Commentary | Republicans would rather kids be shot than let them read books – By Amanda Maracotte (Salon) / Feb 15, 2023
It’s about control, not protection: Despite Michigan State shooting, Republicans will treat books as more dangerous
Republicans know exactly what they believe is the greatest threat to American students: books.
In Florida, the possibility of a student choosing a book to read was deemed so threatening that teachers were ordered to lock up all the books until they could be — slowly, painfully — combed over by censors. Now, as the censors make their way through the books at a snail’s pace, word of what has been officially banned from shelves thus far is starting to trickle out. Unsurprisingly, in a state controlled by a retentive fascist like Gov. Ron DeSantis, the books deemed too dangerous to read mostly involve ideas like “gay couples exist” and “there was once a civil rights movement.” As Tom Fontaine of Trib Live reports:
PEN America, a New York-based nonprofit that works to defend free expression, reported the district had removed at least 176 titles from classrooms. They include works such as “My Two Dads and Me,” “My Two Moms and Me,” “Celebrating Different Beliefs,” “The Gift of Ramadan,” “The Berenstain Bears and the Big Question” and books about Rosa Parks, the Underground Railroad and Japanese internment camps during World War II.
Also removed was “Roberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” a 2005 book by Dormont’s Jonah Winter.
The 32-page book references racism Clemente sometimes endured.
