001good evening welcome everyone thank you for joining us this evening um thank you for attending this is the regular resumed meeting of the board of education for October 13 2022. may I have a roll call please Hussein Berry here Pat the Ambrosio here Adam mozep here Harry palacecraft here Jim Thorpe here Irene Watts she is absent and president McDonald here the Pledge of Allegiance we are happy to announce that we have a young Community member Isabella who's going to come up and read the Pledge of Allegiance if everybody could please stand foreign I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all well done can we make sure that Isabella gets a certificate sent
002to her thank you very well done Isabella I I would like to make a motion uh president McDonald that um under citizen participation we amend it to um a agenda items for Action to also include and non-agenda items I support that motion oh second okay we have a motion moved by trustee paschlikov and supported by trustee Berry may have a roll call please trustee Berry yes trustee d'ambrosio yes Jesse mozep yes trustee pet let's Croft yes trustee Thorpe yes Irene Watts president McDonald yes I want to start with an opening statement Dearborn is a wonderful City it is a Melting Pot where people from all over the world live work and play together we appreciate and respect each other's culturals and differences we share Customs holidays meals and friendship Dearborn is a warm and welcoming
003place we must continue to be that wonderful City we are also proud to call home unfortunately what occurred on Monday night's board meeting was nothing to be proud of please remember our students and our children are watching everyone who turned in a blue card will have the opportunity to speak let's be respectful civil and calm please do not speak unless you have the floor our opinions and Views are not necessarily shared by all we value our individual freedoms and must respect and value the rights of others as the public school district we must serve all students and make them feel welcome and safe we are deeply concerned to know that because of the hostility and anger that has recently erupted some of our community do not feel safe particularly our district media Specialists and our
004lgbtq students every child deserves to feel welcome safe and supported in their school the purpose of these meetings is to conduct the business of the board because we appreciate and value the input from our community we set aside time at each meeting to hear your thoughts and concerns everyone who filled out a blue card will have the opportunity to speak this is not a Time meant for a dialogue but just an opportunity to hear from our constituents that is why we generally do not respond to each comment made at this time I am asking that all of us here tonight be respectful of every speaker that means to listen and not to talk when you do not have the floor I will respect everyone here by doing my best as board president to treat everyone
005with the same level of fairness now I believe Dr maleko wanted to make a couple of um comments yeah thank you president McDonald I'll keep my comments brief just wanted to mention uh today this afternoon my favorite meeting of the year is my student advisory Council this is the eighth year I believe in student voice we had a very good meeting it's students from all over the district the high schools and they had a message that they wanted me to to relay to everyone here tonight and that is that they agree with expressing opinions but it should be civility a civil discourse and done in a peaceful and calm manner they say the students are watching and the adults they're saying please be role models for the students that are watching because we are a
006public preschool the 12th institution so I think that's very important and I've learned so much for the Stu from the students over the years including yes how to implement Instagram and one minute messages but the students really they really are saying that they want to see us act in an appropriate manner not what happened last Monday so I wanted to pass that on I have another comment that I want to mention under the authority and again we don't want a repeat of Monday we want people to be here and express their opinion we want to hear it but under our policy 0167.3 the presiding officer and I'm just going to read a couple sections May interrupt warn or terminate a participant statement when the statement is too lengthy personally directed abusive of seen or irrelevant
007under number three the presiding officer can request the assistance of law enforcement officers and the removal of a disorderly person hopefully it won't get to that point we want to hear everyone but again if everyone can be peaceful and how they approach it and express their opinions we would really appreciate that I also want to recognize the fact that we did receive from a Community member and I think it was posted a resolution we had a meeting the other day and I did promise that I would mention that we are going to look at that resolution we have a process we follow with the board it will be going through committee and you know resolutions that come before the board and go through a vetting process and so we will be reviewing that at the
