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In the midst of a week full of national dissent and tension, Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely took to the stage to get real with a live audience. The Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio was the perfect venue for an intimate discussion on serious subjects. Reynolds and Kiely first became friends a few years back while touring for their debut books, When I Was the Greatest and The Gospel of Winter, respectively. The Trayvon Martin tragedy had occurred already, and after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, the two friends had some candid discussions about racism and police brutality. This prompted them to begin writing All American Boys together. Told in alternating perspectives of Reynold's black teen, Rashad Butler, and Kiely's white teen, Quinn Collins, the story opens with Rashad being beaten by a police officer while Quinn witnesses from down the street. As the plot unfolds, family, friends, and the community have different takes as to the officer's culpability. When protests begin with kids at school, Quinn has mixed feelings about what to do next.

Aside from the Martin and Brown situations, the authors had their own anecdotes from their teenage years that sparked their interest in collaborating on the book. Reynolds' terrifying run-in with D.C. police at age 16 while in a car with friends couldn't be more opposite of Kiely's tale of being pulled over while driving his mom's minivan in Boston. While Reynolds and his black friends were presumed to be criminals, Kiely and his white friends were let off and told to go home and be safe. Why? Racism and white privilege. Both were polite and respectful to police, but nonetheless, biases prevailed. The biggest difference, according to Kiely, was that he was nervous, but didn't have anything to fear other than being caught. "I think about the fear I never had to experience, the accountability I never had...it is a tug to remind me what it means to have white privilege in America."

All of this dovetails into censorship and book banning of both All American Boys and another book depicting police brutality, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. Both have been challenged and/or banned in some areas, most recently in Charleston, South Carolina. When the Wando High School summer reading list included the two titles above, Charleston area police protested the books, stating that they promoted negativity and distrust of police. The three authors responded in a joint statement:
"Our books are not anti-police, they are anti-police brutality. We're proud of the teachers at Wando HS who are using literature that reflects the lives of so many young people across this country. To deny these books from reading lists would deny too many young people the reflections of the reality they know and experience."
-Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely, and Angie Thomas

Reynolds expounded upon this on stage, revealing he and Kiely have police officers in their families, and they value and respect the job police officers do. He reiterated that they are just anti-police brutality, and would love it if police were anti-police brutality, too. "We just hope that for us as a community, in order for things to shift, we gotta be able to engage and lean into these discussions...this book hopefully will serve as a platform and a framework for us to have these discussions, these uncomfortable discussions, in healthy and safe ways...It's okay for you to disagree, just not okay for you to disengage."

See Jason Reynolds' impassioned remarks here:

Kiely emphasized that censorship especially impacts marginalized people. "When you are censoring over and over and over again stories that feature characters who live marginalized experiences, you are censoring the people whose lives their stories reflect. You're censoring their life existence in your community. That to me is part of the injustice. That's part of the real cruelty to people who live in our own communities." When thinking about a whole variety of marginalized experiences, it worries him when people use things like language as an excuse to censor, or use things like "well but there are choices characters make in this book," or "we can't have people knowing that they can make this choice and still survive." "Censorship, in my opinion, is one of the most unethical things we can do when it comes to literature," Kiely continues. "I think about the places where our book has been banned and think about how so many students in those communities who have experiences like Rashad and his family and his church community and the whole book and all the white kids who then don't get an opportunity to reflect in ways that they haven't been asked to reflect on before. That censorship is robbing them of part of their own humanity as well."

Reynolds brought up a strong point about how people don't get worked up about censoring video games that simulate war. "Why books?" he pondered. "Nothing else gets this kind of flak. Most cartoons are worse than the books we write, and nobody seems to care. Ask your kids what the words in their favorite rap song are. Ask them to rap it out for you. Nobody seems to mind as long as they're doing the dance". He expressed concerns about kids who can't afford to buy a book, and the book is taken out of their schools. Reynolds credits fellow author Laurie Halse Anderson as noting "It is the insecurity of adults that gets in the way of children." He continues, "Everybody in this room has to make a decision to be more loyal to their futures than to their fears."

Kiely says people don't want to process the racism. "People use a number of excuses to talk about why the book shouldn't come into communities. They would say well it might incite a riot.'" It is hard for Kiely understand how this is possible. Those who have read the book know that "the book is anti-violence and it exposes the harm violence really causes families, communities. I struggle with those excuses, but I think they are all codes for 'we don't talk about the stuff that would make us have to shift the power dynamics that currently exist in our community.'"
Many thanks to Heights Libraries for sponsoring this event! Books related to the Black Lives Matter movement, specifically regarding police brutality:
Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
For more information, see the following resources: https://www.postandcourier.com/news/charleston-area-police-protest-the-hate-u-give-school-assignment/article_facc8330-7df9-11e8-8a0a-8331f0a41cbe.html https://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=15093 https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=sc-police-union-challenges-summer-reading-list-hate-u-give-american-boys https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=brendan-kielys-and-jason-reynoldss-csk-author-honor-speeches-for-all-american-boys https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=making-the-personal-political-angie-thomas-on-the-hate-u-give http://oaklandlibrary.org/blogs/childrens-services/talking-kids-about-race-and-racism http://sfusd.libguides.com/blacklivesmatter https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-if-youre-stopped-police-immigration-agents-or-fbi

-Lisa Krok is branch manager of Cleveland Public Library's Harvard-Lee branch, a member of the Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers team, and a Ravenclaw. She can be found being bookish and political on Twitter @readonthebeach.
Filed under: Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Literature

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"All American Boys" Authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely Discuss Racism, White Privilege, and Censorship in Today's Civic Landscape, a guest post by Lisa Krok

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In the midst of a week full of national dissent and tension, Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely took to the stage to get real with a live audience. The Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio was the perfect venue for an intimate discussion on serious subjects.

