Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Passport
  • Support WSKG
Donate
  • Donate
  • logo
  • logo
  • Donate
  • Home
  • News
  • TV
  • Your Radio
  • Schedules
  • Arts
  • Education
  • History
  • Science
  • Donate
  • More
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Passport
    • Support WSKG

WSKG - Local news and arts, broadcasting NPR radio and PBS TV.

WSKG thanks our sponsors...
  • Donate your vehicle to support WSKG

WSKG (https://wskg.org/anti-racist-picture-book-spurs-debate-in-binghamton/)

  • Donate
  • Home
  • News
  • TV
  • Your Radio
  • Schedules
  • Arts
  • Education
  • History
  • Science
Listen Live WSKG
Listen Live WSKG Classical

Watch Live WSKG TV
Watch Live PBS Kids
Coronavirus Updates
Coronavirus Updates

Anti-Racist Picture Book Spurs Debate In Binghamton

By Jillian Forstadt | April 20, 2021
More
  • More on anti-racism
  • Subscribe to anti-racism

BINGHAMTON, NY (WSKG) — Parents and community members debated a Binghamton elementary school’s “Book of the Month” until close to midnight on Monday.

“Something Happened In Our Town” follows two kids, one Black and one white, after a Black man is shot by police in their town. During the Binghamton City School District Board of Education meeting, MacArthur Elementary School Principal Lori Asquith defended the book, stating it was chosen to be a springboard for conversation among students about topics widely discussed in the city and guided by carefully crafted lessons about racism and violence.

“Whether you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing with the conversations taking place in the book, they are conversations that are happening in our communities and should not be ignored,” said Asquith, whose husband works in law enforcement.

Binghamton City School District officals and members of the Board of Education heard comments on an anti-racist picture book late into the night on Monday. (screen grab, Jillian Forstadt/WSKG)

After a video of the book being read aloud circulated online, the Southern Tier chapter of the New York State Fraternal Order of Police and Binghamton Police Benevolent Association issued statements condemning the school’s choice.

“If you felt sickened by the recent video of the anti-police book read by the teacher from MacArthur Elementary School, as we did, please show your support by joining the Binghamton School Board Zoom Meeting this coming Monday night, and expressing your concerns,” the Fraternal Order of Police wrote on Facebook.

The book was written by three child psychologists and ranked sixth on the American Library Association’s list of the 10 most challenged books last year.

Binghamton City School District Superintendent Tonia Thompson issued a statement on Friday apologizing for the book’s negative portrayal of officers, but defended the educators’ choice to use it in the classroom. She mentioned the book includes a line about officers who make “good choices,” and wrote that teachers were provided the necessary resources to handle questions and dialogue that arose.

The video was pulled down after the teacher in it began to receive threats, Thompson said on Monday, but stressed that the book remains in the curriculum at schools’ discretion.

“The book has not been banned. The book has not been pulled,” Thompson said. “The book is used and can continue to be used in the district.”

The debate on the book came after weeks of tumultuous discussions on Binghamton’s heavily-criticized police reform plan, which passed last month. City Council members cut public comment on the plan short and some criticized the plan’s steering committee and city council for being strictly “performative” in its actions.

Many of those calling into the Board of Education meeting praised the board for being more receptive to residents’ concerns and giving room for difficult conversations about biases.

Maliyka Muhammad lives in Binghamton and raised five Black sons in the city, one of which now works in law enforcement. She said educators and parents of any background should have conversations about interactions between Black Americans and the police.

“Because I have to have a separate conversation with my children, whether it be the males or the females, about how to conduct themselves in a manner so they will be safe,” Muhammad said.

She said her kids faced harassment from school resource officers at Binghamton High School. Other parents of children of color described instances in which their children as young as 11 years old were detained by Binghamton police.

Others on the call, however, said the story was divisive and painted police officers in a negative light. The Binghamton City School District employs several officers as school resource officers (SROs) in its buildings.

Laura Kaczynski said her husband is one of those SROs. She worried the story’s discussion of racial profiling in policing will make it more difficult for him to bridge gaps with students.

