Here & Now

Kabby Hong on Books Being Banned in Wisconsin Schools

Frederica Freyberg:

As we just heard, Republican candidate for governor Tim Michels said he wants K-12 schools to stop teaching critical race theory, which they actually don’t. Just by way of definition according to experts, critical race theory is a high-level academic concept holding that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but historically embedded in legal systems and policies. In Wisconsin, recent local examples of the culture war within schools include the Muskego School Board excluding an award-winning book for tenth grade English titled “When the Emperor was Divine.” It’s a novel that follows a Japanese American family incarcerated by the American government during World War II. For more on this, we turn to Kabby Hong, Verona area high school English teacher, recently named teacher of the year and a member of the Asian American Pacific Islander Coalition of Wisconsin for his reaction. Thanks for being here.

Kabby Hong:

It’s a pleasure being with you.

Frederica Freyberg:

As a new school year starts in Muskego, tenth graders there will not be assigned “When the Emperor was Divine.” You’ve said your organization must not stay silent on this. Why not?

Kabby Hong:

I think it’s important for all of our kids, not just our Asian American kids or our kids of color, that they see themselves in the curriculum and they see a truthful representation of our nation’s history. Asian American history is American history and so to exclude that is really denying our own past.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the school district there has said the decision was about the process of how the book was chosen, not its content. They have not responded to our request for comment. What is your understanding of why that book was pulled?

Kabby Hong:

Well, their explanations really defy logic. What you are finding across the country and it’s not just happening in Muskego, is that there is a double standard when it comes to authors of color. Especially when it comes to LGBTQ characters and books as well. That there is a separate standard of scrutiny that is used for those types of books than it is for the “classic books” that are oftentimes not written by people of color or members of marginalized groups. What they haven’t been able to explain is why they are using a double standard for “When the Emperor was Divine” they haven’t used for their other novels.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you or other teachers in your district there in Verona assign this book?

Kabby Hong:

We are considering teaching it this year for our freshmen English because it is a fantastic book. It’s an award-winning book. It has absolutely tremendous literary merit and it is taught throughout our country. Muskego’s logic in terms of why they wanted it rejected basically, because they were uncomfortable talking about the Japanese American internment. And they’re uncomfortable talking about our nation’s history. It had really nothing to do with the book itself.

Frederica Freyberg:

How does this local example in Muskego dove tail with calls to ban instruction of critical race theory?

Kabby Hong:

Well, if you look at what people define as critical race theory, sometimes it’s a list of 70 different terms, including terms like diversity. So really these critical race theory bans have nothing to do with critical race theory because, as you mentioned before, in K-12 education, critical race theory is really not taught. What the critical race theory bans really show is in discomfort some people have with people of color, with a truthful reflection about our nation’s history with banning books, especially books written by authors of color. And I think that is the opposite direction we need to go as a country.

Frederica Freyberg:

So are teachers on the edge about classroom instruction of historical facts?

Kabby Hong:

Well, the nice thing about being the Wisconsin teacher of the year is I’m able to converse with teachers of the year from across the country. And this is absolutely an issue that is impacting teachers, not just in Wisconsin, but across the country itself. There have been more than 300 anti-LGBTQ laws passed in this country in the last year alone. And so it’s incredibly problematic because the best part of our public education system is that we are able to have these conversations about our nation’s history, about identities of different people. And these laws take away from that.

Frederica Freyberg:

Has all of this contributed to teachers not wanting to enter the field or not staying?

Kabby Hong:

It is a major reason why a lot of teachers are leaving because what you are essentially asking teachers to do is to go against best practices. To go against their own training. And the sad reality of it is that, unfortunately in teaching, we are oftentimes having our professional judgment overruled by people that have zero experience actually teaching in a classroom. And that is the sad part about all of this is that you train and you ask these teachers to be college educated and highly trained. And yet when they give you their professional judgment, this judgment is often times overruled for no reason, other than a narrow political viewpoint.

Frederica Freyberg:

What should parents know about why such things as American history in these ways is being taught to their children?

Kabby Hong:

I think parents should teachers deeply care about their children. And that we are rooting our practices on best practices. But also, in terms of meeting the needs of a diverse array of kids. And ultimately these conversations strengthen us. Because the history is our current. If you look a lot of the issues we are dealing with in the past, we are still dealing with them today. It allows us to give a context for our kids in terms of why issues of racial injustice, for example, continue to plague us in our current day.

Frederica Freyberg:

We need to live it there. Kabby Hong thanks very much. Have a good school year.

Kabby Hong:

Thank you. Appreciate it.