008next meeting and so I want you to know just to accept the fact that we have received it and we are going through our normal process thank you very much president McDonald turn it back to you thank you next item please citizen participation citizens wishing to address the board on our agenda items for Action who are signed in by 7 10 pm by submitting a blue card to the board secretary my speak at this time the board might not be in a position to respond to non-agent items therefore speakers should not anticipate an immediate response to their comments or questions for the benefit of all concerned do not mention the names of students or School District employees please keep your comments as brief as possible the board president Reserves that reserves the right to limit
009times but I'm president I don't have any agenda items or blue cards for agenda items just a moment I just wanted you to make that statement and then I'm going to introduce uh Dr or Mr mustinan because of the change in the venue and the number of citizens that are wishing to address the board tonight I will now give the Floyd to Dr I'm sorry to David Mustin in our communications director to explain the logistics of this evening's citizen participation it's a little different than we used to because of the difference in the venue and the number of people that would like to speak with us or go ahead thank you David thank you trustee McDonald I appreciate the promotion to doctor as well so what we'll do here tonight there's a screen located on
010the left hand side of the auditorium we will put up names uh five five names for each microphone so this is microphone one so if you see your name under microphone one you know that this is where you're going to be speaking and if you're on that list of five you can get in line and line up uh at the same time on the other side is microphone two and there'll be a list of five names and you can come down and get in line uh at microphone two uh what we're trying to do here is to expediate the process that dead air time between speakers so that we can move right from one speaker to another the board secretary will still call the name and you will not speak until the board secretary calls
011your name but at least if we can have everybody lined up and ready the same screen is out in our overflow rooms so if there are any participants in the Overflow rooms who have a blue card they can also see the names and if they see their name kind of on the on Deck Circle they can come to the auditorium they can wait their turn they can come down to the microphone speak and then they will be asked to return to the Overflow room at that time hopefully we'll be able to expediate the process that way and we're able to hear everybody who wishes to address the board there is a three-minute timer down here that people can clearly see as it gets near the end it will turn to Yellow then it will turn
012to Red once your time has expired you will know that it is time to yield the mic to our the next participant thank you Mr Mustin oh may we have the first blue card please sure all blue cards are non-agent items so the first one is Mr Hassan own uh he would like to address the board on books and he is from Dearborn hello my name is hasana Yoon they call me has cash in the community I'm here to address the issue where the books that you guys have are unappropriate uh at this time I'm asking you guys to take the books down because I got a call from Virginia today and they have the same situation where he told me you're gonna come today and then I have metal detectors and you guys had
013metal detectors you had security because what happened last time is one of you guys sat there and disrespected the community by telling us shut up when you guys first addressed the calm down and I said you know this is unappropriate and I'm not going to sit here and tolerate anybody to disrespect my community you know we're out here for the kids we didn't come here just to sit there and joke around laugh and this and that this is not funny this is we have to address this issue these things the books the graphics this is not unappropriate because what they did in West Virginia is they said yeah we got a committee we're going to look into it they looked into it and then next thing you know they you got they they drafted people
014so they can forget about it and then they came back and bought the books back on the shelves now I don't know what you guys are trying to do I don't know why didn't you take these books out and say that's it we're done with these books but you guys want to sit here just keep the books you know instead of you guys taking the six books out we wouldn't even be here what's the problem what's the agenda what are you getting out of it what grants have you I I did a four-year request I think you guys got it 15 15.231 as amended and I'm gonna find out everything and I'm gonna find out what grants you guys what's it called who's has a non-profit organization that's funding you this money and you guys
015are sitting here and just it's getting ridiculous people got kids out here okay I'm not against the gay I'm not against anything I'm against the books okay don't sit here and say that people are sitting here coming to you guys and just telling you oh we want these books out you're worried about the gay people no problem we're not worried about the gay people worried about our children okay and second of all I don't want to hear anybody okay sitting there saying oh you guys are offending the the gay these are kids they can be 18. if they want to become gay let them become gay who cares it's not a problem we don't want kids to have access to these books it's nice and simple I'm not going to address the situation no more
