001[Applause] next speaker I'm asking that everyone be calm and respectful and I want to remind everyone that you need to address the board don't address the audience address the board next speaker is Miss judius Jones would like to address the board on Banning books Judith Judith Jones yes it's loose good evening my name is Dr Judith Jones I'm a third generation born and raised in Dearborn I went off to study married and raised my family I returned in my old age to teach and lived near my family I am not in favor of banning any books in Dearborn if parents do not want their children to read a book they should not allow them to do that but to voice their views of one group of citizens on the rest of Dearborn doesn't work either
002this is what Hitler did and we all know how that worked out as a society we are richer if we do not limit what others can read to ban books is to close our minds to learning from people who are different I'm not going to read the message from my sister Patricia herzorn a lifelong Dearborn resident she was at the meeting Monday but is unable to attend tonight what I love about Dearborn today is our diversity diversity is our strength I appreciate the wonderful staff and students my four children interacted with at Edsel Ford my kids friends were from everywhere I am a member of the American Federation of teachers organization at U of M Dearborn I taught science to over 1 000 teachers in 28 years at U of M Dearborn many of my
003students work in Dearborn Public Schools my husband taught eighth grade math at Woodworth I love teachers citizens like me believe in free access to information and a safe inclusive learning environment for all right now there are people among us trying to divide this community and attack public education we stood strong against Terry Jones when he came to Dearborn to divide us what I saw on display Monday made my heart sing she says thank you School Board Mr Martin and Dr groover for your hard work what happened after your presentation was depressing we all want the same thing we want children to be supported we want Great Schools where children can pursue their dreams we all want intelligent strong and healthy children to see a tax on our teachers are disheartening I am here to support
004our LGBT Q Plus community and our wonderful teachers thank you for your comments next speaker is Mrs Stephanie Butler no City would like to speak to the board on book review [Applause] so I'm I'm not gonna go over the books because I it's beating a dead horse um what I am going to talk about though is slander and liable so when you take the white woman in the room and then you turn thousands of Arab American Muslims into white Christian nationalists that are being led off a cliff by a sheep insinuating that these people some graduated from Harvard are a bunch of idiots who can't think for themselves is disgusting is absolutely disgusting [Applause] and you know it so let's talk about harassment let's talk about the facts I have not even heard about your
005Librarian from Fortson who put my information and my residence on Twitter to get doxed knowing that I have children at home I filed a report with this body and I have gotten nothing okay so let's not talk about that all right let's talk about some facts so there's a little uh misconception we're going to clear that up tonight did I send my daughter to the library to check out that book a hundred percent I did a hundred percent I did I knew what was in the book however when my daughter got to the librarian and let me ask you has this ever happened to another child or is it just my child where she was asked if her mother was Stephanie Butler to which she replied yes she is okay well I can't check this
006book out to you well why can't you check this book out to me because your mom's on social media saying really mean things about me and I don't feel legally that I can check this book out to you wow so you deny this donut let's talk facts okay we're gonna talk facts to where I was on the phone with my daughter the whole entire conversation till the time that Miss Hassan beeped in on the other line to which she said Mrs Butler just wanted to let you know that your daughter's down here she's trying to check out a gay book I said whoa whoa whoa stop right there Miss Hassan is this a normal book like it's it doesn't have any sex scenes anything like this obviously I knew what was in it she flipped
007through it she said yeah it's good okay then let her check the book out so you guys are slandering my name and pretending that these people have no brains to think for themselves because they don't want porn in the school next speaker is Miss a neighbor no City we wish to address the board on books would you please repeat the name oh I'm sorry good evening board trustees respected board trustees superintendent concerned parents um it is quite disheartening that after so much strife and public outcry this body has offered abysmal recourse to the parents who have clearly voiced concerns over sexually explicit obscene pornographic and lewd content in their children's School library a manifestation that subjects this body to criminal offenses under the threat of prosecution per MCL 722 section 674 and 675. further the
