A pro-family group in Howell, Michigan says the local school district is exposing students to obscene material, including a book that graphically describes the rape of an 11-year-old girl by her father. The Livingston Organization for Values in Education (LOVE) has filed a complaint with state and federal authorities regarding what it says are five sexually explicit books being used in 10th-grade advanced placement English classes in Howell.
LOVE's complaint raises questions about the assignment of The Bluest Eye, a novel written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison, as well as specific works by other authors such as Richard Wright, Kurt Vonnegut, and Erin Gruwell, which the concerned citizens group says contain obscene language and graphic depictions of sex and rape.LOVE founder Vicky Fyke wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy as well as Livingston County Prosecuting Attorney David Morse and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, asking them whether the books violate state and federal law prohibiting obscenity and the distribution of materials harmful to minors.
Fyke says Murphy told her he is forwarding her complaint on to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “There are laws in place to protect children," the pro-family community activist says, "and because I couldn’t get the school board to do it I had to go higher." Now, she adds, "I'm hoping that the law will say no” to the use of the obscene and sexually explicit books in Howell classrooms.
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Let us pray that decency and common sense prevail in MI. An excellent education does not require that children be exposed to pornographic reading. If this pro-family group prevails, perhaps there is hope for kids in our local District 214 where books containing pornography are on required reading lists for high school students.
