Ron DeSantis's Free State of Florida: I decide which books your children can read!
Banning books but protecting the right for teens to buy and own assault rifles, no questions, asked.
"...Manatee County’s school district told all secondary school classrooms to remove or cover their classroom libraries until the books could be reviewed under new state standards.
Teachers with unvetted materials or books found to be inappropriate could face a third-degree felony charge."
PEN America reported the removal of the books in Duval County in its report released this past September, Banned in the USA:
The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools.
At the Mountain’s Base, by Traci Sorell and Weshoyot Alvitre
Before She Was Harriet, by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome
Chik Chak
Shabbat, by Mara Rockliff and Kyrsten Brooker
Cow on the Town: Practicing the Ow
Sound, by Isabella Garcia
Dreamers, by Yuyi Morales
Dumpling Soup, by Jama Kim Rattigan, and Lillian Hsu-Flanders
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal
The Gift of Ramadan, by Rabiah York Lumbard and Laura K. Horton
Grandfather Tang’s Story, by Ann Tompert and Robert Andrew Parker
Hush! A Thai Lullaby, by Minfong Ho and Holly Meade
Islandborn, by Junot Díaz and Leo Espinosa
Little Night/Nochecita, by Yuyi Morales
Looking for Bongo, by Eric Velásquez
This is happening in Florida, ordered by the governor of Florida, DeSantis.
I never thought I'd live to see the day in America when educators were threatened WITH FELONIES over their freedom to make books available to anyone wanting to read them.
Once you get a committee or governor to decide what you can read in school, where does it go from there?
But here we are, and we can thank the Trumpublicans and Ron DeSantis for this perversion.
28 comments:
The choice of what books and what curriculum is taught should be left to the individual school district. It should not be a national policy or a state policy but a local policy. This should apply to all subjects not just a few. When I went to school in Texas we had Texas history which I can't see students in Boston having much interest in. I don't think students in Kansas have much interest in studying the colonial elites. Spanish classes should be required in New Mexico but not in New Hampshire.
Just like CRT and wokeism should be decided by the district as to if it is appropriate for the region. There is a difference of opinion as to who is the greatest threat to this country. Liberals feel it is trump while conservatives feel it is weingarten. Are both sides right, they certainly are in their minds.
Education is a regional issue and should be left for the parents and the voters to decide because one size does not fit all. Why is it that the elected elite are so against parents having control over their kids education. Why is it appropriate for the AG to investigate parents who want to have a say.
Gov DeSantis is but a frightened little man with an outsized ego attempting to mandate that which he mistakenly believes is good government. Which should send up a huge, and very red flag for the folks of Florida and the the entire populace of this nation. His antics are very reminiscent of dictatorial rulers who fear ideas and concepts they fail to understand.
To fascists like DeSatan, government is for personal power, punishing people they hate, and profiting from racist fear mongering.
Banning books, demonizing LGBTQ people, and shutting down "uppity" Black educators are dog whistles to bigots, racists, and fascists. It’s the Republican way.
White conservatives who say they “don’t see color” think they alone are entitled to define racism, and to dictate how the history and effects of slavery and racism are taught.
Anyone else who does it is a "Marxist" and will be banned and silenced.
This is one reason I keep saying racism isn’t racism to racists.
I understand the idea certain topics are not for the very young, but by high school, kids need to better understand the realities of the world they live in.
If parents want to control what is taught to their children, they need to shut up, and home school them. We don't need them threatening teachers or inserting their bigotry into the classroom.
Religion and the lowest common denominator of ignorance and prejudice should NEVER dictate what is taught in public schools.
It's nothing but the ideological and bigoted grooming they try to project unto others.
I think Ron DeSantis could be more dangerous than tRUMP. DeSantis is a proactive hater.
Perfectly stated Dave. Racism is never racism to a racist and bigotry is never bigotry to a bigot. And truth matters not to the ideologue or liar.
AS for each and every school district deciding what is to be taught makes little to no sense whatsoever. In a modern scientifically advanced society (we seem to be slipping here) there must be a degree, and hopefully a very high degree, of uniformity and consistency in curriculum. We are not 50 separate states and we should not have 50, or thousands of different curriculums in public schools.
Les, Dave Dubya
On another thread, our friend, skud, sees no reason that local parents and school boards shouldn't control what the public schools have in their libraries. CONTROL being the operative word.
I think his reasoning is that they pay taxes for the public schools so the parents along with the local school boards SHOULD have control over what the kiddies read.
