Some police officers in North Carolina are unhappy that students at a local middle school have been assigned a critically acclaimed novel about police brutality.
Eighth-grade students at Bailey Middle School in the North Carolina town of Cornelius will be reading All American Boys, a young adult novel by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, despite opposition by law enforcement, the [Raleigh] News Observer reports.
Chad Thomas, the school’s principal, confirmed on Facebook that the assignment would stand. “We will proceed with the unit as designed,” Thomas wrote. “We will also invite police officers to participate in the classroom conversations.”
The novel follows Rashad, an African American high school student who’s savagely beaten by a police officer who believes the young man has been shoplifting, and his classmate Quinn, who witnesses the brutal assault.
Chris Kopp of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police was among those who objected to the book, claiming it portrays police officers in an unfairly negative light.
“The last thing we want is kids to be viewing police officers as a social injustice that they can’t trust,” Kopp told television station WSOC. “We want them to be able to go towards these officers.”
Principal Thomas didn’t buy the argument, however, saying, “As with all assigned books, this assignment was thoughtfully planned in accordance with state standards. While we respect every member of our community, we are here to build critical thinking skills and present alternative points of view.”
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
