A group of conservative parents in Texas are fighting to remove a few books from libraries in the public school system. As NBC News reported, 86 formal requests were made to rid of texts containing content about race, racism, sex, gender and sexuality. A Michelle Obama children’s biography is one of the 50 books they’re pushing to get banned.
According to the news outlet, a parent in Katy, Texas requested that school administrators pull Heather E. Schwartz’s Michelle Obama: Political Icon from public school libraries because it “unfairly” depicted Donald Trump as a “bully.” The parent also took issue with the content, which she claims would make readers believe “if you sound like a white girl you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Schwartz, however, doesn’t seem to understand the ban attempt. While speaking to the Daily Gazette, the author of Obama’s biography referred to the claims about her book as “outrageous.”
“It rose to the top of some of the headlines, I think, because it’s sort of outrageous,” she explained. “Because it’s not a controversial topic at all. It’s a nonfiction book about a real person, based on facts.”
“There’s really not much you can object to in a book like this — and then somebody found something to object to,” Schwartz continued. “It’s not about President Trump, who figures in very little, and it’s not at all anti-white. It happens to be about a Black public figure who is very influential — she’s probably an inspirational person to Black young people in particular.”
Schwartz released Michelle Obama: Political Icon in 2020, covering topics, including the former first lady’s humble beginnings in Chicago, her Ivy League days and more. Following a review of the book, the Katy Independent School District turned down the request to take it off the public school system’s bookshelves.