008books in question are listed among the most challenged and most censored titles nationally on the American Library association's website so this phenomenon is not unique to the city of Dearborn Norwich residents Additionally the notion that anyone is advocating to ban books is baseless considering that our media Specialists are being asked to screen vet and curate content for literary consumption a process they already follow however the existence of these books has uncovered deficiencies in the said process superintendent the statement You released was balanced it addressed the varied sentiments around the topic but it fell short of bringing much needed closure to this very sensitive matter pursuant to Michigan Statute governing the public school system MCL 380.10 parents are to be viewed as partners in our children's education [Applause] furthermore the law itself recognizes the law itself
009recognizes that it is the natural and fundamental rights of parents to determine and direct the teaching and education of their children to that end first and foremost I urge this body to clearly outline that sexually explicit content will be removed permanently not temporarily from the collection and should not have found its way onto School library shelves secondly the release statement puts the burden on the parents to have knowledge of the school library's 300 000 unique book titles their contents in their literary value thereby negating the process of challenging or opting out of specific book titles this represents a short-sighted proposal which requires a more practical framework thirdly superintendent the most important sentence in your release statement is the following we are also aware that the vast majority of students in our care are minors still
010learning about life in the world and they are not ready emotionally and intellectually to process some content I couldn't agree more and hope that we find meaningful closure to this issue so that we can focus on equally important matters finally and most importantly the issue pertains to the health and safety of our school-aged children and should not be tainted by any political religious ideological or ulterior agendas that said we put our trust in this body to act in the best interest of our students next speaker is Mr Ahmad aryashi would like to speak to the board on sexually explicit books so I'm gonna start off by making talking to the community I hope you guys realize what elected officials have done please address the board oh I hope you guys that's okay [Applause] we off
011to the community I hope you realize what the elected officials have just done they are using ordinances against us threatening us with arrest trying to keep us quiet and trying to stop us from speaking up for our children this shows their true feelings in regards with this situation they have metal detectors at the door as if we are criminals yeah what are they trying to what are you guys trying to say about us but you guys allowed Brian Stone to try to incite the crowd and you guys didn't cut off his mic what does that say to you let me also make mention of some of the chatter that us residents are hearing the ones vocal the ones vocal against the concerned parents of Dearborn the ones accusing us of being Outsiders perhaps the most
012important point that most of our community members may have overlooked is that virtually every single Community leader or a supposed leader and self-appointed spokesperson that has chosen to condone and or support the exposure of our children to sexually explicit content in our schools does not I repeat does not have children attending our Public Schools they have either chosen to have their kids attend private schools religious or otherwise or their children have already graduated from our public school system or they do do not or they do not have children nor do they live in our community the bottom line is their kids have been sheltered from the indecency they are subjecting our kids to under the banner of safety love and tolerance that to me is a definition of hypocrisy and virtual signaling we don't want
013nor do we need people tell us how to raise our children your job as a board is to ensure that the safety and education of our children not to raise them we are here to demand that the Board of Trustees hear us and Implement our resolutions that we have submitted anything short of that is telling us that you feel too comfortable in your positions and that our legal rights do not matter we are the parents we the parents will not settle for anything less than what we proposed through our resolutions as I've stated previously you sit in those chairs through our votes you sit in those chairs to represent our needs and our interests not the other way around show us anything short of respecting the will of the people and we will have new
014community members sitting in those chairs hold on hold on we don't play politics when it involves our children either respect that fully with no compromise or step down or get removed the Bell hold on the ball is now in your court best believe thank you for your comments may I please remind everybody to in the best interest of time we've still got a lot of people that would like to be heard can I please remind everyone to line up when you see your names up on the screen next speaker is Miss Lauren Olsen would like of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on censorship go ahead my name is Lauren Olson I am a lifelong Dearborn resident and graduate of etzelford high school reading is a foundational skill critical to Future learning and
