Scholastic has since apologized to author Maggie Tokuda-Hall, but one wonders how many other authors are being restrained these days due to the political correctness that aggressively opposes the teaching of subjects (namely, America's history of racism) that make white people feel uncomfortable.
Scholastic Corporation, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, had approached Maggie Tokuda-Hall with a licensing contract for her book Love in the Library, a love story set in a World War II incarceration camp for Japanese Americans and inspired by her grandparents.
"The publisher's only suggested edit was to the author's note: Scholastic had crossed out a key section that references 'the deeply American tradition of racism' to describe the tale's real-life historical backdrop — a time when the U.S. government forcibly relocated more than 120,000 Japanese Americans to dozens of internment sites from 1942-1945.
"Scholastic gave its reasons for the suggested change in an email to the author and her original publisher, Candlewick Press, citing a 'politically sensitive' moment for its market and a worry that the section 'goes beyond what some teachers are willing to cover with the kids in their elementary classrooms.'"
Click on link below for the full article:
Scholastic is not the only publisher that fears a financial backlash from the power of conservative advocacy groups:
"In one case, a Florida textbook publisher removed all explicit references to race from its lesson materials about civil rights icon Rosa Parks in order to win approval from Florida's Department of Education."
Authoritarians may have evolved past the ugliness of burning books, but they've since learned to apply their bullying tactics in different ways that are perhaps more (shamefully) palatable to the American public.
I say: Cheers to Maggie Tokuda-Hall, who was willing to sacrifice a lucrative contract in order to stand by her principles and the respectful memory of her elders who unjustly suffered incarceration.
What do you say?
Scholastic Corporation, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, had approached Maggie Tokuda-Hall with a licensing contract for her book Love in the Library, a love story set in a World War II incarceration camp for Japanese Americans and inspired by her grandparents.
"The publisher's only suggested edit was to the author's note: Scholastic had crossed out a key section that references 'the deeply American tradition of racism' to describe the tale's real-life historical backdrop — a time when the U.S. government forcibly relocated more than 120,000 Japanese Americans to dozens of internment sites from 1942-1945.
"Scholastic gave its reasons for the suggested change in an email to the author and her original publisher, Candlewick Press, citing a 'politically sensitive' moment for its market and a worry that the section 'goes beyond what some teachers are willing to cover with the kids in their elementary classrooms.'"
Click on link below for the full article:
Scholastic is not the only publisher that fears a financial backlash from the power of conservative advocacy groups:
"In one case, a Florida textbook publisher removed all explicit references to race from its lesson materials about civil rights icon Rosa Parks in order to win approval from Florida's Department of Education."
Authoritarians may have evolved past the ugliness of burning books, but they've since learned to apply their bullying tactics in different ways that are perhaps more (shamefully) palatable to the American public.
I say: Cheers to Maggie Tokuda-Hall, who was willing to sacrifice a lucrative contract in order to stand by her principles and the respectful memory of her elders who unjustly suffered incarceration.
What do you say?
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