016it is it is what it is and the only person that's behind this is Rashida Talib do not vote for Rashida to leave it's nice and simple next speaker is Mrs Patricia Jones Hartson she would like to speak to the board about inclusion and current atmosphere this is Patricia okay next next okay we'll we'll wait for her time thank you next speaker yep next speaker is Mr Jeff self it he would like to speak to the board about illegal sexual explicit books Jeffrey Salo I'd like to begin by saying thank you for the lease acknowledging there's a flawed process and implementing a process my biggest concern why is the burden on the parents to find these books what happens when the parents who don't read or speak English why is it on them to try
017to uh to opt out they don't know what's going on [Applause] well how do these books even end up in our library that's the biggest thing I mean these books are really bad I what I'm looking at I cringe they don't belong in the hands of 13 14 15 year old kids I believe there should be a process to review these books before they even get in our schools not a review process once they're in our schools welcome back next speaker is Mr Ziad Abdul Malik who would like to address the board on sexually explicit materials and dress code I Now understand that you have a book Challenge and process uh book challenge process in place or I shall say that you had one before but it wasn't very public to the parents it is
018also understandable that there might be some material in the schools which could be considered borderline inappropriate or controversial depending on one's views this book challenge has a potential to be a best case scenario for these types of materials because everybody takes offense to different things in different ways in regards to the specific material that we saw in the media center a normal psychologically sound and stable mind would come to a conclusion that that specific material is nothing but sexually explicit and this type of material further promotes mental health issues especially in reflection to self-harm according to previous studies I understand today that there are certain elements here in this city as well as Across the Nation making baseless claims which are vilifying parents and are making the issue about everything else except protecting young impressionable
019Minds from filth that most adults shy away from or are uncomfortable reading this type of material is the definition of things that fell through the cracks and I understand in a library of 500 000 books it happens sometimes even against best efforts but that is where we step up and acknowledge that the acknowledge our failures and we write our wrongs these specific books should not be a should not be subjected to a book challenge but outright removed these are not borderline controversial materials but outright infectious diseases on young developing Minds which have the potential to have these miners seeking psychological help in the future the school's job is to promote Academia in the Pro and the parents job is to raise their children you are not a daycare but a core education provider which we
020pay our annual subscription fees through our tax dollars stick to Math Science History Literature automotive and computer Technologies which excites and challenges young minds which in turn will provide the world with Intel intellects that will lead in breakthroughs cure disease be upstanding contributing members to society so let's focus on raising our Rock Bottom test scores and do away with exposing minors to sexually explicit material you can do better we can all do better thank you next speakers Miss ant speakers miss Ann Clark of Dearborn would like to address the board on books I'd like to address the board on a personal note last Monday you were condescending and very disrespectful to the community you will be held to atonement by your own higher power but your higher power is us and I'm going to remind
021you and just read what you handed out so nicely today Dearborn Public Schools believes that media materials can enter in graphic or gratuitous violence sexual contact explicitives or hate speech without literally or educational Merit educational Merit should not be included in our school media center and I'm going to read you that act that you so graciously put in there harmful to minors means sexually exploited material that meets all of the following criteria consider as a whole it appeals to the produced interests of minors as determined by contemporary local community standards this community it is patently offensive and suitable uh local standards of adults as to what is suitable for minors worthy adults local community means that the County in which the material is disseminated this County through his interest means lustful interest in sexual stimulation
022or gratification in determining whether sexual excluded matters appears to be prudent interest and the matter shall be judged with a reference to the average age of 17 year old minors it appears from the character of the manner that is designated to appeal to the previous interest of particular group persons including but not limited to homosexuals and sediment statistics and then matters shall be judged in reference average age minors within the particular group from which it appears to be designated this is a legislative law and you are not abiding by it and may God have mercy on your soul next speaker is Mr nazriel and fed and Maori would like to address the board uh on school board on School curriculum as well as age-appropriate materials and they're in Dearborn assalamu alaikum thank you so I