015to exercising our Democratic freedoms most of us will not travel far from where we were born but reading helps you see what life is like somewhere else or someone else or from the perspective of someone very much not like you narratives are how humans learn best and it's why we've used narrative since the beginning of civilization narratives help shape our understanding of our world and our place in it we can trust individuals to make their own decisions about what they read and believe my parents never really policed what my sister and I read in middle school I went to snow Branch Library constantly reading a book a day over summer vacation in high school I talked about books with many of my teachers and occasionally we would exchange books we thought the other would like
016I never did get my copy of mouse vol 1 back from Mr Paz uh I have read and vehemently disliked Less Than Zero by bretty stenellis and it didn't even mentally scare me I'm still an Avid Reader and I am such an Avid Reader because I was allowed to enjoy reading we should do everything we can to encourage reading among teens and kids parents have the right to guide their children's reading but parents should not be making decisions for other parents children specifically a small group of parents should not dictate what books other people's children are allowed to read just because you personally do not want your kid reading a specific book does not mean that book does not belong in the school library there is a parent to opt out form which means you
017can keep your child from Reading those specific books and there are private school and homeschool options but public schools are meant to be for every student from every Walk of Life young people deserve to see themselves reflected in a library's books like flamer by Mike curato I have read it it is in no way shape or form pornography it is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel about a young teen boy at a Boy Scout camp the summer before high school grappling with his realization that he may not be straight dealing with bullying worrying about how his father is becoming abusive and thinking about suicide and ultimately deciding to live and discovering that his friends in fact don't hate him for being gay is an all too common lived experience for many in the LGBT community and it
018lets kids know who may be going through something similar that they are not alone this book's inclusion is literally about saving LGBT kids lives removing and banning books from public libraries is a slippery slope to government censorship and the erosion of our country's commitment to freedom of expression the challenge of these books conflates any information about or story about the lgbtq community with groomers including the etzel Ford librarian for setting up a banned books display it's a recent tactic of the authoritarian far-right Wing to call any part of anyone part of the LGBT community or their allies child molesters this isn't even an original take on homophobia is very old hat in this country to call any queer person a child molester with no evidence other than being part of the LGBT community community it's
019bigotry plain and simple and I generally I just believe kids should be allowed to have freedom of reading next speaker is Cliff Alloway of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on age inappropriate books in our school libraries may we have the mic on please try bringing it closer to you can you hear me now yes all right Verizon uh 2022 it's been a real interesting year I really was not expecting to be standing here on my Avid Reader I'm a product of these Dearborn Public Schools Stout is my junior high school which I attended you'll find my family with books were curled up in any Corner always reading I never thought I'd stand to boycott or to ban books and yet here I am I never imagined I would be standing in front
020of a board telling them that they do not have the interests of my child in their minds and yet here I am I read one of the books and I was very surprised to find a graphic novel as she just spoke about of children gathered to masturbate excuse my language everybody to masturbate into a bottle with the person who does not participate must drink whatever is in their bottle another part of the book talks about children taking wieners and putting it up there I'm a 43 year old man and I'm embarrassed to say this stuff and yet you say it's okay for this to be in the hands of my children shame on you like I said I'm a product of these Dearborn Public School teachers and my teachers Miss Bristol Miss Holmes Miss groose
021if I had uttered any of these words or would have grabbed me by my ear dragged me to the sink and wash my mouth out with soap and how I wish they were here today to drag each one of you to that sink and wash your Mouse's soap shame on you shame on you shame on you next speaker is Miss Yasmine Al Maori would like to speak to the board on age inappropriate books in our libraries [Music] would you please repeat the name yes Maori here next speaker is Miss Nicole McLean of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on the book issue next speaker is Mr Hassan Nami would like to speak to the board on sexually explicit materials and books next speaker is Mrs Crystal Paulson no City would like to speak
