Slam Poetry Book Raises Ire in Abilene, TX, High School
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By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 04/26/2010
A book about slam poetry and the history of spoken word has come under fire in Abilene, TX, where a parent and the Abilene School District’s superintendent both have questions regarding the language and content of the title, along with its placement in local high schools.
Shawn Wilson’s high school daughter checked out The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip-Hop and the Poetry of a New Generation (Sourcebooks MediaFusion, 2003) earlier this year for an assignment in her AP English course at Cooper High School. However, as Wilson read through the book, he found what he considered a high level of profanity as well as racist commentary in the poems.
“This is not just in one, but in every fourth or fifth poem,” he says. “My concern is that the book should not be on the shelf in the high school.”
Wilson spoke at a recent Abilene Independent School Board meeting, where Superintendent Heath Burns then became aware of the issue and followed with an invitation to discuss the book with Wilson—and discovered that he agreed.
“I share Mr. Wilson’s grave concerns regarding the language, which is graphic and profane, and the racial slurs,” says Burns, who admits he has not read the entire book. “I’m going to ask for the book to be reviewed. There is a place for hard-to-hear language in literature. It needs to have a place and not be gratuitous.”
The Spoken Word Revolution features dozens of works from performance and slam poets and was named one of the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers by the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) in 2004.
A request to interview Cooper High School’s librarian Stephanie Hamilton regarding the book was not returned.
However, Wilson, who also had a concern about his daughter reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn last year at school because of its language, has not returned his daughter’s checked-out copy of The Spoken Word Revolution and would like to see it removed from the high school.
And Burns himself says he will allow the principal at Cooper High School to create an independent committee to review the book according to school policy, but he also implies that he might take matters in his own hands if the committee’s decision doesn’t meet his.
“After their decision, if I don’t agree, I will make my own,” says Burns.
