rare credit for keeping a steady hand on the wheel during these politically-motivated assaults and not making reactionary decisions regarding books in our schools. We already have a system in place for objecting to material in our schools, which can be handled by discussing it with the school principal or filing a formal challenge if the matter isn't satisfactorily resolved. School should be a place to encounter challenging ideas, new perspectives, and diverse opinions—a place where all are welcome and see themselves represented.
Some of these issues will be decided by upcoming elections—starting with the primary coming up soon. I urge you not to vote for any of the 4 Can Do More candidates endorsed by Michelle "Ban Books" Brown.