“They’re sitting down, they’re speaking with a police officer and they’ve been read this book and they’ve now been told at a very impressionable age, by the way, that they can’t trust the police officer, they’re not going to talk to them,” Kaczynski said. “They’re going to be scared.”

Other people calling in suggested equity was not for educators to tackle, but rather they should stick to traditional topics like math and social studies.

Members of the Board of Education disputed that notion, citing a resolution they passed in September affirming the district’s commitment to equity, anti-racism and embracing diversity.

Board members plan to address further steps and hold a public forum on equity in the classroom in the coming months.

Recent Posts

  • Amtrak restores passenger train service from New York to Toronto

    WBFO - For more than two years, Amtrak has listed its service to Toronto from New York City, through Western New York, as a project to be eventually re-started. That changes Monday, as a train runs past Niagara Falls, New York and on to Toronto Passengers will still have to meet Canada’s strict and complicated rules for crossing the border, including use of the ArriveCAN software to notify the Dominion that person is coming.

  • Poll: 75% of Pennsylvanians accept evidence of climate change

    STATEIMPACT PENNSYLVANIA - A new statewide poll shows three quarters of Pennsylvanians accept that global warming is happening. It’s the highest level of acceptance since Muhlenberg College pollsters started asking the question 15 years ago.

  • Primary Day in New York offers Democrats 3 choices, and 4 to Republicans

    WSKG - New York’s registered Democrats and Republicans are voting in primaries Tuesday that will determine the party’s choice for governor. While Governor Kathy Hochul is comfortably ahead of her two opponents, the results of the four-way Republican primary for governor is less clear.

  • Proposed health insurance rate hikes average in the double digits

    WXXI - While NY state regulators have not yet signed off on what kinds of increases health insurance companies will be allowed to charge next year, many of those those insurers are asking for double-digit rate hikes. According to the New York State Department of Financial Services, insurance companies who offer products in the small group market are proposing an average 16.5% increase, and those who offer individual policies are looking for an 18.7% increase.

  • Summer travel and security increase at Syracuse Airport

    WRVO - Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport is prepared for the crowds headed out of town as the summer traveling season hits high gear. There are ways to make things go smoother.

WSKG thanks our sponsors...

About WSKG

WSKG connects you to local and global news and the arts online, on the radio, and on TV. NPR and PBS affiliate.

CONTACT US
email: WSKGcomment@wskg.org

phone: 607.729.0100

address: 601 Gates Road Suite 4, Vestal, NY 13850-2288

DONATE

Pay an underwriting invoice


  • WSKG
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Science
  • News
  • Your Radio
  • Schedule
  • TV
  • About
  • WSKG Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Public Reports & Policies
  • Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
  • Protect My Public Media
FCC PUBLIC FILES
WSKG-FM
WSQX-FM
WSQG-FM
WSQE
WSQA
WSQC-FM
WSQN
WSKG-TV
WSKA
Disabled and need assistance with the online FCC public file?
Contact Gary Talkiewicz
WSKG
601 Gates Road
Vestal, New York 13850
607-729-0100
gtalkiewicz@wskg.org

Full Frequency Information Listed Here

WSKG

89.3fm   Binghamton
91.1fm   Corning, Elmira
88.7fm   Hornell
90.9fm   Ithaca
89.9fm   Odessa
91.7fm    Oneonta
90.5fm   Watkins Glen

WSKG Classical

91.5    Binghamton
105.9  Cooperstown
90.7    Corning
88.1    Greene, Norwich
92.1     Ithaca

WSKG HD TV

Binghamton
46.1 Broadcast TV
7 Time Warner Cable
1221 Time Warner Digital Cable

Elmira
30.1 Broadcast TV
8 Time Warner Cable
1221 Time Warner Digital Cable

Oneonta, Cooperstown
8 Time Warner Cable
1221 Time Warner Digital Cable

Hornell
1221 Time Warner Digital Cable

© Copyright 2022, WSKG

Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Back to top ↑