022to the books on the me too Mr Speaker uh next speaker is Mr uh Harry Sala would like to speak to the board on no hate speech [Music] next speaker is Dr sterniac of Canton would like to speak to the board about respect we owe our children Mrs Vivian um C it doesn't say the last name of Canton would like to speak to the board on our children's safety and parental rights or hearing my fingers yes they have the right to speak they just have to identify from where they're at thank you assalamu alaikum it's me Nancy sterniak rafna [Applause] you know talk about diversity I was born in the country of Brazil 12 years old I was working on a factory nine hours a day I was working for an hour and a half
023just to pay for my bus trip two buses to work and two buses to go home actually not home because I went to night school and you know what in my street I played together with the Asian with the black with the white whatever was there we played together I never heard about separation in Brazil we were all the same all barefooted getting kicking soccer balls which were not really soccer balls we got old socks from our fathers and we put paper inside and we played soccer as you know we are very good at soccer in Brazil anyhow I came to the United States and I have five graduate degrees I taught Elementary level junior high high school college graduate classes in college and I love my students everyone who comes to my classroom I
024teach and but there is one thing if anyone comes to my class and shows me a picture that's in this book out of the class that student goes and you know what else you know what else parents are in charge of their children we need we must respect them every time my boys three engineers when they were in school they came all my teachers and no you listen to your teacher and I knew at that time teachers respected the parents and the Board needs to respect the parents masalama next speaker is Dennis Duggan would like to speak to the board about the importance of experts Dennis Duggan next speaker as Giovanna Williams would like to speak to the board of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on separation of church and state history
025of Dearborn oh hold on just a moment they called your name and you missed you were delayed or okay I'm sorry for the confusion um what is your name please viviani would you please go back to him trust me or her I'm sorry I'm trusting myself yeah we did have you so go ahead good evening um I would like to address the board uh and say that uh I'm not from the community but I'm from Canton and the reason I came was because uh we need to support all the parents uh the children are in Jeopardy all around the country uh it's it's very clear from from the the many ways the children are being attacked with the ideology the sexual ideology that's perverting the schools uh and this is not only in the schools
026it's all over with proposal three the way that's gonna be embedded in the constitution of Michigan that parents will have no say will have no rights in their children's uh option to go and get uh castration sterilization so it all starts here in the schools it is being embedded it's coming it's sneaking into the families and it is very concerning being from can Clinton I see this as an issue that doesn't affect just Dearborn it affects all of us because if Dearborn with the the supports and and everyone that you see here tonight if Dearborn Falls the entire country will fall we will have no place to go and as an immigrant like a lot of us here where do we go where where do we hide do we go to Canton do we go
027to Dearborn Heights do we go back home as some people here have said these are not American values this is not how we were founded this is not how it should be you need to repent everyone here need to repent and allow the children to to be kids to learn where the academics my daughter Isabella was the one that was said the Pledge of Allegiance she loves this country we love the country and we all value education I know a lot of people here they value education they've been to college and it all starts here with the public schools so why don't you focus on education where is the math where is the reading where is the history where are the strong values that we all came here seeking where is that that's the question
028I I want you to go tonight and when you lay your head on the pillow I want you to ask that where are those values and if Dearborn Falls where do we go thank you next next speaker is Miss Giovanna Williams would like to speak to the board on separation of church and state and history of Dearborn I come to you today as a long time citizen of Dearborn I've lived here over 20 years I am a parent of a student in Dearborn Public Schools my son and my husband are with me I come to you as a community member I love all of you I really do please address the board no that's all that's all I have to say to the public is that I love my neighbors that's it I'm back to
029you okay however I do disagree with them and that's okay too okay I want to say that to the board that there are a lot of 18 to 20 year old voters it's not just the people in this room I'm going to tell you that the yellers and screamers and shouters have scared away a lot of innocent young queer kids they have made them terrified and I come to you today as a mother as a member of this community as a wife a mother a queer mother and a citizen of this fine City some of us may not be old enough to remember Orville Hubbard was a segregationist Who took great pains to keep people like us apart and that is not what this community stands for we really want to stay together but the
