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Attempt to ban sexually explicit book from Arroyo Grande, Nipomo schools fails

June 14, 2026

By KAREN VELIE

An attempt to have a sexually explicit book pulled from the shelves of high schools in Arroyo Grande and Nipomo failed 5-2 on Tuesday, during a special meeting of the Lucia Mar Unified School District Board of Trustees.

Published in 1970, “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison is one of the most challenged and banned books in the United States. Critics condemn the sexually explicit content, including incest, rape, and the poisoning a dog as an offering to change the eye color of a dark skinned black girl from brown to blue.

On March 17, Jennie Merritte filed a request to have the booked banned from local school libraries. Seven other parents, students and community members signed the request for a variety of reasons that include concerns the book could cause harm to victims of sexual abuse.

“I have observed the ramifications pertaining to children exposed to rape during my career in acute care hospitals,” said practicing pharmacist David Tuck. “To have a book that seemingly marginalizes or even normalizes this behavior to our children is unconscionable and unhealthy for them and our future society.”

Opponents of the proposed ban noted this was the third attempt this year to ban a book from local school libraries. All three attempts failed.

“The Bluest Eye” has been taught and studied in American classrooms for more than five decades,” according to a press release from the South County Democratic Club. “It is precisely the kind of serious literary work that library professionals are trained to evaluate — and that the district’s own review process exists to assess.”

The novel tells the story of a black girl from an abusive, incestuous home – Pecola Breedlove. Pecola equates beauty and acceptance with lighter skin.

She seeks help from an alleged psychic, who tells her to poison his landlord’s dog as a sacrifice. Pecola kills the dog, and then believes her eyes are blue as she slips into madness.

Since 2021, there has been a surge in requests to ban books. In some cases, parents have argued against sexual references in books in elementary school libraries. Most banned books include topics of sexual identity, racism or both.

A committee reviewed and discussed “The Bluest Eye,” before concluding that the novel is appropriate for a high school library, and should be available for students in grades 9-12.

After hearing pros and cons regarding the proposed ban, the trustees voted 5-2 to support the committee’s decision, with Ellene Pham and Mike Fuller dissenting.

 


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13 Comments

Maybe I need to rewatch the movie Field of Dreams one more time, But I’m pretty sure the book banners were the bad guys.


8

No one from the right side of politics wants any book “banned”. They are asking that many be removed from access by impressionable children.


Move the explicitly perverse sexual/racist/grooming books to a library or accessible place that are more appropriate for age.


This ain’t Jack and Jill….


-1

This book is by one of America’s greatest writers and a Nobel Prize winner. It frankly explores the damage done to the black community by years of slavery and Jim Crow. It does deal with many sensitive issues but I feel that parents should know what their children are reading, so let’s give them the right to allow or deny the reading of this material and not to others who have their own agendas.


20

What political party supported and fought FOR slavery, passed Jim Crow laws, voted and filibustered against civil and equal rights, and demanded “segregation now, segregation forever”, and didn’t have a black representative in Congress until 1970, or the Senate until 1992?


It sure as hell wasn’t Republicans.


4

Not sure what that has to do with Toni Morrison and book banning, but a quick glance at the history of the Democratic Party shows a marked shift in its attitudes toward the black community beginning with Harry Truman’s desegregation of the military on up to LBJ’s signing of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts and crowned by Barack Obama’s 2008 election to the presidency.


It’s no coincidence that virtually the entire South, which had been solidly Democratic for about the first 150 years of the Union, is now solidly Republican and is willing to actively oppose LBJ’s signature legislation that widely increased black participation in the political system. At any rate, I’m really not sure what you’re arguing, unless it is to say that blacks are wildly stupid for supporting Democrats.


0

So. SLOC Libocrat debauchery. Go figure!


-19

W.A.P says what?


-5

If this information is on the net let the kids find it with their parents… schools do not need to place their stamp of approval on such filth….


-13

Fascist’s ban books and hate free expression. Freedom, by design, is messy.

1st Amendment was first for reason. Don’t forget the second amendment is in support of the first. It is meaningless otherwise.


10

No one is banning a book Yan…


0

^—- The groomer class


-6

Typical. When I was in High School “Catcher in the Rye” was banned because it used the word “sh.t”. My how far we’ve come. In any case, any kid today can find worse stuff on social media and the internet. Even Toni Morrison would blush. Now what about teaching practical things like history, math, science………. ?


56

Remember when it was “we just want the right to marry like anyone else.” Now it’s “we just want the right to secretly teach your child about sexual perversions.” Save your children from this cultural trash, remove them from public schools, or homeschool if you can.


-4