Early this week Lodge 9 learned of a book study Bailey Middle School 8th grade class had to participate in.
The book in question is titled All American Boys. The plot focuses on two high school students, “Rashad, [a black student] who is wrongfully accused of shoplifting and beaten by a local police officer, and Quinn, a white bystander who sees the beating and initially pretends he didn’t because of his close relationship to the police officer.”
Once we heard of this, the board and PIO- Kopp started making phone calls and writing letters to express our concerns with the book choice.
The letter read:
Dr. Matthew Hayes:
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police is requesting your immediate review and intervention of an 8th grade book study at Bailey Middle School.
The book in question is titled All American Boys.
The plot focuses on two high school students, “Rashad, [a black student] who is wrongfully accused of shoplifting and beaten by a local police officer, and Quinn, a white bystander who sees the beating and initially pretends he didn’t because of his close relationship to the police officer.” This book contains such explicit language in the first two chapters that the students will be skipping over this portion. The Bailey Middle School 8th Grade ELA Team told parents their child should purchase their own book on Amazon, supporting the cause. They plan to begin this book study in October.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg FOP absolutely condemns this book study. We agree it is important for students to discuss current social topics in order to develop their educational growth. However, it is reckless on their part to promote a book which highlights police brutality. The City of Charlotte experienced riots and civil unrest based on a justified use of force against an uncooperative armed suspect. Our officers were physically assaulted with rocks and bottles, some were even victims of attempted murder by protesters. Next week will mark the three-year anniversary of this event. We have worked extremely hard to rebuild this community’s relationship with police officers. This relationship starts with children at an early age to see police officers as a source of safety and not a cause of social injustice they can’t trust.
There are many social topics the school could have selected to achieve the same positive message, such as bullying or suicide awareness. Principal Chad Thomas informed us that no other topics or books were proposed prior to selecting this book. There are a number of great, bestselling adult fiction novels about teachers sexually assaulting students, a topic which is more frequent within CMS than police brutality is within Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
We are confident you can provide your leadership to these students’ education without damaging the image of law enforcement professionals in this community. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg FOP looks forward to your response in this matter.
Thank you for your time and dedication to our youth.
Dr. Hayes cancelled the book study. He wanted us to express to the FOP, this book study was never intended to upset the law enforcement community. He immediately cancelled the book study after being able to see the issue through the eyes of a police officer.
The board learned the book was actually selected from the CMS approved book list. It has been used before in CMS schools (he did not know exactly which schools have used it). In order to avoid a game of whack-a-mole from school to school, we are looking to pursue the CMS review process to have this book added to the ban list for all schools.
After Dr. Hayes decision was made, CMS wrote the following:
Reading assignments for CMS students are designed to inspire thinking, create self-awareness, and understanding, all in an educational backdrop. Reading assignments spark conversations , dialogue and discussions regarding real life instances and circumstances which can promote understanding and positive behavior. The school did not receive any concerns from 8th grade parents who received communication about the assignment nor is the book on any ban list. Bailey Middle has invited officers to be a part of the conversation and looks forward to shared dialogue.
The school did receive three parent complaints, per Principal Thomas as of yesterday afternoon. The letter was sent to parents without any form of permission slip or signature needed to verify the parents even knew about the book study. The SRO at the school has an 8th grader there, and he did not know about it. Bailey Middle never invited officers to be a part of the conversation, per Cornelius Police and CMS Police.
25 comments:
This type of book selection doesn't even surprise me from CMS schools. But when you have a body worn camera unitt like we do, it isn't completely wrong. That's like the last bus stop at the end of the road. This book's author has some bias and some critical points that need to be shared at multiple levels. I would question the decision of the superintendent to let this published work enter the minds of the vulnerable youth.
Based the real life situation with Wende Kerl murdering that black man in love, it is only window to the future for some many of these young adults. Whether the department sides with a gang or one man, is irrelevant.
The population of the city dictates the reality of every situation, and the department has an undeniable history of covering up the truth. Toss in the element of diversity, which has allowed officers like Bellamy, Brisbon, Stukey, Foster, Brown, and Evans to survive embarrassing events, the situation compounds into a hurricane of issues.
Officers need to be aware of the growing distrust within the African-american community due to the lowered thresholds of police recruitment. The element of uncertainty has multiplied over the past decade, with blunders and murders as a result to the equation.
Complete nonsense. First, let's get past this notion of innocent "Romeo" murdered by police. This is a complete lie and indicative of why no meaningful conversation will ever take place. He, among many others, died as a result of refusal to comply with lawful orders and an apparent lack of ability to control his behaviors or to even act reasonably. You want officers to just know they really are good decent people who just happen to be armed and terrorizing everyone around them? Right.
Second, never have I ever heard of any officer involved shooting case where the truth was "covered up". Almost without fail, in every shooting, the case has been ruled justified. Wanting it to be different does not make it so. Statistical analysis shows officers NATIONWIDE are LESS apt to use force on minority offenders because of the inevitable political backlash. Even in cases where the officer is clearly justified, elements within the minority community scream Rah-cism. The media thrives on this and feeds the masses. Statistically, an unarmed black non-psyco man has more chance of getting stuck by lightning than being shot by Rah-cist cop. By the way, where is the outrage for black on black assault and murder? Do a comparison of the race makeup of armed robbers and victims to population, the results won't be surprising.