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TIVERTON - Profanity, drug references and the vilification of police were issues a parent raised with a book that was a part of a ninth-grade English curriculum at Tiverton High School.

"All American Boys," a 2015 young adult novel by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, was "inspired by recent controversial events and the national firestorm over police brutality," according to a description of the book on Kiely's website.

The lives of Rashad Butler, a young Black man, and Quinn Collins, a young white man, "are forever changed by an act of extreme police brutality," the book description on Kiely's website says.
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"As a black man and a white man, both writers and educators, we came together to cowrite a book about how systemic racism and police brutality affect the lives of young people in America, in order to create an important, unique, and honest work that would give young people and the people who educate them a tool for talking about these difficult but absolutely vital conversations," Reynolds and Kiely said in a joint statement on Kiely's website.

'Let's not teach our children to vilify the people we trust and pay to keep us safe'

At the Tiverton School Committee meeting on Tuesday night, Dustin Hemling, the parent of a freshman student, said he read the book and encouraged "everybody else to do the same" before he shared his perspective.

Hemling, who spoke calmly throughout, said "All American Boys" is currently ranked third on a list of "most challenged books" by the American Library Association. He also noted "The Hate U Give," by Angie Thomas, is on the list.

Every year, the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom "compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools," the ALA website says. "The lists are based on information from media stories and voluntary reports sent to OIF from communities across the U.S."
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"The Top 10 lists are only a snapshot of book challenges. Surveys indicate that 82-97% of book challenges - documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries - remain unreported and receive no media," the website says.

"All American Boys" ranks third on the 2020 list for "profanity, drug use, and alcoholism, and because it was thought to promote anti-police views, contain divisive topics," according to the ALA website.

"Why does Tiverton have books being taught in school that are on the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in the United States?" Hemling asked. "I mean, it's a fair question. With thousands of books to choose from, why did we choose these?"
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"If my child was caught using the language in this book, or referencing drug and alcohol abuse in the school hallway, would there be disciplinary action taken? The answer is unequivocally yes, and there should be," Hemling said. "But apparently 13- and 14-year-olds reading (it) in class, listening to an audio book is acceptable. Is this the district's current stance?"

Hemling read one excerpt with profanity and drug references. In closing, he read another excerpt, in which a character says that monsters "hide in plain sight with uniforms and badges."

"Let's not teach our children to vilify the people we trust and pay to keep us safe," Hemling said. "Why don't we teach them that 99% of the men and women in uniform would throw themselves into harm's way to protect them without question? I'm very proud of what I did during my 14 years of law enforcement, and I know from a real-world, firsthand experience who these men and women are, and I can assure you that they're not monsters. We can do better, we have to be better."

'The main theme of the novel is standing up for what is right'
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Sara Gray, an English teacher at the high school, explained why she chose "All American Boys" for her curriculum, later noting that "due to new state mandates ... this book it not a part of that curriculum anymore."

Emails to Gray and Tiverton Superintendent Peter Sanchioni seeking clarification of the state mandates were not returned Wednesday.

The Daily News asked Victor Morente, communications director with the Rhode Island Department of Education, about Gray's reference to new state mandates. In an email, Morente referred a reporter to the RIDE website, noting in particular a 2019 law that requires RIDE to support local education agencies "in the selection and implementation of curriculum materials."

Gray said five years ago, "in an effort to increase my students' interest in reading in my college prep-level classes," she looked for a contemporary novel to pair with the classic "To Kill a Mockingbird." She consulted a colleague and educational resources before choosing "All American Boys," mentioning the numerous accolades Reynolds has won.

"The main theme of the novel is standing up for what is right, no matter how difficult that may be, a theme that is also at the forefront in 'To Kill a Mockingbird,'" Gray said.

To address the concern of profanity in the book: "While I do not condone vulgar language, in my classroom or my home for that matter, to pretend it doesn't exist is not the role of a high school teacher," Gray said. "I am certainly not teaching this language or exposing students to vocabulary they're unfamiliar with, however it provides an opportunity for a discussion ... and the effects of inappropriate language, and it makes the book relatable."

"Because like it or not, this is how some students speak when they are not in the company of their parents, other adults, role models and teachers," Gray said. "The same applies for the brief mention of underage drinking. When caught by his mother, the message is sent to the character that this is unacceptable behavior. Is underage drinking a reality for some? Absolutely. Am I exposing students to something they don't know exists? Absolutely not."

"Not only is this novel enjoyed by a majority of students, it highlights important and controversial topics that are best acknowledged in a classroom," Gray continued. "I've taken the time to comb through the vast resources available for teaching this book to provide my students with a productive reading experience where no race, gender or occupation is targeted. Rather a running discussion is held about individuals acting alone and perspective and a deep look at character and motivation."

Gray noted "To Kill a Mockingbird" also made the 2020 list of "most challenged" books. "The previous year, 'Harry Potter' was on this list," and The Holy Bible's made the list, too, she said.

"I am proud to have chosen this book to be read in my classroom," Gray said.

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'Challenged' novel on police brutality sparks discussion at Tiverton School Committee meeting

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A parent aired his concerns over the book All American Boys, and the teacher of the classes responded.

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Two authors collaborated to write a nuanced novel from the perspectives of two young men—Rashad, who is Black, and Quinn, who is white. The novel gives teachers a powerful tool to discuss police brutality and racism with students.