Anti-white books banned as culture wars enter the classroom

Books that tackle issues such as race and sexual abuse are being banned as Republican-led school districts target award-winning novels in a right-wing version of “cancel culture”.

One of the authors affected is Margaret Atwood, whose dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, depicting the violent oppression of women, has been turned into an acclaimed television series.

The classroom has become one of the key battlegrounds in America’s culture wars, which pit traditionalists against those with a left-wing agenda. The conflict is often fought over the teaching of critical race theory - the idea that racism is deeply entrenched in society - but more recently the row has spread to the subject matter of some popular children’s novels.

The death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, spurred greater calls for the teaching of the theory, but in many areas of the country parents objected.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the office for intellectual freedom at the American Library Association (AMA), told the Axios news website that she had never witnessed such a “volume of challenges come in such a short time” in 20 years. The AMA tracked the targeting of 566 books in 2019 and 273 books during the pandemic in 2020.

“I don’t want my daughter growing up feeling guilty because she’s white,” one Pennsylvanian parent told a school board meeting in York county last year. The generally affluent county, which voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2020, is dominated by Republican officials. The row led to an order to freeze the availability of books that included references to critical race theory.

“Banning books on diversity is the direct result of this Republican-manufactured crisis on critical race theory,” Donna Bullock, chairwoman of the Pennsylvania legislative black caucus, said.

In October the school district in Katy, Texas, banned two books by the graphic novelist Jerry Craft that describe the experiences of two black boys who fall victim to racist abuse at school after 400 local parents signed a petition.

The ban has since been overturned, but critics argue that school districts are coming under pressure from politicians and that the action amounts to censorship. In some areas of the country proposed bans would lead to the removal of children’s novels that raise issues such as sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and drug-taking.

In November the Spotsylvania county school board in Virginia ordered staff to remove “sexually explicit” books from libraries after a parent raised concerns about their LGBTQ themes.

The Handmaid’s Tale is one of the books that is most frequently challenged on account of its often violent and sexual content. “If you’re a writer and everybody likes you, a) you’re doing something wrong, or b) you don’t exist,” Atwood, 82, told the Associated Press.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/awardwinning-books-banned-as-culture-wars-enter-the-classroom/news-story/fd834312911f5d31ca4c785fa13d5b6a

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Science Museum boards up display on early human migration because it is ‘non-inclusive’

Gallery covering human biology, including a cabinet that deals with genetics, is under review as ‘cultural trends influence science’

The Science Museum has boarded up a display on DNA and early human migration as part of work to address its “non-inclusive narrative”.

Curators are to alter the “Who Am I?” gallery covering human biology, including a cabinet that deals with genetics.

The display explaining mankind’s migration from Africa was earmarked for alteration in order to “update (the) non-inclusive narrative”, internal documents show, and the exhibit has been boarded up.

The display titled “How Did You Get Here?” stressed humanity’s common lineage, with a panel stating that the “human journey began in Africa” and “all humans alive today descend from African ancestors”.

Maps in the display also showed how mankind ultimately spread to the Americas and Polynesia, and displayed figurines, model boats, a bow, and drum to illustrate the far-flung areas of Homo Sapien colonisation

The cabinet on prehistoric “pioneers who open up new worlds” has been covered with white hoardings that state staff are “updating the contents of this case” and asking visitors to “bear with us and enjoy the rest of the gallery”.

A nearby plinth titled “Out of Africa” - the name of the theory of human migration from the continent - is now bare, but a display on “the first European” remains in place.

The Science Museum has not given a schedule for the changes to the display, and has not clarified which specific objects in the cabinet resulted in the display being assessed as “non-inclusive”.

It is understood the display contained a hula girl figurine - an object that has recently been criticised for presenting a stereotypical view of Polynesian people - and genetic studies relating to the San people in South Africa, who in 2017 devised a code of ethics for scientists studying them.

A spokesman for the museum said: “The How did I get here? display in the Who Am I? gallery is currently covered while curators review content that is more than a decade old relating to migration, race and genetics which no longer reflects current scientific thinking.

“We are planning to update the Who Am I? gallery on a rolling basis, where resource allows, to reflect areas where there has been fresh research or a shift in scientific understanding.”

The changes follow the earmarking of the Who Am I? gallery for updates, with The Telegraph previously revealing that a cabinet on gender differences titled “Boy Or Girl?” was also up for review following “complaints about a lack of mention of transgender”.

The proposals were criticised by Maya Forstater, executive director of campaign group Sex Matters and winner of a prominent employment tribunal relating to her “gender-critical” views, who said: “It is concerning that a place dedicated to science is being swayed by cultural trends in this way.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/08/science-museum-boards-display-early-human-migration-non-inclusive/

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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