Thirdly, the growing distrust between the black community and law enforcement has everything to do with certain members of black leadership as well as biased media coverage, both who have a HUGE stake in perpetuating and exacerbating imaginary issues rather than yielding to reality. There is more money to be made in social problems than in peace and stability.
Finally, I don't know you. But if the public wants better cops, stop treating them like crap, and pay them better.
Can I get an AMEN!!
So rudd got the clap? From who?
10:11AM-
Stop telling lies. There was a TRAP investigation years back, where a white female officer shot herself in the foot. The suspect freaked and pulled a gun. The TRAP unit shot the suspect and said he shot the female officer in the back of her ankle.
Give me a break. Cover ups happen all the time. Veronica Brown gave that blow job on camera, and the media didn't even show it.
Yes, we wants better cops. Money will not change the outcome of a cover up or porn video.
1150pm
Reading comprehension is not one of your strengths. You have evidence of both of these alleged incidents? Surely you've gone to IA, the media or any other investigative body with all this evidence? No? Then these are called rumors. You've been reading BS comments on a blog post.
This has all the earmarks of arguing with someone who believes in pseudo science. I won't be pushed to defend your conspiracy theories.
For the sake of argument, let's imagine these two incidents were true. I wouldn't care WHY someone pulled a gun on the police. I also wouldn't be surprised that they were shot because of it. Perhaps they should have not been resisting with violence? As to the second, I'd like to see the stats on how many people are killed by a blowjob.
I gave you a break when I didn't use the words that first came to mind when I read your comments.
My last point, you obviously missed, is that if you want QUALITY anything you have to PAY for it.
Cheers
Yeah, police cover ups are total BS conspiracies. Aimmie Aquino worked here for 10 years, without ever messing things up. No cover ups at all. Nope Nope Nope. Totally clean career.
Move along now. Nothing to see here.
6:07....and in those 10 years she was also written up and suspended several times for a multitude of violations. So, you can move on as obviously you are not in the know. It's not a cover-up just because they are not fired but think what you want to.
7:17pm:
Remember when they transferred Jennifer Wolfe for saying "oh daddyyy" on the radio?
10-9 dispatch?? Total cover up until the DEA had charges on her.
8:56. How is it a cover-up if she was punished and transferred? I guess if they are not fired, it is a cover-up. So when a FTO was caught with his pants down with a trainer, that was a cover-up because he was not fired. He got days off, was no longer a FTO and got kicked off his specialized unit. Sounds like he was dealt with appropriately, not a cover-up.....
1428 Hours:
Who are you talking about? Are you talking about Robert Land or James Spottswood?
Cover ups? You must be talking about fire. Watch gate, no JRPAT, no Training, made up paperwork showing up in files, getting jobs and not meeting one of the requirements.
^^^reply^^^
Thats crzy if tht is happenin at CFD. Super Dirty Dirty. That soundz lik when CMPD retired Dean Driggrs early for steeln monny. Thy had him fired until the brass interfeered and coverd it up.
6:51.... What is Spottswood accused of? This the same guy who was tagging Hummel?
Spottswood got popped for fukin a rookie. That's what people were saying. This was before Hummel came along for some action.
1123...Spotswood is a bi-polar. Hummel took advantage of him, and his drunk ass is right back where he belongs.
What is that a rule now on who you can fuuk? Unless it was on duty, ol Spotty can pork any female he damn well pleases. Is he out of Metro now? Where'd they put him?
I never said fuukin Michelle Hummel was wrong, cus it aint. Those are some fat titties. I'm just sayin that she took advantage of ol Spotty at a low point in his life. She preyed on him, just like Stukey used to do to divorced guys.
That honey can prey on me anytime she likes (Hummel) not Stukey. I don't think she "preyed" on anyone. Andrew is a grown ass man, its not like he didn't know what he was doing. The comment at 3:44 made it sound like he got punished for banging a rookie... if he did that is BS. As long as it wasn't on duty or in uniform then no harm done.
15:45 hours, you can't bang the trainee that you are training. That's rule #1. Spotswood got up with an older woman, who def knows some stuff. She fuks black doods, too. Guys say they saw her at Northlake Movies a few times with black guys. I've heard things about Lt Stukey, not so good during or after.
Let Spotswood live, he is a decent guy.
Be positive,just think that your state taxes are going to pay Hummels retirement check for the next 30 years maybe longer. And no Police Pledge fund left to pay out. That place sucks.
Fukkin Stukey during a divorce is just getting through what your going through. Marco Aires said she'll call you like 50 times a day, so watch out afterwards. Stay safe brothers.
Is she a good lay?
Honestly, I heard she has an STD. She got real sick and stopped coming to work for like a month. Get Tested if you know what you have done.
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