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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Local News | Seattle School Board postpones decision on pulling 'Brave New World' | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Seattle School Board postpones decision on pulling 'Brave New World' | Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle School Board postpones decision on pulling 'Brave New World'

A Native American mother of a Seattle Public Schools student appealed to the Seattle School Board Wednesday to remove the novel "Brave New World" from the district's list of approved books for language arts classes.

Seattle Times staff reporter

A Native American mother of a Seattle Public Schools student appealed to the Seattle School Board Wednesday to remove the novel "Brave New World" from the district's list of approved books for language-arts classes.

"We are assembled here today to take a stand against institutional racism," Sarah Sense-Wilson told board members at a special session before their regular meeting Wednesday evening.

Sense-Wilson, whose daughter read the 1932 classic in class at Nathan Hale High School last year, took issue with Aldous Huxley's numerous uses of the word "savage" and negative depictions of Native Americans.

The board ran out of time Wednesday and will schedule another session to deliberate and vote on the issue.

Kathleen Vasquez, who chaired a school-district committee that selected the 75 books on the approved list, told board members that racially charged language in "Brave New World" is satirical. She conceded that