Prominent publishers have sent a letter to the New York City Department of Education expressing alarm that books featuring diverse characters and subjects were discarded with the trash at a Staten Island elementary school.
“We are deeply concerned that silent or unacknowledged censorship may be going on in New York City schools,” the letter said.
Gothamist reported last week that hundreds of books about Black history, immigration and LGBTQ+ characters were placed with the trash outside P.S. 55 on Staten Island, and hundreds more were given away. Attached to many of the books were sticky notes saying “not approved.” Some of the notes highlighted apparent concerns, including “negative slant on white people” and “teenage girls having a crush on another girl in class.”
A sticky note on a kid's book about Nina Simone discarded from PS 55 reads "This is about how black people were treated poorly but overcame it (can go both ways.)"
“Because school libraries play a crucial role in providing families with access to books, removing titles makes it difficult or even impossible for students to encounter information and ideas that are necessary to their intellectual development,” read the letter written by Skip Dye, who chairs Penguin Random House's Intellectual Freedom Committee.
Authors Against Book Bans, Candlewick Press, Charlesbridge, Hachette Books, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks also signed on.
The publishers requested a meeting with education department officials “to explore ways in which we can work together to protect the First Amendment rights of NYC students in the future.”
The education department condemned the decision to discard the books and launched an investigation. But officials said they had no update and that the investigation was ongoing more than a week after Gothamist reported on the controversy. It was still unclear who tossed out the books and why.
A kids book on Navajo code talkers during World War II discarded from PS 55. The sticky note reads, "dialogue on pg. 2 'Navajo is bad!'" and "pg. 5 '...white man's world?'"
Schools Chancellor David Banks told reporters last week that the notes about the books’ contents were “completely unacceptable.”
“A book should never be thrown out in the first place,” he said. “If we can determine if that was some responsibility of any of our folks who work for us … then that will be dealt with.”
The publishers said in their letter that they were “heartened” the department was investigating, and praised the school system for its “outstanding work” on literacy and access to books.
“We firmly stand in support of educators, librarians, parents, students and authors protecting the freedom to read here in NYC and in the rest of America,” they wrote.