As Dave Dubya sensibly states, not all topics are age appropriate, but very young kids wouldn't be interested nor would they understand inappropriate books.
Can anyone imagine any agreement on anything, let alone what books are appropriate, by a committee with, likely, folks who've not read much about anything in their lives?
Of course, the solution is to have the parents who disagree with banning certain books -- those parents should get them from the library or online -- while we still can, as long as the Christofascits haven't gone after public libraries and private book sellers online and in brick and mortar buildings yet!
The reason I stated the above -- that maybe some parents and school board members and even governors have read history and understood what follows when government starts restricting what the public, adults and children, can read.
"...that maybe some parents and school board members and even governors have NOT read..."
PS. I forgot to note that these same folks who are so worried about what children read are the same folks who want prayer back in school (because that's why America has gone "bad." Of course they completely ignore that when prayer was in school, in certain parts of this godly country, lynching laws made it lawful to carry out vigilante killings (and no one was ever brought to justice for the killings); women were not allowed to have credit cards, or access to birth control, Jews were kept out of certain country clubs, and gays were beaten and killed and those who were not, were stuffed and kept in the closet. Good times, eh?
All while kiddies were made to recite Christian prayers in school. Tough luck if you were Jewish or any other faith. The majority Christians believed their god was the only correct god to pray to, and damn anyone who complained or didn't agree!
Christians believed their god was the only correct god to pray to, and damn anyone who complained or didn't agree!
Those folks should read the book "Joy". A book based on five days in which the Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama had an in depth discussion on joy and compassion. It is an amazing and moving book. It shows how two remarkable men, from different spiritual paths can collaborate and teach their "flocks" on that love, compassion, and joy is possible on any spiritual path. Or, even no spiritual path.
I'm pretty sure neither of these spiritual leaders would agree with the DeSantis and his antiquated views.
This is part of MAGA thinking. In the past individual school boards and a majority of the vote in those boards did indeed decide what could and could not be taught in their school. Unfortunately, they have not kept up with the facts and scientific data that shows their thinking wrong, yet, they still believe they have the right to decide what should be taught in their school right or wrong. Stupidity is hard to overcome.
Ms. Shaw, Interesting you bring up control. The party of the left demands everyone drive a battery car even though there is little support and little infrastructure to support them. The left is trying to ban gas stoves and heating even though it is the best form of producing heat. Of course this stays with their eliminating small business. The left demands that every student be taught wokeism to appease the 2% of the population. The left demands teaching black history which includes CRT and queer social movements that have nothing to do with African-American history. The left supports a president who willfully allows millions of people cross the Southern border which is resulting in thousands of deaths and millions of fentanyl tablets being brought in.
I'm pretty sure DeSantis won because the majority of voters in his state agree with him so he must be pandering to the majority, shame on him.
skud "The party of the left demands everyone drive a battery car even though there is little support and little infrastructure to support them."
Does "the party of the left" threaten anyone who doesn't want a battery powered car with a felony? That's what DeSantis has decreed in the "Free State of Florida." Felony charges if a book is not approved by DeSantis's anti-book laws.
Did you deliberately miss this point? "Teachers with unvetted materials or books found to be inappropriate could face a third-degree felony charge."
You unvetted claim that the left is trying to ban gas stoves shows me and everyone here that you NEVER research rumors and gossip to see if any of it is true. FAUX NOOZ or Newsmax takes a rumor and runs with it; their viewers believe it and repeat the lie.
"The White House has disavowed enacting any such ban at the federal level. (“The president does not support banning gas stoves,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters after the issue came up repeatedly at Wednesday’s news briefing.)
Other Democrats in Washington are looking to avoid the uproar — including the Virginia Democrat who helped spark the fuss.
“I’m loath to touch the stove again,” said Aaron Fritschner, a spokesperson for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), when asked for comment about this week’s stove backlash. “It was a very stupid news cycle. So little of it was based in fact."
"So little of what skud posted is based in fact," but that didn't stop him from coming here and posting unvetted rumors.
skud "The left demands that every student be taught wokeism to appease the 2% of the population. The left demands teaching black history which includes CRT and queer social movements that have nothing to do with African-American history."
Can you, skud, give me a definition of "wokeism" and exactly where it is taught?
I'll give you a little help: Here the dictionary's definition of "woke:"
woker; wokest
Synonyms of woke
chiefly US slang
1
: aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)
But we will only succeed if we reject the growing pressure to retreat into cynicism and hopelessness. … We have a moral obligation to "stay woke," take a stand and be active; challenging injustices and racism in our communities and fighting hatred and discrimination wherever it rises.
