I don’t think there’s much guesswork needed to conclude why many conservatives nationwide want cartoonist and author Jerry Craft’s work banned from school bookshelves.
Craft’s creations, from his comic strip book “Mama’s Boyz” to his award-winning graphic novel “New Kid,” literally provide color to common stories of Black youth struggling to fit in, yet also stand out. For conservatives who claim there is something nefarious about acknowledging cultural variety, Craft’s books are evidence to the contrary.
They are fun coming-of-age stories of Black students who are conscious of their differences — not only between themselves and white students but among Black students as well — and the personal, sometimes comical ways all people navigate these differences.
I’ve been having a ball making my way through some of Craft’s earlier work, but I wanted to highlight a more recent book for today’s edition of “Black History, Uncensored,” our ongoing project focused on Black authors targeted by right-wing bans. While some conservatives have targeted “New Kid” for removal from bookshelves — a testament to its value, in my opinion — the companion book Craft released after that, “Class Act,” is just as good and just as worthy of praise.
“Class Act” tells the story of a Black middle schooler, Drew, who’s a friend to the protagonist in “New Kid,” a fellow middle schooler named Jordan. Both of them embody the social consciousness Republicans often claim to be a threat to students — in particular, white students.
Jordan, for example, frets over attending a new school in New York City’s Riverdale neighborhood, “a section of the city that’s so fancy,” he says, “its residents refuse to admit that it’s actually a part of the Bronx. But it is!”
He explains, using illustrations, that the Bronx is often associated with blight and homelessness, while Riverdale (which, in reality, is known to be a whiter section of…
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