On Tuesday, Turning Point Faith Contributor Pastor John Amanchukwu blasted Midland Independent School District board members at a public meeting over Texas high school students having access to the vulgar book “PUSH.”
The book contains graphic details of assault from the point of view of a fictional, illiterate teenager who was beaten and abused by her father as a child.
Although “PUSH” is filled with vulgar depictions that would disturb all but the most depraved of adults, the book was on display in the Legacy High School Midland library collection.
Published in 1996, the author of the book, who goes by the name Saphire, has claimed the story was a “composite of a lot of young women I ran into while I was teaching literacy in Harlem and in the Bronx.”
A “composite” means the author creates a fictional character based on people she claims to have met but in many instances remain anonymous.
Saphire said she met with one young woman who was assaulted by her father as a girl and later gave birth to an autistic child. “I remember I couldn’t even talk to her after that,” Sapphire recalled in an interview promoting the book.
Pastor Amanchukwu wasn’t having it. He called out the Midland Independent School District for allowing “PUSH” to be on the library shelves of a public high school.
The pastor read graphic excerpts from the book before demanding, “This needs to be removed tonight!”
Amanchukwu took back his time after first having his mic cut only to have it cut again after he said, “We have six men on this board and I want to say these men that [are] on this board, if you don’t remove this book, you’re either a punk or a pervert.”
[The Video bleeps out offensive words]
@tpusafaith 👀👀👀 after being removed by FIVE police officers, @John Amanchukwu was CONFRONTED by a VERY unhappy member of the school board. (John Amanchukwu speaking at a school board meeting for the Midland School District in Texas.) What school board meeting should John go to next? Fill out the form in the link in bio & grab some of our faith merch. Check out 🔗 schoolboardwatchlist.org for more information about districts near you! (Thank you, Dr. Bob!)
Five police removed Amanchukwu from the meeting for confronting the school board over the book’s availability despite it violating Texas law.
Outside the building, one of the school board members told the pastor “I’m no pervert.”
“So are you going to remove the book?” Amanchukwu challenged.
When the board member said he would try to get the book removed, the pastor said, “Thank you! Give this man a hand. That’s just what we need.”
Ironically, “PUSH” was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Literary Work of Fiction category. The story was also the inspiration for the 2009 film “Precious.”
Men like Pastor Amanchukwu know how to separate filth from art, even when award judges and filmmakers in a morally bankrupt culture do not.
