HB 00080 SCH CD-K-12 BOOKS ABOUT RACISM
Illinois children in K-12 public schools will be required to read Ibram X. Kendi & Robin DiAngelo if HB 00080 Passes. HB 00080 SCH CD-K-12 BOOKS ABOUT RACISM was filed with the Clerk on 1/13/2021 by Rep. Mary E. Flowers-D was introduced. The bill was first read and then referred to the Rules Committee on 1/14/2021. It was assigned to the Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee on 2/23/2021. Rule 19(a) / was re-referred to the Rules Committee on 3/27/2021. This is meant to amend the School Code. This bill creates a list of nonfiction, fiction, and children’s books about racism that if passed will be required reading for students in every Illinois public elementary and secondary school beginning with the 2021-2022 school year. It is required that instruction material that is presented for each book is age appropriate and to be taught at the appropriate grade level. If this bill passes, it will be effective immediately.
Rules Committee – Members | 102nd General Assembly
- Chairperson: Greg Harris D
- Republican Spokesperson: Dan Brady
- Member: Tom Demmer R
- Member: Jehan Gordon-Booth D
- Member: Elizabeth Hernandez D
Witness Slips
Witness slips were filled out at the end of March 2021 and you can find the number of those in favor, those who oppose, and those who held no position below:
Proponents: 10
Opponents: 773
No Position: 2
Required Reading For Students In Every Illinois K-12 Public School
I tried finding recommended ages for each of these books but unfortunately I was only able to find age recommendations for only a few. Below is the recommended reading list from HB 00080 and categorized by nonfiction, fiction, and children’s books.
NONFICTION BOOKS
Article that further explain why this book is so toxic:
*”Critical Race Theory, teachers, school boards, and parents” – American Thinker
Article that further explain why this book is so toxic:
*”Ibram X. Kendi just gave away the con” – American Thinker
Articles that further explain why this book is so toxic:
*”Taxpayer dollars go to the Treasury Department for racist anti-white training”- American Thinker
*“White imbecility”– American Thinker
*Revolutionary black feminism-bell hooks was a scholar that promoted radical black feminist thought. bell hook blurred the lines of collected research methods and communication norms which were shared among a group of scholars with similar interests, “while arguing about both patriarchy and white supremacy that mixed the legal with the sociological, literary, and autobiographical in specific gendered ways.” This then created a an open path for the more recent Theorists such as Patricia Williams, Angela Harris, and Kimberle Crenshaw.
***It’s important to note here that Kimberle Crenshaw was actually a student of Derrick Bell. Crenshaw also helped Bell create the term “critical race theory”.
*You can find out more information about this book by visiting The New Social Worker’s Career Magazine.
- “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” by Bryan Stevenson
- “Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad
- “This Book Is Anti-Racist” by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand (Ages 11 and up)
FICTION BOOKS
- “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
*According to PBS American Experience, this book was banned due to sexually explicit material, a large amount of graphic descriptions, lots of disturbing language, and an underlying socialist-communist agenda.
*According to Valpotorch” “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker has been banned in schools all over the country since 1984, due to its graphic sexual content and situations of violence and abuse.”
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
*The age range for required children’s books for the most part appears to be between ages 2-10.
- “The Colors of Us” by Karen Katz (Ages 4-8)
- “Happy in Our Skin” by Fran Manushkin (Ages 2-5)
- “I Am Enough” by Grace Byers (Ages 4-8)
- “Let’s Talk About Race” by Julius Lester (Ages 4-8)
- “A Terrible Thing Happened” by Margaret M.Holmes (Ages 4-8)
- “Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement” by Carole Boston Weatherford and Ekua Holmes (Ages 10 and up)