023want to first start out by saying one thing any of the teachers that are here are beef is not with you our beef is with you so let me get that out of the way now last month I came to the board meeting for the first time in my life and we read some of the material that was in these so-called books the great sex app debate there's actual reviews about Grindr saying how good it is I have used Grindr the advantages are you can get what you want quickly this is from the book I've met a variety of interesting people through sex apps they're predominantly used for sex though they're sold to us as social networking apps but we all know what they're really for I don't have a problem with that aspect of
024it if people want casual sex then something like grinder is a must and we read that too last month and you looked at us like we were some kind of crazy people speaking to you like almost like we had nothing to uh like like we had nothing to say now does anybody need a college education or a PhD to know that this book is not appropriate for kids why in God's name do we need to have some complicated process this is strictly just common sense guys how did we get to this point so yeah when I mentioned this last week I thought what's going to happen is you guys would be like okay you know what you parents you have you have a point we'll work on making our processes more robust these books absolutely
025do not Bel belong in the library but instead what happened was the exact opposite we were viciously attacked social media and Beyond social media even people like me people trying to get me fired from work and yet at the same time they are attacking us while at the same time being the victim and all along all you guys are silent what exactly are you doing so let me say this let me say this I have faith in the great people of Dearborn okay the vast majority of people in Dearborn agree with us we are a compassionate people we are a tolerant people we are a faithful people and at the same time we are a courageous people and we're not going to give up until this issue is finally resolved and unfortunately it's not going
026to get resolved until you guys are removed from the board next speaker is Mr Hussein of Dearborn would like to address the board on protecting our kids from materials now not age-appropriate next speaker is Mr Jason Skidmore would like to address the board on supporting the freedom to read so I had a very different speech plan for Monday night but sitting in that Angry Crowd I kept coming back to this thought of the American Cycle the original revolutionaries fought to secure our independence as a people they wrote the Constitution to ensure the pursuit of Liberty and freedom for their descendants who then derided the dagos waps and Polacks that came a hundred years later in search of the same and they struggled through squalor formed the unions that would earn them a fair living allowing
027them to seek Prosperity outside the limits and from the comfort of the suburbs their children and grandchildren looked to Mexico Puerto Rico look to the Middle East and said no we don't want you go back and still you came you persevered you built wonderful prosperous community so now you find that which you disapprove of that which you hate and you choose to subvert that end of community now you can claim this isn't about hate and for a segment of you maybe it is purely about the graphic nature of these books and if it is I can respect that but look at the hateful signs that were on display the other night consider some of the language that we're seeing picked up from the Christian right who spent years trying to shove the gay back in
028the closet indoctrination grooming uh acceptance of pedophilia that should be all you need to see this for what it is it's one woman's one woman's crusade to stir up the ultra-conservative element around one trumped-up issue come on these kids weren't reading these books and use it in a manipulative effort to replace a balanced school board with one tailored to their narrow set of views that all the way to the top until there are no voices left in this country but theirs I don't know that she expected such support from the Muslim Community but here they are apparently fervent in their fear of all lgbtq because like I said it's their turn to embrace the American way so the school board has done its Duty you've listened to the community's concerns done your investigation presented a
029reasonable program that allows each parent to make these decisions for their kids and I for one won't give up my rights as a father to anyone whose parenting skills are so fragile their teenagers can be undone by ink on a page much it's time for you to draw your line and stand by it much of the community will stand with you despite all of this if you cave and remove these books they may believe they've won but it doesn't make them right history will judge them on that and it will judge you this nation does not look back fondly on such efforts to subdue its freedom I ask that you please be respectful of every speaker we have been respectful there has been respect shown up until now please continue to do so thank you
030freedom of speech thank you Miss please next until your turn when you have the opportunity to speak you can convey your message next speaker is Miss Lewis um joelli sorry you did not write your name uh she would like to support speak to the board on supporting the civil rights of all students and giving my time to Nancy dezasic no we can't do that next Nancy okay next speaker is Miss Mary Kay Quebec would like to speak to the board on supporting public education sorry I didn't see my name my name is Mary Kay kubacek I have lived in Dearborn for 55 years I have taught hundreds and hundreds of Dearborn Public School students over the last 14 years I have watched my three children graduate from Dearborn Public Schools in recent years and I