030only time I ever hear people say the word pedophile or filth or disgusting is when they're talking about people like me and as a woman who always has to fight for their right to exist as a black woman who always has to fight for their right to exist as a queer person who has always had to fight for their right to exist I am sick and tired of people telling me to go off and be whatever I am somewhere else I am not going anywhere I am sick of the only books that my son can read are about slavery and lynching things that I find disgusting those are things that I've hate [Music] I find unacceptable but we are always reading about those things we never get to read about love kindness if it bleeds
031it leaves anything that gets shot anybody's time somebody gets in a car accident on Beech daily or Gully is the first thing on the news if a lesbian couple gets married down the street you never hear about it quiet it is my turn please address the the board and please be respectful of the speaker books are media quiet reclaiming my time I want five seconds back please continue please continue now I will not be shouted out by people who are of a faith other than mine [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you for your comments next speaker is Dylan wake me up can't of Garden City would like to speak to the board on book Banning reconsideration Dylan next speaker is Miss Aaron Burns of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on library books foreign
032good evening uh superintendent maleko and our board members thank you for your service to our community I know you don't have an easy job so I appreciate the work that you do and I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight I'd like to start by saying unequivocally that I support our lgbtq plus Community I always have and I always will and I appreciate the courage of our members of that Community who have spoken here tonight I really do appreciate you you know in Dearborn we talk a lot about being a diverse and inclusive community and I would like to see us live into the best of Who We Are by living into and realizing those values and if we are to be a truly welcoming and inclusive community that has to include our lgbtq
033plus community members it has to I'm speaking thank you as a longtime educator I know from experience that school and education is not just about making sure that our kids get a pluses on their tests and their papers holistic true fundamental education is about making sure that our kids are going out into the world as critical thinkers and as adults with open minds and Open Hearts and we have the opportunity as adults in this community to set that example and to live that example for our kids I would encourage everyone to do that some of the language that I've heard describing the lgbtq plus Community has been incredibly harmful and some of the books that folks are seeking to remove from the shelves not to not have their own kids read but to keep any
034child from having access some of those books will save the lives of our lgbtq plus kids because they mirror their lived experiences and what they're dealing with I'm speaking thank you my time is not up thank you I'm speaking thank you I am speaking thank you again I would encourage everyone to live into the best of who we are to be the diverse and welcoming community that we claim to be and that we absolutely can be thank you to our board members for your time tonight and thank you to our Educators our Librarians who I trust and respect thank you next speaker is Mr Jim Downey of Dearborn Heights I would like to address the board on books my name is Dylan I was before Aaron can I still speak what was your name Dylan
035just one moment we're gonna find the card yeah go ahead hold on just a moment because we missed this gentleman that was called first yep go ahead good evening uh governing board our superintendent my name is Dylan wigella I am a high school teacher here in Dearborn at Dearborn High speaking as an individual I love this community and I love my students and I will fight for them every day of my life a couple of Statistics I want to start with 40 of the homeless youth in our country are lgbtq Plus lgbtq Plus youth are three to five times more likely to complete suicide I bring this up because when I think about my classroom I want this to be a space where everybody is welcome regardless of race nationality immigration status religion sexual orientation
036gender identity you name it my students I believe have always felt welcome for everybody in this room I will no matter what student comes into the classroom I have their back and my students know that but students don't feel safe in our schools look at Monday they don't feel safe we're worried about indoctrination when our staff isn't even comfortable enough to be out in public to our Stu our schools our students aren't comfortable being out at my high school the gay straight Alliance poster has been ripped off the wall in my school five times last year are posters vandalized this is about more than books because if it was about books the main book this book is gay was actually never checked out by a Dearborn Student ever period it wasn't not one time the
