Va. School Board Member Who Runs “Wokeness Checker” Site Wants Toni Morrison and Books on Race Banned
A school board member in Virginia Beach, Va., is trying to get rid of books written by several popular African American authors including Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, claiming they are “pornographic,” The Daily Beast reports.
Victoria Manning, an at-large member of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools, led the demand to remove four books from circulation or use in the district’s curriculum “due to their pornographic nature.” These are Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison; Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe; A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines and The Bluest Eye by Morrison.
Manning admitted in her letter to the board that she hadn’t read these titles, only skimming them, she made it clear that she wanted the books out and further demanded that staff involved in approving the books be disciplined.
“A Lesson Before Dying” which addresses racism and racial identity in 1940s Louisiana, had been approved for 11th graders. It was banned because of a scene of a “couple getting undressed.”
Virginia Beach City Public Schools Superintendent Aaron Spence said Manning had also separately requested the review of Beyond Magenta and Good Trouble: Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook, The Daily Beast reports.
According to the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, she condemned a decision to partner with an educational nonprofit because it “advocates for (The New York Times’) “1619 Project” and other leftist ideologies.”
Manning also spoke out against a group of middle school teachers who conducted a book study with students using “The Racial Healing Handbook” by Anneliese A. Singh, calling it “appalling and disgusting.”
She claims to be some type of whistleblower on classroom conversations about race. According to The Daily Beast, she runs a “wokeness checker” page linked to her personal website where she blasts the teaching of Critical Race Theory.
In an appearance on “FOX and Friends,” she objected that “Our students and our teachers are being taught that our country is innately racist, and students and teachers are being pitted against one another based on their skin color.”