031pay attention to the school board meetings and to School Board elections and I'm saying all this to give you some idea of the depth of my investment in the effectiveness and success of our schools in Dearborn these are my children my schools this is my community and my message here today is not for the board but for my community I stand here today to represent the teachers the administrators to support staff in our schools every single day the people who are being called names the same people we have met at open houses and conferences the same people who are doing their very best to support your children and teach our children the same people who have huddled in the corners of classrooms with our children teaching them what to do if a school shooter enters
032the building the same people who would Place themselves between a school shooter and our children and these are the people we are attacking the school board and Dr malenko worked Around the Clock during covid to protect our children when we knew absolutely nothing about it and these are the people we are attacking mayor hamoud was called names last week for pointing out what we all know because it was made very clear at the board meeting Monday night that political groups from outside Dearborn are manipulating our community to whip up hate against teachers and administrators and support staff and especially against our lgbtq students and staff members the very same political groups groups by the way who have a history of embracing anti-muslim ideologies the very same groups who are doing this in hundreds of school
033districts and dozens of States all in the last year and we know this isn't about the books because the district has pulled the books in question to review and they're reviewing every single book in every single School library and they're allowing parents stopped out of any books and they've created a repeal process so let's stop pretending this is about protecting children from books we all know this is about erasing our lgbtq students and staff it was literally written on signs people brought to the meeting on Monday as a community we need to come together and ensure that those who are different from us are embraced and supported we need to teach our children that we do not fear people who are different from us but that we welcome them into our community we need to
034ensure our community our schools and our classrooms are safe welcoming environments for every student and every staff member regardless of their identity religion or nation of origin that's who we should be as a community [Music] next speaker is Mr Jonathan Cade would like to address the board on protecting all Dearborn students and faculty including lgbtq plus people please do not I think if you do not have the floor be respectful and calm thank you Jonathan Kate next speaker of Dearborn Mr ambro hazam would like to address the board on parents rights in the educational system [Applause] I am a father of Dearborn Public School of a Dearborn Public School student and a product of Dearborn Public Schools the majority of parents are not here to attack anyone we are not here to attack the board
035we are not here to attack the LGBT community and we are not here especially to attack our teachers we cannot allow extremes on both sides to hijack The Narrative we are here to exercise our parental rights and to hold the board accountable to the highest degree to the board we entrust you with our children's safety along with their education the blatantly inappropriate content in question has no place in our Public Schools we have we have chosen you as our board to protect our children from age and appropriate content and all the parents here yes there is also threat a threat to our children from the internet and social media apps such as Tick Tock where far worse content exists however internet use at home does not absolve the board from being held accountable by parents
036thank you we are justified in voicing our concern about normalizing sexually inappropriate content in public schools to the LGBT community the majority of parents are not here to attack your right to exist in a free Society [Applause] but parents also have rights to protect their children criticism of age and appropriate content is not criticism of the LGBT community however advocating for such materials to be placed in schools is a violation of parents rights finally you as the board have a duty to repair the trust that has been ruptured between parents in the public school system and and for the person that said that in the back I'll repeat what he said American values in the American way is not child pornography X speaker is Miss Jane Meza of DFT 681 would like to address the
037board on public schools teachers hello good evening uh board president and Dr malenko and board trustees I'm Jane Mazza president of DFT 681 DFT 681 has always supported quality public education supporting a welcoming environment for all of our students and staff unfortunately a political agenda discredit our hard-working staff and our public school system is what is occurring this evening this political group has used fear and misinformation to intentionally divide our community and cast negative allegations on the Integrity of our staff I find it puzzling that the community media sources have highlighted and spread the misinformation from this group The DFT 681 has given back to the community in many ways over the past 10 years we've given out to children in this community over ten thousand books at homecoming and other events in August of
