Derrick Barnes Calls Canceling School Visits Cowardly

Derrick Barnes was supposed to speak to several schools in Alabama during Black History Month. 

The award-winning author would talk about falling in love with reading. He’d talk about his struggling years, “which were seemingly, you know, forever.” He’d talk about resilience, and faith, and hard work.

“I pretty much have the same presentation no matter what the book is, because I know these babies are going to face the same thing no matter what age they are,” he says. “And a lot of my message is just not giving up on yourself and to keep pushing through.”

But kids in the Birmingham suburbs won’t hear that message, because Barnes’ visits were mysteriously canceled. Hoover City School officials originally claimed they lacked proper documentation for a contract. Superintendent Dee Fowler later said a parent had complained, and Fowler called Barnes a “controversial guy.” 

Barnes isn’t sure how he’s controversial, though of course “it might just be this whole CRT crap.” Most of his books center Black joy. His latest, the National Book Award finalist Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice is written with Tommie Smith to tell his story of social activism.

“I don’t know what it was. You know, maybe they don’t want their children reading about Black resistance or Black love or Black joy. I don’t know,” he said, calling the decision “very cowardly.”

Some teachers in the community signed a letter protesting the cancellation of Barnes’ visit, and parents bombarded the superintendent’s office with phone calls. Some even set up a gofundme to pay Barnes for the nearly $10,000 in lost income.

In conversation with PEN America, Barnes said he was grateful for the support, and wanted to encourage writers to “keep telling the truth” and not back down.

“It is unfortunate that we have to deal with this right now, but in order for us to get over this hump, we need more parents to be more vocal and more active. And on my end, we have to continue to write the Blackest books that we can write – the most Latino and Asian and Muslim and gayest books that we can – just keep telling your truth. We can’t allow them to stop us doing God’s work,” he said “I can’t wait to piss off the next Southern superintendent somewhere, because I can’t be stopped.”

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Have you ever had a school visit canceled before?

You know, I’ve been doing school presentations since 2005. That was the first time I did one, when my first two books came out. I remember my eldest boy, who’s 22 now, was in pre-K. I remember seeing him walk into the library. I didn’t even get paid, but they had a nice fruit basket spread out for me. It was very nice. I remember that. So I have been doing it since 2005. Never had anybody cancel.

We know it’s happening to other authors, and obviously the climate has changed. PEN America found that some of your books were banned last year in Central York, Pennsylvania. In those years since 2005, have you noticed a difference in how schools are reacting? 

The sort of crazy thing is, you know, we had our first black president elected 2001 to 2008, two very successful terms. And I remember having a conversation with my brother that this is not going to end well, because that’s how America rolls with these ebbs and flows. You know, I had no idea that we would end up where we ended up in 2016. But I kind of felt like there would be some backlash for having this brilliant, gentlemanly, good father, good husband, Harvard graduate as president for eight years. And sure enough, we elected a reality TV star and a failed businessman. And I think that’s what changes the temperature in this country. We went to the polar opposite of what we thought was progress. And he just kind of turned that up on his head. 

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“If you have Black children in your district and you turn away a Black children’s book author, that really says a lot about how much you care about those children. So that’s unfortunate.”

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