In the past few months, parents across Texas have pushed for the removal of books that deal with subjects pertaining to race, gender and sexuality. One of these books is a children’s biography of former first lady Michelle Obama.
The book “Michelle Obama: Political Icon” by Heather E. Schwartz was described by a parent from Katy as unfairly depicting former President Donald Trump as a bully, according to reporting by NBC News. The book made NBC’s list of 50 books that Texas parents want to be banned from school libraries.
“It’s not about President Trump, who figures in very little, and it’s not at all anti-white,” Schwartz said in an interview with The Daily Gazette.
Schwartz has written other books in a series called Boss Lady Bios that include biographies of other public figures such as Kylie Jenner, Malala Yousafzai and Misty Copeland.
“The idea is to give readers different examples of successful women that they could see as role models – see themselves in, in some way,” Schwartz said in the interview.
The Katy parent who asked for the book to be removed stated that Obama’s reflections on race gave the impression that “if you sound like a white girl you should be ashamed of yourself,” according to NBC News.
Other books on the list from NBC include “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi.