Wisconsin school board members dismissed a book on Japanese American incarceration during World War II because it created an “unbalanced” account of history, outraged parents say.
Cpl. George Bushy, left, a member of the military guard, holds the youngest child of Shigeko Kitamoto, center, as she and her children are evacuated from Bainbridge Island, Wash., on March 30, 1942.Parents are pushing back after a committee whose members sit on a Wisconsin school board did not move forward with approving a book about Japanese American incarceration during World War II for a sophomore English literature class.
Ann Zielke, a parent in the district who kept a detailed log of her interactions with board members and shared them for this article, said discussions around the book began months ago, after the district’s curriculum planning committee approved the novel in April. The book was subsequently sent to a group of three board members who approve educational materials before they’re purchased by the school board known as the educational services committee.
“She clarified and said that she felt that we needed the perspective of the American government and why Japanese internment happened. And so then again, we had raised voices at this point. I told her specifically, I said, ‘The other side is racism.’”Boyer said in an email that the book was not approved because of “concerns in our process, not the content of the book.
School board President Christopher Buckmaster also brought up concerns about balance in a separate call with Zielke, she said. Asked to clarify what kind of balance Buckmaster sought, he recommended that the students read about the Rape of Nanjing, Zielke said. In the tragedy during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese military raped at least 20,000 women and girls and killed 150,000 male “war prisoners” and 50,000 male civilians in the Chinese city of Nanjing.
When Zielke submitted an open records request for the video, Assistant Superintendent Jeff Petersen replied in an email, seen by NBC News, that the part of the video that was removed was “unrelated to the official business of the meeting.” “The dozen parents and alumni and students who showed up to that meeting just started yelling questions, because they were ready to gavel it out with zero explanation,” Zielke said.
“The board is now saying that the district staff recommended the book come back, but that was not made clear to anyone at that ESC meeting,” Zielke said. “I walked away knowing the committee didn’t approve something having to do with ‘diversity.’ … It feels like a backpedaling reason to explain this.”
“I’m looking for my children to get an education that prepares them to live in the wider world. … And that’s what I believe that public education needs to provide to all our students,” Hapeman said. “We’ll be in the district for many years to come here, and I want my kids to be prepared for the life that comes next. And if these are the kinds of decisions that are continuing to be made, by narrowing the perspectives that they’re taught, then they won’t be prepared.
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