General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSouth Carolina police object to high-school reading list
The intervention from the Fraternal Order of Police Tri-County Lodge #3 came after Wando high schools ninth-grade class was asked to read one of eight novels over the summer holidays. Two of the titles upset the police union: The Hate U Give, which follows a teenage girl after she witnesses the shooting of her unarmed best friend by a police officer, and Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kielys All American Boys, which sees a teenage boy trying to overcome his distrust of the police after he is wrongly suspected of shoplifting and then beaten by an officer.
In fact, there are eight books on the reading list, only two of which tackle police brutality. Thomass book was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, but also includes a character, the main protagonists uncle, who is a black police officer and positive role model. It has won prizes including the Waterstones childrens book award, while All American Boys is the recipient of the Walter Dean Myers award for outstanding childrens literature.
I dont actually believe that book-judging is a legitimate part of the business of policing, wrote Neil Gaiman. Local police union leader John Blackmon claims that they are only responding to the public reaching out to them to complain about the reading list. Because when people dont like the books their kids are asked to read, they call the police.
lapfog_1
(29,166 posts)Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)DemocracyMouse
(2,275 posts)I am horrified by the killings. I am disgusted by the strobe lights which are part of the early warnings that fascist theatrics are emerging to numb and weaken public resistance. The cops and their "accessories" are being glorified. One feeds the other.
SOLUTIONS:
1) No local prosecutors to white-wash police crime.
2) Citizen oversight of police forces.
3) A national reform of police culture, including studies of the over-use of (and dangerous, driver distracting) strobes, de-fanging other abusive police culture such as militaristic weaponry, loud, in-your-face signage, and lack of de-escalation training (which is oroven to work).
Bettie
(15,995 posts)they might try less shooting of unarmed black people.
And last I checked, cops don't get to decide reading material for schools either.
They bring the distrust on themselves.
pwb
(11,204 posts)Nationally they seem to be good at showing up after the crime and harassing the survivors. But the overtime must be nice when they all hang around doing nothing. The books were banned because the truth hurts. Cops need to stop protecting their bad apples and our grand juries need to stop siding with cops that do bad things. When the bad cops get away with the lying and other shit they do, the others see it and feel they will get away with it too.
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)For the police to even have a say is ludicrous.
treestar
(82,383 posts)They want to do the indoctrinating.
That someone could think for themselves is out of the question. As if, simply reading Mein Kampf will make you a Nazi.
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)Teaching the lie would actually be a form of conditioning.
brer cat
(24,401 posts)before I could believe it was actually on a printed page:
"Because when people dont like the books their kids are asked to read, they call the police.
Really, Charleston? Who do you call if you don't like the school lunch...the FBI? Why do I think John Blackmon had to work at keeping a straight face when he said that?
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)peggysue2
(10,811 posts)Oh, I agree. In some alternate Universe this certainly is the way books are censored. Call the police.
I wonder if the PD recognized the snark.
Probably not.
Just another example of what we're fighting against. In this case, literary critics dressed in police uniforms.
Ugh!
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)but they don't want to actually do anything about their behavior, which would change how they are perceived.
No - they attack books instead.
uponit7771
(90,225 posts)Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)Books about police brutality - bad.
Police brutality - crickets