—Barbara Lee
Can you explain why being "woke" is so frightening and anger-inducing to the Trumpists? I'd like to hear YOU explain the evil in "wokeism."
skud "The left demands teaching black history which includes CRT and queer social movements that have nothing to do with African-American history."
Please tell us what CRT exactly is and where it is taught. Do you know?
Also, do you have any acquaintance with Black writers and Civil Rights leaders.
Do you know ANYTHING about the lives of Richard Wright? James Baldwin? Bayard Rustin? They are important Black Americans. Come back and tell me what they have to do with African-American history. Please.
You're not alone in not understanding why certain elements are included in African-American history, gay African-Americans included.
THAT IS THE EXACT REASON THESE SUBJECTS NEED TO BE TAUGHT. You apparently don't know about their contributions, otherwise why do you question "queer social movements?"
From 1960s civil rights activist Bayard Rustin to Chicago's first lesbian mayor, Lori Lightfoot, Black LGBTQ Americans have long made history with innumerable contributions to politics, art, medicine and a host of other fields.
Why shouldn't American students learn about the contributions of these men and women?
Shaw, why do I suspect Skud won't, or can't, answer your questions?
Like when DeSantis’ lawyers were forced by the court to define “woke.” The lead lawyer described it as “The belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”
This real definition terrifies the radical Right, so they twist it. Same for CRT, and "the left". Nobody here demands the confiscation of stoves or guns, or many other fringe positions, but the dulled senses of the Right see us as if we were in lock-step conformity, like they are so good at.
The Right NEEDS to deny definitions and fabricate their own to suit their willful ignorance and paranoid narrative.
"Facts, schmacts. WE know everything."
Cons lie and skud sucksit up.
Sad.
Yeah Right! We’d really rather have Biden, he’s so Hip!
Ms. Shaw, Your post was interesting to read and contained some valid points. I believe CRT is a suppressing ideology meant to convince some that they are damned at birth because they are black. You believe there is systemic racism and I don't. Is there racism, absolutely on all sides but is it pervasive in all of our society, we differ in our opinion.
Rev, When was the last time I did not answer a question? Woke is mostly slag and since it is slang there are many definitions "aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice" or "politically liberal (as in matters of racial and social justice) especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme"
The true meaning is the past tense of wake but I doubt that is what we are discussing.
Liberals have done a very effective job of making minorities, especially African-Americans, feel suppressed and are not to blame for any failure they may have. If you can't succeed it is because society is against you from birth and there is systemic racism that keeps you suppressed. If you don't believe that we will prove it by indoctrination with CRT at an early age. This is not meant for Asian's because they are taught at birth they are superior and work to prove that.
What will be interesting to see is when more states have parental choice in where to send their kids to school, money follows the student, how many will move away from the public system. Part of this is because of fear especially is large cities where there are not enough police but African-American families are among the largest percent increase to convert to home schooling.
Good ol' Skud. He keeps proving my point how only white conservatives are allowed to define terms, especially if they originate in the Black community. They delight in converting them into racist invective.
They got away with demonizing the words liberal and socialism, so they take the authority to do so with any word they choose to redefine to suit their extreme bias and racism.
Does he think there's no such thing as "driving while Black"? He's loaded with false equivalence on racism.
Mighty white of him.
Ayup, you hit the nail squarely on its head for sure Dave. Sad yes. But that's the American fascist rightwing.
skud "Ms. Shaw, Your post was interesting to read and contained some valid points. I believe CRT is a suppressing ideology meant to convince some that they are damned at birth because they are black.
skud, CRT does NOT do what you claim. You've read only right-wing propaganda about it, I'm sorry to say.
"To understand why CRT has become such a flash point in the culture, it is important to understand what it is and what it is not. Opponents fear that CRT admonishes all white people for being oppressors while classifying all Black people as hopelessly oppressed victims. These fears have spurred school boards and state legislatures from Tennessee to Idaho to ban teachings about racism in classrooms. However, there is a fundamental problem: these narratives about CRT are gross exaggerations of the theoretical framework. The broad brush that is being applied to CRT is puzzling to academics, including some of the scholars who coined and advanced the framework.
