Brunswick County education officials aren’t pulling “The Color Purple” from school bookshelves.
That official decision from a committee of educators came Tuesday in response to a formal complaint–the only one since controversy surrounding Alice Walker’s novel began in October–filed by Brunswick County Commissioner Pat Sykes at West Brunswick High School.
In that complaint, filed Dec. 1, Sykes likens “The Color Purple” to pornography.
“You need to be 21 to drink but we provide porn,” she wrote.
Further, Sykes took issue with the use of racial slurs throughout the novel, “in this day were [sic] we are being sued for using or saying the ‘N’ word. Look at Paula Deen.”
According to school district policy on objection to materials, challenges must be submitted at the school level.
“Following procedures, members of the West Brunswick High School’s school improvement team and the school’s media coordinator met to review the challenge on…Dec. 10,” Brunswick County Schools Spokeswoman Jessica Swencki wrote in a press release. “All members of the committee were required to read the material in its entirety before discussing the challenge and rendering a decision.”
After reviewing the novel, the committee unanimously agreed to keep it both in the curriculum and as part of the permanent library collection.
Sykes acknowledged on the complaint form that she has only “partially” read “The Color Purple,” including “pages attached (to the form), plus summary and Cliffnotes [sic].”
Those “pages attached” were first circulated, via email, by Brunswick County parent Michael Norton, who was disturbed by the graphic language and situations described in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Norton’s emails to board members, which he blind-copied numerous others, spurred a monthslong debate over the book that included Sykes’ peer, Commissioner Marty Cooke, who expressed shock and outrage over the inclusion of “The Color Purple” on approved reading lists for high school English classes.
The book–which Brunswick County Schools Superintendent Dr. Edward Pruden has called an “excellent” tool for teaching voice and themes–tells the first-person story of Celie–a poor, uneducated, 14-year-old black girl living in 1920s rural Georgia–through letters she writes to God because she is routinely beaten and raped by her father.
See related story: ‘The Color Purple’ at the center of fierce debate in Brunswick County schools
In a personal letter accompanying her complaint, Sykes laments that the removal of Christian teachings from schools has been replaced with materials, such as “The Color Purple,” which she calls “filth.”
“The Ten Commandments used to be on the walls of our schools and other public buildings, but have been removed,” she wrote. “I wonder if the students have ever studied or learned anything about the Ten Commandments in the public schools in recent years? Yet, it’s true history. So the Ten Commandments are too divisive and offensive, but not books containing immorality that are contrary to faith principles?”
The challenge process outlined in the policy allows for appeals to be made to the superintendent and, ultimately, the Brunswick County Board of Education.
Since the matter may not yet be fully resolved, Swencki said district leaders would not comment further on the matter and has declined requests for interviews.
Swencki did say that parents in Brunswick County “absolutely” have the final say regarding what their students read in school. Alternate reading assignments, she noted, are always available.
Hilary Snow is a news reporter at Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6341 or [email protected].
