Eric Johnson, president/CEO Baldwin Ice Cream, forces school district in Chicago suburb to remove book containing racial slurs

Jet, Dec 2, 1996

A novel that uses the word "nigger" recently was removed from a suburban Chicago school district after parents of a Black student complained that the book was "inappropriate for children" and "a negative depiction of Black people."

The book, War Comes To Willy Freeman, details the life of a Black female youth during the Revolutionary War and was written by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier.

Eric G. Johnson, president and CEO of Baldwin Ice Cream, headquartered in Matteson, IL, said he and his wife, Pamela Johnson, vice-president of administration for Baldwin Ice Cream, were shocked when their 10-year-old son, John, brought the book home from school.

"I absolutely could not believe what was in this book," Johnson told JET. "It is a perfect primer for the development of a full-blown, mature racist. A White child reading this in the fifth grade could develop a mentality and attitude about Black people and women that could be damaging for the rest of his life."

He added, "To Black children, it has the ability to diminish their self-image and devastate their self-esteem and sense of self-worth."

After the Johnsons and a committee of Black professionals and parents met with the board of the Flossmoor (Illinois) School District #161, the book was removed from the Western Avenue School.

Excerpts from the book that Johnson found disturbing include: "If we'd known you was riggers, we'd have left the cow alone."

On another page, the book says: "Mrs. Ivers went on staring at me as if I was lower than dirt and she was afraid she'd soil herself just by looking at me."

Another reference: "His skin was dark, all right, but he didn't exactly look like a rigger..."

And on page 96, the book says: "Some people looked at us, but they didn't pay us no mind. We were just a couple of Black boys, and wasn't worth more than a glance."

Johnson said his son, who is the only Black in the class, came home and said he had been called a "nigger" since the class started to read the book.

Among those supporting Johnson, who is the former CEO and president of Johnson Products Co. Inc., and his wife, were representatives of the local chapters of the NAACP, the Links, Jack and Jill of America, and the Cook County Bar Association.

"It's important for us to use our professional positions and the skills that we have to bring about a change. That's really, extremely important," Johnson says.