Obscenities Rock Elmhurst Meeting, As Girl Covers Ears

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst resident Tom Chavez on Tuesday objected to a book under consideration for freshmen at Elmhurst School District 205.

At a school board meeting, he read passages with obscenities and a racial slur.

He said he wanted to make the board uncomfortable. But small children were also in the room.

The novel in question is "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi. York High School's English department proposed the book, but the district is delaying a decision because of protests.

During public comments, Chavez, who lost in the school board election earlier this month, described the book as "vulgar, misogynistic, sexually explicit, pornographic, far below grade level."

He said it was no accident that the book may make it into the district's curriculum.

"This behavior is intentional, as these materials supposedly pass through many layers of oversight before landing into the hands of 13-year-olds and 14-year-olds," said Chavez, a leader among local conservatives. "I'm going to read out loud quotes from 'American Street.' I hope it makes everyone in the front room uncomfortable, ashamed and embarrassed. If it doesn't, it should."

And read the passages he did.

"You got busted with a m-----f-----g white girl," he read. "Get the f--- out of my house. Is she moving weight for you, or you just have her around to suck your d---... How am I a ho when I've been with one dude... Dray took my virginity, still the same n---a I f--- with."

Editor's note: Be advised that the video contains obscenities and a racial slur.

A man loudly objected, pointing to children present. A young girl covered her ears.

"Can we let the kids leave the room, please," board member Courtenae Trautmann said.

Chavez responded, "I thought they had left," adding, "My apologies."

After a few seconds, Chavez asked, "Are they gone?"

A man shot back, "No, they're walking out right now."

Trautmann requested the door be closed, so the children could not hear. She said she stopped the clock for Chavez during the interruption; each speaker gets three minutes.

Chavez continued by saying the book contains 339 swear words, 37 incidents of drug and alcohol abuse, 55 sexual incidents and 32 violent incidents. And he said the book is at a third-grade reading level.

Chavez said research has found that such materials are harmful to children.

"Calling out this book as inappropriate will no doubt incite hysteria among Elmhurst progressives, who will put out the book banning card as per usual," Chavez said. "But to have responsible adults filtering the materials our children consume as far as age appropriateness is not book banning – it's responsible education."

A few others also criticized the book. Among them was resident Chris Lameka. He read some of the same passages. He warned that the distribution of obscene materials to those under 16 is a violation of federal law.

"I suggest the board seek legal counsel in order to shield the school district from possible legal action or at a minimum save the York community from a whole lot of negative public attention," Lameka said.

Other residents spoke up for the book.

"The book is an award-winning account of a teenage girl leaving behind her home in Haiti to pursue a better life in America," resident Maria Balice said. "The book was presented to the board in March for consideration because it would 'increase the rigor of our freshman English course.'"

She offered another passage from the book: "I look around and then stretch out my arms on each side of me. I pray that Manman will get to taste this cold, free air before she rests her eyes tonight, wherever they are keeping her. And then tomorrow, she will come to this side of the glass, where there is good work that will make her hold her head up with dignity, where she will be proud to send me to school for free, and where we will build a good, brand-new life. Une belle vie, as she always promises, hoping that here she would be free to take her sister’s hand and touch the moon."

Resident Elizabeth Collins asked for the board to approve the book.

"To be obscene, the book as a whole would have to be patently offensive, appeal to the prurient interest, and, most critically, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value," she said. "Rest assured that the book as a whole is so far from offensive or appealing to prurient interests."

No decision was made. After the public comments ended, the children returned to the room.