A book by El Paso author Ron Stallworth about his investigation of gangs in Utah in the 1990s is among 381 books removed from the U.S. Naval Academy library as part of the Trump administration’s efforts against diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“The Gangs of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country” was No. 8 on the list released Friday of books removed earlier this week from the Nimitz Library at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Stallworth, a retired police officer, said a former colleague in Colorado alerted him Friday that his latest book was removed from the Naval Academy library. He quickly found an online story about the removal, and the list.
“I immediately started smiling and said to myself, ‘(Expletive) you, Trump,’” said Stallworth, whose most recent book included criticism of Trump for using what the author believed was white supremacist language.
“It surprised me in the sense that there’s nothing in my book that, in my opinion, should be offensive to anybody except somebody as small-minded as Donald Trump,” said Stallworth, who has been critical of Trump in “The Gangs of Zion” and on social media.
The New York Times and other media reported that the Naval Academy acted in response to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that banned DEI instruction, programs or curriculum in kindergarten through 12th grade schools that receive federal funding.
The Naval Academy is a college, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on March 28 that the executive order should apply to the school. The directive came after the local Annapolis newspaper reported that the academy wasn’t removing DEI materials.
The academy identified 381 books as violating Trump’s DEI executive order, and the books were removed before Hegseth visited the campus on Tuesday, numerous media outlets reported.
Among the other books removed from the Naval Academy library were poet Maya Angelou’s classic “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings;” a book on Jewish women in the Holocaust; the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s; and several books involving transgender topics or characters. The Naval Academy released a list of removed books, but didn’t include explanations of why individual books were pulled from the shelves.
Stallworth’s book, which came out last year, appears to be the most recently published work on the list.
“There’s no need to fear the free market system and the ideas that are promoted as a result of it,” he said. “That’s all that Trump is doing, is further generating fear of ideas, of books. Never did I think that I would get caught up in this cycle, but here I am.”
“The Gangs of Zion” focused on the spread of crack cocaine into Utah in the 1980s and 1990s as West Coast gangs like the Crips and Bloods increased their influence. Stallworth investigated the influence of gangsta rap in the spread of crack cocaine and gang lifestyle among the dominant Mormon population of Utah..
The book is being adapted into a series for Hulu called “Hip Hop Cop.”
In “The Gangs of Zion,” Stallworth was critical of political leadership that condemned violent language in music by Black artists while remaining silent on violent language and imagery from white artists.
“The Gangs of Zion” was Stallworth’s second book, following the New York Times bestseller “Black Klansman.” His first book was adapted by Spike Lee as the Oscar-winning movie “BlackKklansman,” which focused on Stallworth’s undercover investigation of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado in the 1970s.
Stallworth said he was puzzled that his second book, and not his first, wound up on the removal list.
“‘Black Klansman’ had much more to say about racial issues than this book does,” he said.
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