0382021 the DFT was awarded a ninety thousand dollar Grant to promote back to school events every Dearborn School benefited from this grant no Community press was given to these events DFT will continue to bring positive events to all of our children everyone can agree that having resources and books in our schools that speak to the diversity of identities and experiences of our students is critical for equality and supportive education our community like many others across the country is being inter intentionally sorry divided by political players who agenda revolves around anti-public school anti-public school teachers not what is best for students love and concern that every parent has for their children is being exploited with these false narratives to divide our community for public reasons I've been a teacher in this community for over 30 years
039my children attended and graduated from Dearborn schools my grandchildren presently attend Dearborn Public Schools please think about the teachers who teach our children many of them have their own children attending Dearborn Public Schools you know them because they attend your churches or mosques and live in this community they are working hard every day to make sure your child is cared for and educated in the best environment that is welcoming to all no matter their background racial or religious identity we need to work together Dearborn we have a strong parent component we've always offered classes and support for our parents parents should absolutely have an active role in their child's reading and education but no parent should be able to tell another parent what their child is allowed or not to read thank you [Applause] next
040speaker is Mr Mike Hashem of Dearborn would like to wish would like to speak to the board on education so much settle down good evening board members first of all I'd like to tell the teachers that are in the room today and some of them I've went through their classrooms actually thank you for teaching us well our beef today like others have said it's not about you guys [Applause] good evening board members I'd like to ask this body of school board members whether you believe you are using your positions and platforms for future political advantages or whether you choose this position of influence to defend Advocate and fight for the needs and concerns of the families and individuals who elected you question are you still standing firm in the statements you made when you're running
041for and Gathering votes for your current positions [Applause] I take that as a no [Applause] as school board members it is your duty to do what is right for your community but unfortunately that has not been the case the community attended last board meeting with true concern about their their children's education and exposures to explicit material but unfortunately this body did not take us seriously it was only when the community came together and protested to hold the board accountable that this board and administration decided to take action although hold on hold on although there has been a change by your Administration this is all this is a only minor step to a much larger and more complex issue there is more work to be done this work can only take place by joining with your
042community members to discuss the issues listen to our concerns engage in open Communications and come together to enforce long-term proactive measures to keep our community and youth safe from material that is in the least way instructive educational or beneficial to our youth this is not a battle between the school board and the community this is instead has to be a collective effort to ensure our children are receiving the educational resources that will further their Futures and not further confuse them [Applause] over the past few weeks I have had multiple parents religious figures and organizations contact me and others who worked on this issue of their support for this cause we are pursuing today we are all on the same Mission and that mission is to enrich the minds of our developing children with material that
043will further their education and future paths schools are no place to teach children about composite the complexity of sexuality gender identification or sexually explicit material instead [Applause] thank you very much for your comments everyone is given three minutes that's the fair way to do it in the in the past we have had people that just go on and on beyond their three minutes we are being fair to everyone next speaker please next speaker is Miss rolamaki no City uh would like to speak to the board on education um thank you yeah good evening and assalamualaikum I stand here today as a concerned Citizen and a concerned parent I just want everybody to know that my loyalty does not lie to the right or to the left that lies just to my community and my child
