The largest association of public safety officers in Minnesota says a best-selling children’s book listed by state agencies as a resource for talking about race “encourages children to fear police officers as unfair, violent, and racist.”
In a Friday letter to Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association’s executive director Brian Peters requested the state stop recommending the book for instructing elementary students and asked for a follow-up conversation about the approval process for the book.
“Something Happened In Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice,” published in 2018, is about the aftermath of a police officer shooting a Black man. Written by three psychologists, the picture book features two families — one Black and one white — who “talk about the shooting, about the history of racial injustice in the United States, and about how they can help break the pattern of racism,” according to a description by publisher Magination Press.
But Peters wrote to Walz that “(l)anguage in this book leaves the impression unchecked that police officers routinely pull over, arrest, and kill black people without consequence.”
He referred to passages in the book, including, “The cops shot him because he was Black;” “This pattern is being nice to White people and mean to Black people;” and “Cops stick up for each other. And they don’t like Black men.”
Peters continued in his letter: “There are worthy discussions for our state to have surrounding race and equity in society and what children can do to be part of a more just world. We absolutely support making stronger community connections and bring people together. But divisive language that leaves children with the false impression police officers are out to hurt people based on the color of their skin is defamatory, wrong, and harms genuine public safety efforts.”
STATE AGENCIES: BOOK SEEKS TO HELP PROCESS DIFFICULT ISSUES
Lists of resources about responding to racism on the websites for the Minnesota Education and Health departments include a link to a video read-aloud of the book produced by the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center and Atlantis School For Gifted Youngsters.
“The book in question won multiple awards and was authored by psychologists seeking to help children process a difficult set of issues,” spokespeople for the Education and Health departments said in a statement Friday. “It presents several complete conversations, as voiced by different characters, that many kids have likely heard in different parts of their lives.
“Some people will find characters’ perspectives resonate with them, while others may find some of the perspectives challenging, especially when taken out of the complete context of the full conversations depicted,” the statement continued. “For example, in the same section of dialogue cited as a concern by MPPOA (Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association) there is a statement that ‘there are many cops, black and white, who make good choices.’ We share that view, and recognize that most who work in law enforcement have good intentions and are working hard to serve their community.”
DISTRICT LOOKING INTO HOW BOOK WAS USED
The book is a New York Times and Indiebound best seller and has received other accolades. It’s geared for children ages 4 to 8 and includes “an extensive” note to parents and caregivers “with guidelines for discussing race and racism with children, child-friendly definitions, and sample dialogues,” according to Magination Press.
Someone reported to the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association that the video read-aloud of the book was used as a book report assignment, without teacher interaction, for a fourth grade class at Echo Park Elementary in Burnsville on Thursday, Peters wrote in his letter.
One teacher at the school used the book as part of a class assignment, according to Tony Taschner, Rosemount-Eagan-Apple Valley school district communications director.
“The district was unaware the book ‘Something Happened in Our Town’ was being used with a fourth-grade class at Echo Park,” Taschner said in a statement Friday. “The book is a resource cited by the Minnesota Department of Education but is not part of the district curriculum. District and school administrators are looking into how the book was used.”