Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' becomes latest flashpoint in Virginia gubernatorial race

The latest back-and-forth in the race to be Virginia's next governor is centered on the value of teaching a Toni Morrison novel in commonwealth schools, highlighting Republican Glenn Youngkin's attempt to make the culture wars around education the major issue of the race as Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe accuses him of using a"racist dog whistle."

Youngkin released an ad on Monday that features Laura Murphy, a Fairfax County mother and conservative activist, who spearheaded a campaign against"Beloved," the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The campaign began after Murphy claimed it gave her son, a high school senior at the time, nightmares. The ad fits into the Youngkin campaign's broader strategy of seeking to pit McAuliffe against parents. McAuliffe seized on the issue at his Tuesday night rally with President Joe Biden.

Next they’ll ban the number 44. That way they an ban Obama right out of the history books.

Where has everyone been? I was supposed to read this in my English AP class in 1997! (I made it halfway through.)

Beloved is powerful and worthy of accolades, but not a novel for teenagers. It is replete with depictions of violence and rape. So grim and terrible is the story that (spoiler alert) the main character murders her own child. These scenes are traumatic even for adults.

I hope she sells a lot of books because of this renewed media exposure and curiosity about the book.

Next the Republican Reich will be burning books like Nazis.

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