Right-Wing-Dominated Hanover County School Board Bans Student Walkouts, Nearly Bans Book on Police Killings of Black People (Because, Supposedly, “That Only Happens in the Inner Cities”)

Thanks as always to recent Hanover graduate Ethan Lynne and  to teacher/parent/House of Delegates candidate Rachel Levy for keeping us up to date on the latest lunacy in “red” Hanover County, Virginia. See below for their tweets about last night’s Hanover County School Board meeting, during which they held votes on banning student walkouts and on banning the book “A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart” (“a 2020 picture book written by Zetta Elliott and illustrated by Noa Denmon. Written in verse, it explores the emotions of a young Black boy after a girl in his community is killed by police. The book was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on July 21, 2020. Critics praised its accessible approach to serious topics including police brutality and Black Lives Matter, as well as its illustrations, for which Denmon received a 2021 Caldecott Honor.”).

In the end, the Board *did* vote to ban student walkouts, but by a bare 4-3 margin did NOT vote to ban the award-winning book on police brutality and Black Lives Matter. Still…why was this even a close vote? Obviously, it should have been unanimous NOT to ban the book, which clearly is relevant, critically acclaimed, important, etc. And no, racism and police brutality towards Black people do NOT only “[happen] in the inner cities,” as Board member (and right winger) John Axselle falsely claimed. Un-be-f’ing-lievable.