Amphorae Publishing
Children’s Book Sugar Coats Horrific Events of 2014 Ferguson Unrest: ‘Some People Were Meaner Than Mean’A children’s book about 2014’s deadly events in Ferguson, Missouri has drawn criticism for completely ignoring unarmed Michael Brown’s death by a white cop.
According to the book’s website, Painting for Peace in Ferguson is based on the Paint for Peace St. Louis community effort in Ferguson and St. Louis. It’s written as a “child-friendly poem” which makes it problematic.
The first page of Carol Swartout Klein’s book reads, “in the small town of Ferguson in 2014, some people did things that were meaner than mean. Some people were mad, some people were sad but everyone, everywhere felt pretty bad.”
A sad face caps the verses off.
Amphorae Publishing
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the children’s book was released last year but its accompanying coloring book was released just last month. Artist Robert O’Neil helped put it together and proceeds will go towards art, education and youth initiatives in the north St. Louis County area.
Klein grew up in Ferguson and was inspired to write the picture book after seeing volunteers in Ferguson “coming together to bring hope to a community in shock.”
Even still, the book ignores the killing of Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, at the hands of white police officer Darren Wilson which kick-started the city’s protests. Painting for Peace rounds up the events this way.
“Police were there
And protesters too
People were scared
Didn’t know what to doSome locked their doors
Boarded windows up tight
To help keep them safe
All through the long nightBut when morning came
Folks took one look around
And said we don’t like
The looks of our townWe have an idea
We know what to do
We’ll bring out our paints
Red, Yellow and Blue”
Though writer Sarah Kendzior took issue with the book’s “appalling revisionist history of white saviors,” Dwayne Ingram, patient advocacy coordinator at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, believed it provides a way to share the story of Ferguson in a kid-friendly way.
@sarahkendzior Painting for Peace was a way for us Ferguson residents to start healthy talks with our children.
— Dwayne Ingram (@rocdii) June 17, 2016
Kendzior gave a lengthy explanation about her problems with the picture book.
Reality of being a parent during Ferguson was explaining how cops kill black teenagers without consequences, and how they've always done so
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 14, 2016
It was explaining to your kid why her best friends might grow up, be assumed to be criminals, and be shot on sight. And that some dont care.
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 14, 2016
It was explaining why I came home crying and shaking after seeing tear gas and weapons. It was explaining why mommy's friends are in jail.
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 14, 2016
This is the back cover of the book. Shameful and an insult to everyone who lived through the reality of Ferguson. pic.twitter.com/qvxXruHJJu
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 14, 2016
I wrote this about Ferguson fifteen months ago. Nothing has changed since. https://t.co/E3NzwR7w2R pic.twitter.com/8WiAihHKXa
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 15, 2016