044and my future children yeah the past week we the the movement that is obviously against uh sexually explicit pornographic material in the libraries we've been called so many names trumpers magas uh extremists uh uh ex Christian white nationalists somebody put a picture of us apparently um Tara whatever um and I just want to and I just want to say something that if we were anti-lgbt we would be going after these Social Clubs in schools I from my understanding there are uh gay uh straight Alliance clubs in the high schools and if this was an anti-lgbt Movement we would be going after them before we'd go after the books [Applause] um and I just have a question for people who are Second Amendment um supporters uh would you guys be okay with guns and ammo magazine
045subscriptions in our library because it's not age appropriate and that's what we're trying to make you guys understand we're trying to make you understand appropriateness is age-appropriateness these books are obviously unappropriate they're sexually explicit they're pornographic they're disgusting I'm disgusted just looking at them let alone read them the media itself uh you know blurred out the images from these books so just you know just Ponder on that for a moment thank you for hearing me next speaker is Mr Hassan Ali of Dearborn would like to address the board on education good evening my name is Hassan Ali I'd like to speak about education there is no doubt that the argument for public education is a good one in our diverse Society of competing faith and value systems the promise of education for all Remains the
046great equalizer among individuals and a safeguard of our Republic that's why we tolerate a Government monopoly on education because education for all is necessary for a healthy Society on the condition that it serves the common good on that basis we place our trust in public schools that they serve the common good the argument for public education fails when that condition is no longer met when parents the primary stakeholders in public education fear that public schools are being weaponized in order to push a pernicious political agenda a set of beliefs and dogmas that seek to indoctrinate students and turn them against their faith or against the values of their families that is when parents lose trust in public education across the country and here in Dearborn we are witnessing that loss of trust we've seen political
047activism encroach upon the public school system not just in the form of obscene Books That masquerade as representation but in curriculums in school policies in political flags and symbols that hang in classrooms and in activists who abuse their trust to teach objectively and impartially and instead seek to make activists out of their students those activists not only betray the trust of their profession they betray their colleagues the vast majority of whom are dedicated teachers who serve their students in Earnest despite being underpaid and overworked on behalf of parents I want to honor our teachers and express our esteem and gratitude for everything they do as as the adults in the room we have a collective responsibility to our children to posterity to ensure the education they receive is worthy of their childhood and their inquis
048and their inquisitive Minds for that reason we've submitted a resolution to the board containing sensible and practical measures to affirm the rights of parents to direct the education of their children to increase transparency in school curriculum and Structural Materials thank you for your comments next speaker please Mr Muhammad Muslim Dearborn would like to speak to the board on education next speaker is Mr Mustafa al-qaraholi of melvinder would like to speak to the board on children's rights it's not about lgbtq it's about kids exposure to sexual content um so is he here to address us no next speaker is Mr Jackson Wagner of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on the proposed book ban my name is Jackson Wagner I was born in Dearborn I've lived here my entire life and I'm a gay
049man it saddens me to see our community torn asunder to see friends and neighbors turn on one another diversity has always been Dearborn strength let's never forget that we have schools to train students to be engaged citizens of a democracy and to coexist with people different from them how can we teach the next generation of citizens to embrace Democratic Values like freedom of the press freedom of speech and freedom of religion if we betray these principles and deny them these Liberties in school we always allow the speaker to speak thank you continue we all want children to be safe and we all want them to be well informed the SE goals seem like they are in Conflict today but they don't have to be we know that sexuality is more or less the same over
050the course of someone's life even if how they express it goes through changes I was born gay no matter how homophobic my environment was no matter how much I didn't I denied it nothing could change that it just made me suffer for many people like me that pain drove them to suicide Banning LGBT books isn't going to stop anyone from being gay it will just make them miserable and alienate them and the consequences might be fatal I want everyone here to imagine a time when they felt like everyone around you hated you for who you are I'm not Muslim and most of you aren't gay but all of us know what it is like to be mistreated by people who know little about you maybe you can hide who you are but that hurts in