037book the main book of concern asked the district has not been checked out so what are we talking about it has not been checked out this is greater this is a greater thing going on in our country it is an attempt to destroy our public education there is a movement to discredit what we are doing we need to stand together and fight against that there's a movement to privatize your schools to have Charters come in here so that people can make a profit off of it I've seen it I've taught in other states I've taught in Arizona where people are making millions of dollars off of public education money we need to make sure we protect against that we need to make sure that our students feel safe I have one last thing if it's
038really not about the lgbtq plus community if it's really not about that I should be able to hang this flag in my classroom tomorrow with no problem this is not political says everybody is welcome here if everybody's welcome they should be welcome here though next speaker is Mr Jim Downey of Dearborn Heights would like like to address the board on books good evening you don't need a flag to be inclusive I've been an educator for over 20 years I've gone through the Dearborn School District I taught in the district for eight years I love my profession I love my fellow teachers I respect you guys but I have to emphasize that there's nothing extreme about objecting to obscene content I've heard a lot of comments about how the LGBT community has been mischaracterized and uh
039terrible thing said about them we're all against that but I've also seen the disparaging remarks made about the people here protesting the obscene content that is not extreme there is nothing in the least extreme about not wanting that material uh being promulgated onto Miners and I'm going to ask that that needs to stop there's nothing extreme I'm dotted extremists I'm not a right winger uh most of the people here are concerned about their kids don't mischaracterize them don't disparage them and to my extreme disappointment I've seen it coming from employees of the District employees of the district disparaging the people that pay their salaries that is inexcusable where people here concerned about the children that's what all that's what binds us together here this is not an anti-gay issue we embrace all of the kids
040in the school system we want them to feel welcome we want them to feel safe this is an issue that is addressing decency let's focus on that issue I hear a lot of platitudes about freedom and liberty being somehow in danger it's not this is an issue about decency focus on the issues and for those of you who are very committed to these books if you believe in those books defend the Merit of those books I appreciated the woman who came up here earlier and talked about one of the books and actually explained put gave some context to it okay that's fine we can talk about that but don't call us extremists don't vilify us don't tell us that your Liberty's a threat it's not this is an issue about decency I thank you for
041the opportunity to speak thank you so much speaker is Mr Mustafa murtada of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on problematic books in Elementary classrooms good evening I bring to you greetings of peace I'm a parent of two beautiful children in Dearborn Public Schools both in elementary our son who was in the fourth grade last year stumbled into a book in the classroom Library I was going to mention the title but decided not to to avoid further commotion in this meeting basically this book is about a kid coming to terms with his sexuality and the book shows a sexually inappropriate image when seeing this image in the classroom our son h-10 came to us that same day and reported to us what he had seen we had no doubt that this book was
042intentionally placed in the classroom by the teacher was this book pulled from the classroom I don't know can a child attending that classroom now opt out I don't know there's this notion by politically motivated instigators among them a member of our city council Aaron Burns who just spoke a bit ago egregiously claiming that this is an issue with folks that identify as lgbtq well I would like to redirect this narrative by saying that placing such books in our school and classroom libraries is an infringement and our inalienable rights to religious freedom and conscious and more immediately on the rights of our children to be protected from material with sexual themes this book placement among many others is an attempt to inculcate sexual exploration to our children to us as parents and to an overwhelming majority
043of parents in this District this is unacceptable we demand respectfully that the DPS Administration and School Board take the resolution submitted to the superintendent Dr malayko for parental rights seriously we will not allow our children to be exposed to such material in a space we expect to be safe for our children our schools needless to say we appreciate the tireless dedication by the school staff we understand it is an immense challenge for teachers day in and day out to care and teach our children for the vast majority of you who do so without any hidden agendas may you be blessed also we appreciate the diversity in our city but in order for diversity to truly exist in harmony one group must not transgress the rights of another group this was a transgression of our rights
