Anti-Critical Race Theory Parents Fight THE HATE U GIVE

“This is what they are “ suggesting “ your child read !! Are you going to allow them to teach your kids to hate our police , is this what you really support??! I need you all of you any of you to get up make those calls , write those emails demand these books be pulled , you are paying for these books your child is being abused by an organization who wants to control your children!!!! It also entices violence and murderer citizens and our police,” reads a Facebook post from local anti-anti-racism advocate Tatiana Ibrahim (a pseudonym for Tanya Brahimi). Ibrahim encourages her followers, many of whom began following her after she gained national attention for a speech to the school board decrying CRT, to speak up and demand the book be pulled from the list.

Those who saw, shared, and responded to Ibrahim’s post about The Hate U Give noted other schools where the book was on reading lists and said they wished that the attention being given in Putnam County would reach a wider level.

“I’ll be honest they are coming out and fighting my county alone a county that has been silent for a long time is not taking this crap anymore. Putnam county is taking its schools back . I’m so honored to be part of a strong courageous county of Patriots,” responded Ibrahim in the comments.

Ibrahim has garnered attention not only for her work in speaking out against CRT, but also in support of “Blue Lives Matter.” She’s helped other parents bring material to the attention of their school boards and wider communities in order to further her anti-anti-racism messages. Diversity, inclusion, and equity in education have been subjects of her protest, including recently at Yorktown.

The Hate U Give is no stranger to criticism, having been on the American Library Association’s most challenged list since its publication in 2017. Reasons for its continual challenge include it being “‘pervasively vulgar’ and because of drug use, profanity, and offensive language.”

Anti-CRT advocates have taken this moment to push their agendas by now targeting individual books like Thomas’, adding a whole new series of reasons why the book is inappropriate for high school students. For Ibrahim and those working with or near her, anti-police messaging and “hate speech toward AA” are reason enough.

“Absolutely disgusting that the BOE would subject and pervert our children with such offensive reading. Truly a sin!,” wrote one commenter, while another noted, “Pull your kids, no kids, no money. The only understand $$. I would never allow my kid to be exploited this way.”