051a different way the far right in this country despises us all what I'm asking for is that everyone have compassion and consider the harm you do to the most vulnerable among us when you stigmatize their very existence it is the it it is the duty of every Community to build a nurturing environment even though I had open-minded and supportive parents who instilled in me the value of books and diverse cultures without a supportive environment I still suffered we owe today's students A Better Community let's build that Community environment by choosing to discuss difficult topics rather than shying away from them let's stand together in solidarity and Hospitality Dearborn should be a city where everyone knows that they are safe and loved and supported next speaker is Mr Albert please stay calm go ahead yep Mr
052Albert Abbas no City would like to speak to the board on books go ahead Albert [Applause] everyone be respectful and calm and allow speakers to speak was it Mr Abbas please proceed to speak yes please continue everyone be quiet so we can hear the speaker be calm and respectful thank you please go ahead Mr Abbas Ed dear respected board members we have entrusted you to protect our children physically emotionally and morally from the evils that threaten us this is another attempt to confuse our children and make a mockery of Dearborn while destroying the family structure these there are other districts that have fallen prey to this filthy material breaking the barriers that protect the most vulnerable the issue here is not a religious one nor is an attack against the lgbtq community is it it
053is an issue of age-appropriateness it is an issue of sexually explicit obscene and lewd content many of us here many of us here don't care what your sexual preference is nor do we want to argue about gender identities or if men can get pregnant what concerns us is that your personal beliefs do not poison the beliefs our beliefs our religious duties or the biological facts when the schools decided to take God out of the classroom it was to protect children from being indoctrinated the same applies here when you try to please everyone that simply means you stand for nothing coming up with an opt out of books program is not a solution taking out the garbage is when our children are under your watch it is your duty to protect them from erotica or overly
054provocative words or graphic porn we are not talking about public libraries nor do we agree with censorship this is not a platform to segregate US based on political affiliation nor is it a platform to advance political career careers be it school board city council or mayoral we do not care about the ones that try to vilify Us in the papers and media in the media outlets and history will remember us as remember us in a positive way we will not tolerate many of you that make this about political affiliations to get caught caught up in your backyard brawls pitting us against each other while you quietly ignore the facts and endanger our children my affiliation my affiliation and responsibility is to protect my children and all children from falling prey to the traps of the
055Creeps and pedophiles in this world this is as black and white as it gets this determines who will turn their backs on children our voices will be heard and this will continue to escalate until our concerns do not fall on deaf ears we will remember who abandoned us and who stood with truth and dignity every one of you will be held like held liable in the portal thank you for your comments next speaker is Mr Brian Stone everyone everyone please sit down and let EV the next person speak we appreciate you being respectful and calm and allowing everyone their opportunity Mr Stone of Dearborn would like to address the board on book ban policies safety of lgbtq students staff and parents this is not a debate about books it's a debate about culture and let's
056just admit that because they respect people and allow someone who want to ban books about gay people and come up and use words like pedophile to describe gay people who use words like sexual perversion to describe gay people you're not trying to ban a book you're trying to ban gay people that's what this is about and it's obvious because the signs are there and you know what it's not about pornography either because you printed out eight foot tall signs of what you called was pornography and then you showed it to dozens of children at your own rallies if it's pornography then the guy holding the sign was showing it to all your kids come on man let's talk about what this really is you hate gay people and it's obvious cause look at how you
057behave when one gay person speaks look at how you act and your children you guys are watching Mr Stone Mr Stone you need you need to yeah [Music] you need to address the board and not the audience yes well I'd like to also say this characters and books deserve to be defended every kind of character gay characters black characters every diverse kind of character that can exist in a book belongs in our libraries and you know what they belong for one very simple reason because literature reflects reality address the board please literature reflects reality and let me tell you this too there are people who are adulterers in the real world there are people who cheat their business partners there's people who do all kinds of things in books they're villains they shoot people they
058hurt people they do dastardly things and we don't try to ban them from every book and you know why we don't ban every book that has a villain because there's villains in real life there's people who go out and Bully others who try to shout them down who pull up signs and shame them and make them feel less than yes villains exist in this world and if the most wretched villain belongs on the page of a book then so too does a young gay child or a gay character who's just trying to survive foreign