044as parents and the rights of our children and this is a red line thank you may I please remind may I please remind everyone to do not mention names thank you next speaker is Mr of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on teaching our kids foreign of Dearborn would like to speak about constitutional matters can you hear me okay good evening uh School Board uh uh first and foremost I want to express my gratitude for allowing me to speak to the school board in regards to this matter but there seems to be a huge misconception in terms of what the matter really is the matter isn't about the suppression of sexual orientation um political affiliation or whatever it may be it's about the graphic material strictly whether or not that material passes constitutional
045muster under state and federal Constitution it is pretty straightforward first and foremost it's pretty alarming the fact that these books had already made their way into the curriculum and into the public school libraries without any sort of vetting system there has to be a vetting system something that regulates something that keeps the books to a certain standard a standard that's not established by federal discretion but a standard that's completely unequivocally based and reflective of the Michigan legislature's intent of what's afforded to protecting our students regarding obscenity and the material within the books itself another matter I wanted to bring up is the school board you have something first and foremost that's incredibly important it's called fiduciary duty towards your students students it's not even debatable they spend more than half their day at schools maybe
046involved in extracurricular activities um doing uh extra studies in libraries whatever it may be they spend over 50 percent of their date in school and there's a concept called Locos parentis under a legal doctrine that you are technically responsible in servitude of the parents interest while they're at school the fiduciary duty that you owe to these students is a duty of loyalty and duty of care and the Very issue here is to make sure that there is an independent committee that is formed and that does reflect the very protections that are granted by the State Constitution under MCL 722 section 673 to the very students in in making sure and ensuring that they are not exposed to early on obscenity material that may later on cause issues to their mental health or possibly other issues
047at home lastly I like to say that I'm a proud product of Dearborn Public Schools I remember Mr Maliko in Salon Elementary made my way through Fortson high school and I'm a lawyer and I could say that I'm very proud to be have been a product of this this actual school system but the fact that it took a parent to discover that these books have been already circulating for over years within our Dearborn public school system is highly alarming and concerning and makes us question whether or not the Dearborn Public School Board is fit for the very duties they are voted to commit and uphold to the community itself thank you for your time and I hope you keep that in mind that it's your responsibility your responsibility to provide a conducive environment a learning
048environment for students and to make sure that they're protected from the obscenity material that's Cur that's actually circulating within the school system today thank you next speaker is Hassan shami of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on library books good evening my name is Hassan shami dearwood resident um I dish my speech because there's been so many wonderful brothers and sisters here that uh let their voices be heard I want to speak directly to president Roxanne McDonald Dr Roxette president Roxanne we know that if there's any issues here somebody disturbing the peace you need to ask the police to escort them out that's why they did not escort the person here who was talking to the crowd for up to two minutes before you ask them to direct to the board shame on
049you that President Roxanne McDonald but Roxanne we also need to tell you that you serve this community and we know there are some media Outlets here waiting to smear the Muslim Community and you allowed that to happen because you know there was going to be a reaction between this inflammatory remarks here and the people in the crowd because how sensitive this issue is so shame on you to my fellow community members I'm so proud to be a part of this community with you guys but please understand that there are people planted here to create a reaction from you for the media so be cautious stay stay patient and remain calm and since there was a recent rant in the beginning for three minutes that mentioned the founding fathers in America I also want to say
050that the founding fathers fought for freedom of religion so on behalf of the Muslim Community I want to congratulate you on the birth anniversary of prophet Muhammad which is this week next speaker is Mr Muhammad Musa of Dearborn would like to speak to the bordon Box a few speakers stated that they don't want Dearborn to become disunited I don't know about you but this looks like Unity to me my name is Muhammad Musa and I was born and raised in Dearborn Michigan I attended McDonald Elementary School Eunice middle school and both Dearborn and Fortune high school as someone who has once walked the hallways of both Dearborn and Fortune High I stand with the majority of the community members who are here today to voice their concerns to voice their concerns about the inappropriate and
