Kansas State Board of Education member responds to leftist's reactions of him reading book
A short video clip of Kansas State Board of Education member Danny Zeck reading an excerpt from the book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, was posted to the Instagram page of Loud Light, a nonprofit that informs people on what’s going on in the Kansas legislature from a left-leaning perspective, sometimes spreading misinformation to voters.
The video clip, which was posted on Wednesday, September 20, shows Zeck reading the following excerpt:
“Yep, that’s right. I admit that I masturbate. I’m proud of it. I’m good at it. I’m ambidextrous. If there were a professional masturbators league, I’d get drafted number one and make millions of dollars.”
Commenters poked fun of Zeck reading the book.
We reached out to Zeck for comment regarding the video clip. He said he thought it was “funny.”
Having served on the Leavenworth USD 453 School Board for 16 years, Zeck, a Republican, was elected to serve District 1 of the Kansas State Board of Education in 2022. He claimed one day a parent had come up to him and asked if he would read a book—the book he is seen reading in the video above—which was being read out loud in a sophomore English class.
“My whole thing on that, that got me started was, number one, if the parents say that it’s okay, then I’m okay with it,” Zeck told The Kansas Constitutional. “On the other hand, reading that book out loud in a male and female class, even though they’re sophomores, again, I want the parents to make that decision…. If you think it’s okay for your kid to read this smut, then that’s a parental decision. If not, then there’s got to be a different way. I like to be very open about things, so, I think up front the parents should have known that this book was going to be read out loud.”
Zeck admitted that the book tells a good story about an Indian who goes to a White school off the reservation, but believes there are certain parts that don’t need to be in the book.
Many reviews on Amazon are positive with a 4.6 out of 5-star rating. However, despite it being advertised for children ages 11 to 13 and grade level 7 and up, some reviewers believe it is far too sexual for children.
The short clip was taken from a seven and a half hour meeting from Tuesday, September 12, of which nearly a half hour was dedicated to the issue of books with sexually mature content.
Kansas Reflector, a left-wing media outlet, covered this issue with an article titled, ‘‘I admit that I masturbate’: Kansas State Board of Education member laments ‘smut’ in libraries’. For the most part, this reporting seems fair, but there was context missing and certain wording the journalist, Rachel Mipro, chose to use that may be a bit misleading to readers. Specifically:
Only quoting “I admit that I masturbate” during Zeck’s reading of the excerpt given above.
Stating that Zeck “alternately cursed,” when in reality he said the word “smut” multiple times, and maybe said, “You’re full of sh*t,” under his breath.
Stating that Zeck “waved books he objected to,” when in reality he was holding them up for people to see.
When stating that Zeck, “raised concerns about the “Marxist lesbian” in charge of the American Library Association during a Kansas State Board of Education meeting Tuesday,” the quoting of the words “Marxist lesbian” makes it seem as if Zeck is accusing Emily Drabinski, the President of the American Library Association, of being a Marxist lesbian, when he’s not, he’s using the words that Drabinski used to describe herself, as he said during the meeting, which was left out of the reporting.
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Ian Brannan
Ian Brannan is an independent journalist who founded The Kansas Constitutional in April 2022. His work focuses on issues including abortion, Convention of States, drug policy, education, government, LGBT issues, media, and more. He is also the co-host of the Remember COVID podcast.
