A New School Board President Swore In On A Stack Of Banned Books
Pennsylvania mom Karen Smith is not messing around.
No one likes a Karen — unless you’re being a Karen about stopping book bans. This week in eastern Pennsylvania, Karen Smith was sworn in as the Central Bucks School Board President — and she did so on a stack of banned books instead of the Bible.
The picture of her taking her oath, with her husband holding the stack of books next to her, quickly went viral on X.
“I’m not particularly religious. The Bible doesn’t hold significant meaning for me, and given everything that has occurred in the last couple of years, the banned books, they do mean something to me at this point,” Smith said Tuesday, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
She also said she wanted to illustrate “the commitment I’ve had to fighting for the books, and for our students’ freedom to read.”
The books in the pile were Night, by Elie Wiesel; The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison; Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart; All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson; Flamer, by Mike Curato; and Beyond Magenta by Susan Kucklin.
This is Smith’s third term on the board, but it’s her first leading a majority Democrat board after the elections last month tipped the scales from a 6–3 Republican board to a 6–3 Democratic board. Five Democrats, including Smith, won seats after the GOP-lead board passed a new policy about “sexualized book content” that led to book banning in the district.
Smith opposed the policy, and the board can now make steps toward reversing it.
Smith has been on the board since 2015, but has only served as a Democrat since 2021. When the board voted to prevent kids to learn about transgender students through a special counselor, she switched parties.
“I thought, ‘I can’t be a part of these kind of actions,’” she told the Inquirer, “The Republican Party has lost its way.”
Smith also explained why she chose each book, noting that each book shares stories of oppression and marginalization based on race, gender, sexuality, and religion.
Public officials at all levels, including the United States president, are allowed to take their oaths on any book that they wish. It doesn’t have to be a Bible, a religious text, or anything at all — for anyone who needs a legal brush-up about the separation of Church and State.
Down in the comments, thousands praised Smith and her commitment to stopping censorship and making sure marginalized voices are heard.
“We should all aspire to be this kind of Karen,” one person wrote.
“And the most savage moment in 2023 goes to Karen Smith, Central Bucks Board President,” another said.
“Now, the only thing that could've made this more perfect, in my eyes was if she'd said ‘so help me books,’” another wrote. “Of course, this moment was beyond brilliant. I never would've thought to do this! Classy move!”
“This, combined with the news about Moms for Liberty, is quite the victory lap,” said another.
The Moms for Liberty, a hate group who is also the biggest force pushing for banning books in schools, lost the majority of their school board elections this fall after gaining momentum the past couple of years. And Smith is determined to fight against them.
Cannot wait to see what she does during her next term.