051sexually explicit books within our Public School libraries I've heard some people say that parents need to raise their children better and others stated that this content can be found online but this does not negate the fact that these books are still inside our Public School libraries a passage from one of these books States and I quote I've met a variety of interesting people through sex apps they are predominantly used for sex though they are sold to us as social networking apps but we all know what they are really for end quote the author then then continues to talk about a variety of apps that children and students could use to meet up with strangers and have sex with them would you want your children to read this type of book would you want your children
052to download these types of apps would you want your child to meet up with the stranger and have sex with them if not then listen to the community listen to the majority listen to the people who put you in the seats that you're currently sitting on don't put the books on the Shelf thank you next speaker is Mr Khalil uthman of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on explicit books in the school library good evening first of all thank you to all the parents thank you to everyone who took the time off and come over here to express their concerns second we believe in democracy the minute we voted you in here your title changed from candidates to trustees but apparently you broke that trust these books that are in concerns has been
053have been in our library since 2019. through a saura collection purchase via Wayne County and this is something that we have to talk to the commissioner of Wayne County how these purchases are taking place but the process that Dr Glenn Blakey proposed apparently it's been in practice in place before so that process failed that process failed to Fed these books and remove them from our libraries I'm not gonna spend a lot of time talking about libraries and the books in the libraries but I want to mention this process is so complicated and it's not going to serve our community whatsoever and and if it's good it could have been prevented these books from coming to our libraries back in 2019 [Applause] one thing that I have to highlight and a lot of people repeated the
054same thing this is not anti-lgbtq this is not anti-any Community this is not anti-any groups but apparently one thing that we noticed tonight everybody that came over here understood understood for the books and supporting these books to be in our libraries ninety percent of them are teachers in our schools they are paid by our tax paying dollars they are speaking the same narratives which proves to me there is a rumor yesterday that there is there was a note that was sent out to them to come our email that to come and speak about these books to be in our libraries we are paying for their salaries we love them I have five kids and all of them they go to Durban Public Schools I expect every single employee or District employees to take a stand
055on this at least look at the books and see what are the sexual explicit contacts are saying this is not about any any group or any community we are talking about Burns in our schools we stop sexualizing our kids thank you next speaker is Jamara jahmi of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on books in the libraries next speaker is Matthew rapparino would like to speak to the board on legality of those books and materials as well as the board's legal obligation to protect the children thank you everybody thanks to everyone in the audience um I I stand Here fascinated by what I'm watching tonight um as we watch the school board uh construct a narrative that is completely false many people stand here and say we want to protect our parental rights
056and this is nothing about the teachers they support the teachers and they say we we are not opposing lgbtq rights uh and then yet other people come up here um to support the books solely for the purpose of lgbtq Rights and yet as a school board you allowed someone to stand here for three minutes and disparage the Muslim faith you did not stop it you allowed another person to come here in front of the media for three minutes and incite the crowd president McDonald you did nothing to stop it on Monday you shut down this audience and these parents from speaking and some people have talked about it and I will remind you MCO 380.10 states it is the natural fundamental right of parents and legal Guardians to determine and direct the care teaching and
057education of their children fundamental right of the parent to direct the teaching of their children statute then says the public schools of this state serve the needs of the pupils by cooperating with the pupils parents and legal Guardians to develop the pupil's intellectual capabilities and Vocational skills and you failed every parent in the way you violated their fundamental rights on Monday to speak and the way you've treated this issue the fundamental rights of the parents is a huge issue right now in this country and across the state the ability of the parents to direct to you what they want taught in these schools and some people stand up here and say we shouldn't ban these books because no one has ever checked them out that doesn't mean people haven't read them or students haven't read
058them in school what you're doing right now in this state in this board is over sexualizing children and you're doing it for political reasons and you have an attorney general right now in this state Dana nessel who says she wants to put a drag queen in every school and you're allowing it to happen I say to you it's time to stop with the political nonsense thank you [Applause]