Author/cartoonist Jerry Craft‘s books were banned at the end of Banned Books Week from the Katy Independent School District after parents signed a petition to cancel a Zoom event with Jerry.
The petition, which had 444 signatures as of Friday morning, reads:
“Author Jerry Craft is scheduled to have a Zoom call with elementary aged students at over 30 Katy ISD schools on October 4, 2021.
“This petition is to ask KISD administration and superintendent to cancel the Zoom call and stop promotion of these books which are wrought with critical race theory in the form of teaching children that their white privilege inherently comes with microaggressions which must be kept in check.
“Craft’s writings, “New Kid” and “Class Act,”are being promoted to the students and their parents without any notice of the overt Critical Race Theory teachings throughout both books. Craft himself discusses the teaching of microaggressions in these graphic novels. He laughs about how he had to make the stories funny in order to make sure the point about the inherent racism in schools and society are made.”
Craft’s author visit was canceled and the books pulled “pending review.”
School Library Journal carries the story with other school book burnings bannings.
KATY, TEXAS: Jerry Craft is the New York Times bestselling author of the graphic novel, ‘New Kid’. The award-winning author and the creator of ‘Mama’s Boyz’, an award-winning comic strip (it reportedly won the African American Literary Award five times), found his work and appearances objected to, by a group of parents at the Katy Independent School District.
The Houston Chronicle reported on Monday, October 4, the event has been “quietly canceled” and his books have been pulled from libraries following the outrage from the small group of parents.
The Chronicle reported that in a community forum for the district, many parents railed against the decision. “We are new to the district, and I am so ashamed to be associated with this racist mentality,” one mother said. “We will all be judged by their ignorance.” Another mother said, “These books are amazing, and it’s infuriating to see lies, ignorance, and hate prevent our KISD students from experiencing this author and his works as part of their education.”
The parents also said that a petition with 400 signatures represented a small percentage of children in the district. “A whopping 444 parents signed the petition… for a district of over 88,000… Seriously?” a parent reportedly commented.
© Jerry Craft
