A Knox County school board committee read a single passage from Alex Haley’s Roots and did exactly what Tennessee law told them to do. They banned it, voting to pull it from school libraries.
Knox County Schools Superintendent Jon Rysewyk reversed the ban May 26, returning the 1976 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to shelves at seven KCS high schools effective immediately. But the law that forced the committee’s hand is still on the books. And Thursday night, the Knox County Board of Education voted 5-4 to tell the Tennessee General Assembly to fix it.
Anne Templeton, Katherine Bike, John Butler, Patricia Fontenot-Ridley, and Kristi Kristy voted yes. Lauren Morgan, Betsy Henderson, SteveTriplett, and Travis Wright voted no…