Dearborn book bans draw supporters and foes

Dearborn -- Hundreds of people stood outside Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn on Sunday in opposing rallies: to speak out against a recent book ban of some titles that reflect sexuality by the school district and those who want parents and not the district to pick books their children have access to.

Seven books have temporarily been held from circulation at Dearborn Public School libraries while the process for reviewing materials is revised, said Ross Groover, district consultant, at the board of education's Sep. 12 meeting. A district book review committee composed of parents, teachers, administrators and media specialists will review the titles and others in the Dearborn school libraries.

The titles removed were submitted by parents. They are: "Push," by Sapphire; "The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold; "Eleanor & Park," by Rainbow Rowell; "Red, White & Royal Blue," by Casey McQuiston; "And They Lived," by Steven Salvatore; "All Boys Aren't Blue," by George M. Johnson; and "This Book is Gay," by Juno Dawson.

Five of the books have been removed from the district's physical libraries while two were available as ebooks through an online catalog. Since the district does not have the authority to regulate books in the catalog, they temporarily have removed student access to the entire online library.

"As their first task, the district book review committee will meet to make a recommendation about the appropriateness of the seven books that have already been identified," Groover said at the Sept. 12 meeting. The committee will look at "what's appropriate ... more specific as far as appropriateness for our libraries."

The decision to remove the books prompted backlash from some teachers, parents, students and community members. Mary Kubicek, a language arts teacher, and her friends balked at the board's decision to remove books from circulation. They planned the rally at noon Sunday, adopting the phrase: "Books unite us, censorship divides us."

"For so long we were like, this is crazy, this is gonna blow over, but it's been months and months and it hasn't yet," Kubicek said. "So we decided we needed to kind of let people know what was going on. Because so many people, I think, are opposed to this."

Book bans have been increasing nationwide. The American Library Association reports more titles have been targeted for bans or restrictions so far in 2022 than in all of 2021. Books banned in the last year are typically about an LGBTQ+ protagonist or a protagonist of color, according to a report by PEN America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting free expression.

The books that Dearborn public schools have removed follow the trend.

Information from the American Library Association on how to stop local book bans was distributed at the rally.

"This is an attack on our public schools and our public libraries, and this is an attempt to take away people's rights to read and people's right to hear the stories of other people," Kubicek said.

Shannon Woitas lives in Garden City with her son and daughter, who she says are members of the LGBTQ community. The topic "hits home really hard" said Woitas, who cried at the thought of her children not having access to LGBTQ+ books, especially since Woitas and her daughter are avid readers.

"As a member myself (of the LGBTQ+ community) and then seeing my kids struggle with it ... it matters that these books are out here for these kids and they know they are not alone," Woitas, 49, said. "These books don't turn you gay. They just let you know that it's OK, you'll get through it, you'll get to be who you are, you'll get through the struggle and you'll be OK on the other side."

An hour after the rally in support of keeping books in the libraries, at about 2:30 p.m., a crowd that supported the ban held a rally at the main library. The "Protect Our Children" leaders brought three excerpts from the books under review. One display was from the book "This is Gay," showing a naked boy, and another display illustrated a boy challenging another boy to ejaculate.

Sam Smalley sat in on the second rally from the steps of the library with a rainbow flag, symbolizing his support of the LGBTQ+ community. The display led three police officers to place barriers around him in an attempt to limit conflict between Smalley and the pro-book banning participants.

The crowd grew, as did the number of officers as Smalley played a siren during the comments of parents supporting the book ban. Parents protested the sexual illustrations in the books under review.

"Enough is enough," the crowd chanted.

Among the crowd was Zeina Hamid, 43, a former Dearborn Public Schools student and now a parent of three boys in the district.

"I never ever remember going through school and ever checking out books like this," Hamid said. "If somebody would take the time to actually read them, this has nothing to do with gays, LGBTQ. I have nothing against anybody. It's a free country ... but there's a difference between that and this being taught in schools," Hamid said.

Stephanie Butler, organizer of the "Protect Our Children" rally, has spoken before the board about the matter for more than a year.

"These people want to sexualize our kids," Butler said. "We have so many issues in schools. We don't need another issue on top of it, which is sex books. I don't think we will stand for it in Dearborn anymore."

Butler said parents should have more input in their child's curriculum. "I want answers from the administration on how the library process works," Butler said. "We can't have Bibles, we can't have Qurans, but we can have smut."

Dearborn joins four other school districts in Michigan that have banned or temporarily restricted access to books pending an investigation, according to PEN America's index of school book bans. As of June 2022, Gladwin Community Schools banned 34 titles, pending investigation, Hudsonville Public Schools banned "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in classrooms, Novi Community School District banned "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison in libraries and Rochester Community Schools District banned five books, pending investigation.