HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — A fictional book on Hillsborough High School's summer reading list that addresses a police shooting on an unarmed teen and uses "profanity and vulgar language" spurred discussion and disagreement among some Board of Education members during Monday's meeting.
The book in question is "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, a fictional story about how a 16-year-old girl wrestles with finding her voice as she grapples with the social and personal ramifications of witnessing the shooting of her unarmed friend by a police officer, according to the description provided by the English Department.
"This is an acclaimed book, a popular book that addresses some pretty tough topics. I have no objection for the need to address these topics. It talks about police brutality, murder and there is some rough stuff going on here," said Board Member Joel Davis on May 22. "I am just not comfortable recommending this book because of the profanity and the vulgar language and that kind of stuff which I don’t think is appropriate to be recommended to school students."
Board member Jane Staats disagreed with Davis and noted that the students voted for and selected this book to be added to the summer reading list.
"I understand where you are coming from but literature, art in any form... can get pretty, maybe even vulgar, but it's still art. I just worry about us engaging in something that could approach censorship," said Staats.
Board member Elaine Jackson questioned whether the voting process is the best way to select books and stated multiple times her objections to Staat's comment about censorship.
"This is not censorship. The book is available to anyone that wants to read it," said Jackson.
Staats agreed that students could still read the book if they chose but by removing it from the summer reading list it would remove follow-up discussion in the classroom in September.
"We would be removing the opportunity for that to be part of the discussion among students in the classroom," said Staats.
Board member Danny Lee saw the movie based on the book and began reading the book as well.
"It's actually a very nuanced story. I know the scary part is the police shooting but that's not what the story is about. It's a coming-of-age story," said Lee. "The protagonist Starr Carter, her uncle is a police officer, she even confronts her uncle. And her uncle provides a very nuanced perspective... This is not a very one-sided perspective. It's a very nuanced story. There's a lot of perspectives here."
Board member Allison Laning-Beder noted that the important thing to remember is that "The Hate U Give" is only one of several options for students to choose from.
"I do think however, that the subject matter is important to teenagers today, and giving them the opportunity to discuss that when they come back from summer break in their English classes helps to further discussion that I think is important to have in a safe environment," said Laning-Beder. "In the end, I think the book has a really positive message in that the main character is really finding her own voice and being able to speak for themselves. And I think anyone high school-aged is trying to figure that out and find that out for themselves. I think from that perspective as well it gives a really good option."
Board President Paul Marini addressed Jackson's comments and said the Board would review how books are selected in the future. He also noted his support for the book.
"We have very varying positions on the book itself, which is great. The discussion we are having here now is the discussion you want them to have in class. The validity of the content," said Marini.
The Board ultimately voted to include the book in its summer reading list with a vote of 7 to 2. Davis and Jackson voted no.
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