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Dec 5 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
In Escambia, Florida, someone is trying to ban this children's book about Wilma Rudolph, the African-American sprinter who set world records in running and won gold medals at the 1960 Olympics.

What's so "controversial" about it?...
The teacher who filed the complaint-- which led to the book being restricted to back rooms and requiring specific parental permission for a student to even see it -- zeroed in on these 2 pages as allegedly breaking new Florida education laws, incl the Stop WOKE act.
The book is no longer restricted, but still "under review."

This is an encapsulation of the kinds of stories, histories being targeted for banning all over... In fact, someone tried to ban the same book in Prosper ISD, Texas earlier this year 👇👇👇
In Escambia this one teacher has filed challenges to over 100 books, leading dozens to be restricted to back rooms while under review. Here, read about the incredible life of Wilma Rudolph. Why ban this??!
Read more here on the background to the ongoing banning in Escambia, which is continuing to place barriers between students and books, all at the whims of a person who would file THIS kind of objection to THIS Wilma Rudolph biography. #FreeTheBooks
pnj.com/story/news/loc…
And more on the recent developments in Escambia from @FLFreedomRead, which does an incredible job keeping tabs on all these shenanigans.
Update: the quote objected to in the book comes directly from Wilma Rudolph. They are objecting to her own account of racial discrimination in her own words.

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More from @jonfreadom

Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Nov 22
Book banning is not just people showing up to school boards anymore. 🧵

In numerous states, new fronts are emerging-- state laws instilling fear in schools, or proposals to wholly defund public libraries.
E.g. New law in UT, HB 374, leading to bans 👇 ksl.com/article/505196…
Similar story in MO, with SB 775, that we @PENamerica called attention to last week. Fear of reprisal--and criminal punishment--led to an astonishing array of book bans. We found at least 300 or so, but that's a minimum count. pen.org/spiegelman-atw…
In TN, a state-appointed commission is setting new guidelines for books in schools. The body will soon be able to issue book bans; as any decision on the suitability of any single book in any single school will apply state-wide. So much for local control?
tennessean.com/story/news/pol…
Read 8 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Nov 13
In the race for most draconian school district, Keller ISD in TX is leading. They vote tomorrow on a policy that would ban books with "gender fluidity". This is the district that prev. banned The Bible, graphic adap. of Diary of Anne Frank, among others... dallasnews.com/opinion/commen…
The policy would ban books w/ "discussion or depiction" of gender fluidity or which "espouses the view that gender is merely a social construct" from ALL schools. Would surely be interpreted widely against LGBTQ. They want to close minds to the real world.
More background on the district... 👀

nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna4…
Read 4 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Nov 7
A school board immediately revokes access to a long list of books in response to a thinly-supported objection, usually from 1 person.

Board members don't:
❎ read the books
❎ follow policies
❎ say how long these removals will last

It's called book banning.
📚📚📚🧵
Boards say all the time books are just 'under review'. That's what a board member said last week in Beaufort, SC, where they've recently removed access to 99 books based on a single complaint.
In Duval in FL, board says 176 books are just "under review"... since January. There was no official challenge. District ordered the books removed from classrooms. The books are about non-white and LGBTQ+ identities. Teachers and students can't use them.
bookriot.com/duval-county-p… ImageImage
Read 5 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Oct 1
Stop & consider what's happening in Escambia, FL.

116 books are being "restricted" in libraries just b/c one person threw them on a list, parlayed from online reviews.

ZERO due process. No one even READ the books first. 🧵 wkrg.com/northwest-flor…
Like everywhere, the "list" is heavily anti-LGBTQ and targets books that deal with contemporary politics, history related to racism. Swept off the stacks into a restricted section based on 1 person's objection using random reviews from the web. Here's all 116:
116 books in one swoop! Lots of familiar targets incl @nhannahjones, @DrIbram @IamGMJohnson @ashleyhopeperez @KyleLukoff @JazzJennings__ @jodipicoult @SJMaas @lxgino @ShaunieDarko @JoKnowles @EllenHopkinsLit @angiecthomas @MargaretAtwood @halseanderson @DashkaSlater @JerryCraft
Read 14 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Oct 1
Today's LGBTQ+ history month-- but it's being censored in schools, esp under Florida's "Don't say gay" law and #EdScare.

One teacher in Palm Beach changed her lesson on Sally Ride - the first US woman to fly in space-- to omit the fact that she was a lesbian.
Full story in @washingtonpost from June. Lesson alterations to erase LGBTQ+ history and identities are likely happening across the state.

Coupled with bans targeting LGBTQ+ authors and stories, young people are being deprived of their right to education. washingtonpost.com/education/2022…
Weeks before "DSG" law took effect, 11 boxes of books from 1 school district were dropped off on the doorstep of the National Stonewall Museum in Fort Lauderdale. Why? Likely for having LGBTQ+ characters and fears of political and parental backlash
sun-sentinel.com/news/education…
Read 9 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Jul 13
So... how bout that national teacher shortage, eh? It's basically everywhere. Some of this is due to long-standing challenges, burnout from the pandemic.. But also undeniable that teachers resigning b/c of rampant politicization, gag orders, book bans, threats, intimidation 🧵
Florida: short 9,000 teachers
news4jax.com/news/local/202…
Tennessee: short 1,000 teachers
newschannel5.com/news/a-crisis-…
Read 12 tweets

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