CRT does not attribute racism to white people as individuals or even to entire groups of people. Simply put, critical race theory states that U.S. social institutions (e.g., the criminal justice system, education system, labor market, housing market, and healthcare system) are laced with racism embedded in laws, regulations, rules, and procedures that lead to differential outcomes by race. Sociologists and other scholars have long noted that racism can exist without racists. However, many Americans are not able to separate their individual identity as an American from the social institutions that govern us—these people perceive themselves as the system. Consequently, they interpret calling social institutions racist as calling them racist personally. It speaks to how normative racial ideology is to American identity that some people just cannot separate the two. There are also people who may recognize America’s racist past but have bought into the false narrative that the U.S. is now an equitable democracy. They are simply unwilling to remove the blind spot obscuring the fact that America is still not great for everyone."
(cont.)
(cont.)
"Scholars and activists who discuss CRT are not arguing that white people living now are to blame for what people did in the past. They are saying that white people living now have a moral responsibility to do something about how racism still impacts all of our lives today. Policies attempting to suffocate this much-needed national conversation are an obstacle to the pursuit of an equitable democracy. Supporters of CRT bans often quote Martin Luther King Jr’s proclamation that individuals should be viewed by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin, ignoring the context of the quote and the true meaning behind it.
To better understand how widespread these efforts are to ban critical race theory from U.S. classrooms, we did an assessment of anti-CRT state legislation. Here’s what we found:
Nine states (Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Arizona, and North Dakota) have passed legislation. Arizona’s legislation was overturned in November by the Arizona Supreme Court.
None of the state bills that have passed even actually mention the words “critical race theory” explicitly, with the exception of Idaho and North Dakota.
The legislations mostly ban the discussion, training, and/or orientation that the U.S. is inherently racist as well as any discussions about conscious and unconscious bias, privilege, discrimination, and oppression. These parameters also extend beyond race to include gender lectures and discussions."
(cont.)
(cont.)
"State actors in Montana and South Dakota have denounced teaching concepts associated with CRT. The state school boards in Florida, Georgia, Utah, and Alabama introduced new guidelines barring CRT-related discussions. Local school boards in Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia also criticized CRT.
Nearly 20 additional states have introduced or plan to introduce similar legislation.
You can find a summary of this legislation in the appendix to this post.
The approach of some Republican-led state legislatures is a method for continuing to roll back racial progress regarding everything from voting rights to police reform. This is a horrible idea and does an injustice to our kids. Laws forbidding any teacher or lesson from mentioning race/racism, and even gender/sexism, would put a chilling effect on what educators are willing to discuss in the classroom and provide cover for those who are not comfortable hearing or telling the truth about the history and state of race relations in the United States. Ironically, “making laws outlawing critical race theory confirms the point that racism is embedded in the law,” as sociologist Victor Ray noted.
Some parents are worried about their kids learning things in school that they do not have the capacity to address. As a college professor who does teach CRT as one of the many theoretical frameworks that I bring into the classroom, students are alarmed by how little they have learned about inequality. They are upset at their schools, teachers, and even their parents. So, this is the conundrum: teachers in K-12 schools are not actually teaching CRT. But teachers are trying to respond to students asking them why people are protesting and why Black people are more likely to be killed by the police.
Ultimately, we cannot employ colorblind ideology in a society that is far from colorblind. Everyone sees it, whether they acknowledge it consciously or not. As I wrote in a previous Brookings article on whether the U.S. is a racist country, systemic racism can explain racial disparities in police killings, COVID-19, and the devaluing of homes in Black neighborhoods. If we love America, we should want it to be the best it can be. Rather than run from the issue of racism in America, we should confront it head on. Our kids and country will be better for it."
I posted the entire article because some folks probably wouldn't take the time to read it all if I linked to it.
SOURCE
The US is perhaps one of the most individualistic cultures on the planet. It is this fierce individualism (as well as dualism) that European Americans are known for that is at least partially responsible for the way of many fail to undertand CRT. They see it as evil simply out of fear embracing the truth will somehow lead to making their own live worse.
The exact opposite is what would really happen.
"critical race theory states that U.S. social institutions (e.g., the criminal justice system, education system, labor market, housing market, and healthcare system) are laced with racism embedded in laws"
Can you point ant of these laws that are laced with racism. The African-American community was forever destroyed when LBJ passed the Great Society/War on Poverty which has proven to be a colossal failure. After 60 years the rate of poverty has not changed even after pouring trillions of dollars into helping the poor. The claim is not that people “choose to be on welfare,” but simply that social welfare programs incentivize poverty, which has an impact on communities that has nothing to do with individual intent. If a women wants the government to support her and her children a man cannot be involved. That has caused a 70% rate of non two parent households. Now we want to teach children that they are really not responsible for their actions and cannot succeed because their fate is determined by the color of their skin.
