Wake student claims school made class read ‘pornographic, incestual sexual content’

A Wake County high school student’s speech claiming that her English class read “graphic, incestual sexual content” has gone viral on social media.

Lorena Benson, 15, a sophomore at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, spoke to the school board this week claiming that her Honors English class recently read a story about the sexual encounters of two cousins. Benson said she’s leaving Athens Drive due to the class reading assignment.

“I am deeply bothered and deeply disappointed,” Benson told the school board on Tuesday. “I have decided to leave Athens Drive High School because I should not have to deal with pornographic, incestual sexual content taught to me in my classes.”

A video of Benson’s comments posted on X had drawn more than 150,000 views and 3,300 likes by Thursday morning.

A district spokesperson said Thursday that Wake is reviewing Benson’s claims. No other details were provided about what the district said is an ongoing human resources investigation.

Claims of ‘graphic, incestual sexual language’

Benson told the board that she had lived for 11 years in the Dominican Republic before her family moved to North Carolina three months ago. Benson said she had been happy attending Athens Drive until last Friday’s Honors English class.

Benson alleges that her English teacher asked the students to independently read a story and discuss it in class with their classmates.

“There was a part in the story that made me feel very uncomfortable and I looked around and saw the same expression on other students’ faces,” Benson claimed.

Benson didn’t name the story, but it appears to be the short story “Tomorrow Is Too Far” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about two cousins in Nigeria. The story includes dialogue such as “the summer that you fell in love with your cousin” and “you tried to fit what you both called his banana into what you both called your tomato.”

“Even after reading it again, it makes me feel very uncomfortable,” Benson claims in the speech. “This graphic, incestual sexual language should not be taught in any class, much less an Honors English class.”

Benson claimed the assignment outraged both her and her parents.

“In my Healthful Living Honors class I am being taught about brain functions and development,” Benson told the board. “I was taught that teenage brains like mine are not fully developed yet and we must be careful about what we engage in during these years.”

Benson went on to claim that because she’s a teenager whose brain isn’t yet fully developed, she should not be taught what she called “graphic, incestual sexual content” in class.

Video cited by Morrow’s campaign

Benson’s comments come amid a heated debate both in Wake and nationally about what are age-appropriate books for students to read in school.

John Amanchukwu, a local pastor and conservative activist who has often criticized the Wake school board, posted a video Tuesday of Benson’s speech. Amanchukwu cited the speech to promote his upcoming documentary “22 Words: Exposing The Loss of Decency in American Education.”

“15 year old minor at Athens Drive High School in Wake County, NC, is forced to read a pornographic book in class, that talks about putting a banana in a tomato!” Amanchukwu claimed on X. “She is now leaving this school. LISTEN TO HER TRAUMATIZING STORY!”

Amanchukwu’s post was highlighted by Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for state superintendent of public instruction. Morrow has also frequently attended Wake school board meetings to criticize district policies.

“Thank you to this brave, young student for coming forward and exposing what is really happening in our schools,” Morrow posted on X on Wednesday.

Morrow also accused Mo Green, her Democratic opponent, of wanting to keep what Morrow called sexually explicit materials available to children.

Green responded that reading material and curriculum must be age-appropriate.

“I am sure there is a local process for this to be investigated, as it should be,” Green said in a statement Thursday. “As State Superintendent of Public Instruction, I’ll work to ensure parents, teachers and administrators are communicating and there’s transparency.

“But my opponent is mainly focused on demonizing teachers and bullying students of diverse backgrounds, which only hurts our schools.”

Past incident at Athens Drive High School

Benson’s speech comes after Wake investigated allegations in 2023 that a teacher at Athens Drive High had students read aloud about masturbating to pictures of nude movie stars. The passage was an excerpt from the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie.

Citing employee privacy laws, a district spokesperson said Thursday Wake is prohibited from discussing investigations of a particular employee.

The district has previously said the incident was discussed as administrators developed a new policy that says teachers must talk with other school staff about a reading passage before it is read aloud.