Don't tell that to an Asian family whose skin is non white as well. They would rather take responsibility for their outcome and stay in two parent households. The idea of expecting nothing has not proven effective and will continue to fail. Now instead of fostering multiple generations on welfare as a career path we are going to teach that you were born to fail because of the critical race theory.
“The black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life.”
Thomas Sowell
Skud keeps regurgitating the Right's talking points and ignores the facts. He still thinks only white conservatives are allowed to define CRT and racism. All he knows about CRT is from the White Right who tell him what to think. Anyone else's facts, experience and understanding will be ignored.
Every time, bless his heart.
This is what he calls "a colossal failure" as "social welfare programs incentivize poverty".
In 1964, the poverty rate was 19 percent. Ten years later, it was 11.2 percent
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/07/11/poverty-in-the-50-years-since-the-other-america-in-five-charts/
And this horrible LIE:
"we are going to teach that you were born to fail because of the critical race theory."
It's like he deliberately refuses to understand. Just regurgitate, regurgitate, and regurgitate.
Like facts and evidence are for libs and suckers to him.
Skud isn't even trying to support his claims with evidence. It's the Way of the Right. They just assume they have all the answers.
Dube, It is bless your little ol heart. The least you could do is get it right.
Do you know who Thomas Sowell is because he has a a lot to say about race and vision of Woke. He was a democrat until he found that they are only after controlling blacks rather then helping them.
According to your claim in 1974 the poverty rate was 11.2%. Now 48 years later it is 11.6% so social welfare must be working especially since the poverty rate for African-Americans is 19.5% or basically unchanged in 60 years. Native Americans are the highest percent in poverty and they are provided for by the government. What this shows is the government is fine keeping people poor and in their control. Nice try Dube now please get something right.
Skud,
Quoting a wealthy conservative Black man fails to consider the rest of the Black population.
Oreo comes to mind.
In 2016 Sowell first supported Ted Cruz and criticized Donald Trump, questioning whether Trump had "any principles at all, other than promoting Donald Trump?" Two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Sowell recommended voters to vote for Trump over Hillary Clinton. Then he got a big tax cut, further coddling him for his net worth of $15 million. ofhttps://www.networthleaks.com/thomas-sowell
Sowell whined that Biden would move to the "radical left" and "defund the police", even though Biden openly stated he would not. Honesty was never his thing.
He was a Democrat until 1972, probably when he got rich.
And bless your heart again, for your difficulty in reading comprehension.
This is what he calls "a colossal failure" as "social welfare programs incentivize poverty".
In 1964, the poverty rate was 19 percent. Ten years later, it was 11.2 percent
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/07/11/poverty-in-the-50-years-since-the-other-america-in-five-charts/
How about that? LBJ cut the poverty rate from 19% to 11.2% WHILE Sowell was a democrat.
My "claim" is sourced. Your claims are rarely, if ever, sourced on documented evidence.
Democrats "controlling blacks" is nonsense. THEY didn't gas a peaceful crowd of protesters to hold an upside down Bible to pander to idiots and zealots.
In case you didn't know, Native Americans were slaughtered, abused, ripped off and dumped into reservations in the middle of nowhere by the US govt. THAT was the "control" that put them into poverty for generations. It wasn't food stamps.
I bet you didn't know most people who relied on welfare no longer need it, and most who get food stamps have a job. Capitalism leaves many in poverty wages.
Cradle to grave welfare isn't a thing. "Lazy welfare takers" is both cruel and dishonest.
70% of Food Stamp Recipients Work Full-Time
https://www.manufacturing.net/labor/news/21203842/report-millions-of-full-time-workers-still-need-govt-aid
People like you will still call them lazy and "controlled" by the govt.
What both show skud is that poverty affects both Native Americans and African Americans at a higher percentage of their populations than whites. With, as you point out, Native Americans being the highest. Of course what is apparently lost on you and many cons is this, both Native Americans and African Americans were brutalized and oppressed for years by whites. It continued after slavery with Jim Crow in the south.
Slavery, Jim Crow, and how thw US government crushed NativeAmerican pride has had effect on both groups even to this present day. The effects of racism embeded in our system continues today. I realize this is difficult for many cons to accept, let alone undrstand skud. Nevertheless it is the truth. The narrative you've bought into, like so many other cons, does nothing whatsoever to improve race relations and move America forward. Making progress hand in hand with all our brothers and sisters of all races and nationalities.
We will stand together, make progress together, or we'll surely fall together. Be part of the solution skud, rather than continuing to be part of the problem.
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