This Book Was Banned From Access By Elementary School Children In Florida
"The distinction between guiding students to books and restricting students from books is instructive. Consider that "The Hill We Climb" was not the only book challenged or moved off the elementary school shelves. Three other titles were relocated and restricted to middle school students at the same time: "The ABCs of Black History" by Rio Cortez, "Love to Langston"by Tony Medina and "Cuban Kids"by George Ancona.
The idea that students would need to demonstrate reading proficiency at a fifth grade level before accessing these books, which are written for elementary level readers, is alarming. Not to mention the subsequent mismatch, given that middle school students are not likely to be interested in an A-to-Z picture book."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/desantis-is-wrong-book-bans-in-florida-schools-and-in-other-states-arent-a-hoax/ar-AA1cr76f
B is for beautiful, I'm talking to you! Your voice, your height, your hair, your hue.
B is for brave, for bright and for bold, for those who stood up, even when they were told to step back, stand down, remember their place.
B is for brotherhood, for believing in grace.
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This book, clearly a picture book for children, was placed on the restricted list in Florida schools after a parent complained about it. I watched the author read the entire book in about 15 minutes. You dont have to look at the whole thing, a minute or two will do to show you that there is nothing objectionable about this book other than that it black-centric and mentions slavery and other discrimination.
It also is filled with a positive self image for black kids, which evidently infuriates some people.
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It almost seems like the school politicians down there want to give a book like this a stamp of disapproval, just to prove they can. That or they are afraid of DeSantis and his culture police.
They are just trying to prevent the indoctrination, of children in Florida, of the liberal concept of "equality of races". Even the Declaration of Independence has become "woke".
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Pure, unadulterated wokeness.
If Dr. Seuss books can be restricted for being offensive then any book can be restricted for being offensive. 'School politicians' set Dr. Seuss as a very, very low standard for restricting books. Too late to cry about it now.
The only people who "restricted" Dr. Seuss books was his Estate that decided those titles wouldn't be published anymore.
Didn't Chicago Public Libraries pull some of his books?
Dijon mustard won't make that turd sandwich palatable. People don't care about nuance, they only see that Dr. Seuss has been restricted. Dr. Seuss has become the very, very low standard for restricting books.
If Dr. Seuss can be restricted then any book can be restricted. It's not a high bar.
Nice pretzel logic you have there. No matter how you twist it, his Estate decided not to publish those books anymore. It's not at all the same thing as asswipes protesting, complaining and whining until books are removed or restricted.
What do you object to about The ABC's Of Black History ?
Did the estate demand that published copies be removed from libraries? Did the estate demand that published copies not be used in teaching?
If Dr. Seuss can be restricted then any book can be restricted. It's a low bar. And no political song and dance will change that.
The obvious objection would be preferential treatment for political purposes. There are a lot of books available to teach ABCs and reading so this particular book isn't necessary. Pick a different book; pretty simple.
The book is not purporting to teach ABC's. If you dont know what you are talking about why not just stop talking?
No the estate did not do any of those things. Those were decisions by the libraries, etc., and not because of asswipes bitching, whining and crying for those books to be restricted like what's going on now. The two are not on par with each other and the fact that you try to equate the two is a YOU problem.
You are aware that a page of the book was highlighted? Yes, the book is intended to teach ABCs and reading. Those are the facts. And denying the facts won't make them go away.
Have you considered that the author published this particular book to exploit children? Who is the author?
What was the parent's complaint?
I'm not sure, other than that it is black history. There is nothing in it about gender identity.
Leftists need to learn what the word banned means; and then stop using it!
The books are not banned. They are set at a certain reading level at the school library. This doesn't stop parents from getting the books at the public library; or (gasp) purchasing them for their children if they feel they are required reading.
I heard the entire book on the video. There is very little in there that third or fourth graders wouldnt understand. It is essentially a picture book, an illustrated book that children of any school age could enjoy just for the illustrations.
Restricting this book is nothing but a form of trying to assert the authority of the state.
Maybe an ABC picture book is appropriate for YOUR middle school kids but I would be really concerned if MY middle school kids were reading at that level. BTW, The Republicans are also attacking the public libraries.
Ditto for rightists and 'woke'.
But then what is the left going to freak out about?
See, that's the problem, the decision would be on the PARENTS. The very people the left have been trying to push out of the decision making process when it comes to THEIR kids.
Well hey, now they can take their money and go to a private school where they have no say about their children's education...
Or the parents can stand up and force the school to stop targeting the kids. But we've already seen that parents that stand up to the school board are labeled "domestic terrorists" and targeted by the FBI.
Is that what the right wing wants? All kids to go to a private institution.
Comical really. All the yelling and screaming about what their children are being taught, yet let them yell and scream at the private institutions or try to tell them to ban certain books and I bet they tell those people if they don't like it, go somewhere else.
That is exactly how the free market is supposed to work. You don't like what Bud lite represents? by Miller lite. you don't like Target, try Kohls etc. if you don't like what your private school represents, you go somewhere else with your dollars.
Point being, these private institutions would not put up with the bullshit we see parents pull at public.
Irony is lost on some...
Give it up with the conversation in your head. I made no mention of any of that. Keep up.
Actually you are wrong, they absolutely would put up with it depending on the numbers, they can't stay in business without students. again that is how free market works, if a company doesn't give their customers what they want, they go elsewhere. PERIOD!
You still fail to understand anything I wrote.
So according to you it is only public institutions that are targeting kids...
Seems to be the only thing I get out of your posts.
then how about you do that instead of ranting and raving about Bud Lite, Target, etc?
Nobody is forcing you to buy their products, are they?
I read and understood what you wrote, the fact of the matter is you are wrong with no idea how the free market works, One parent they may tell to go elsewhere, but the numbers that are turning out to these meetings? they can't afford to lose that many customers and stay in business, that is a fact.
Deflection fail, it was an illustration, a comparison if you will, the point that you so badly missed isn't that you aren't forced to buy anything except a worthless public education if you are poor in a state without a voucher system. with the parents controlling the funds, they can choose Bud lite or Miller, they aren't stuck with a defective product (Bud Lite) because they have no choice.
get woke, George
Maybe you should expand your vocabulary.
How absolutely idiotic, it's a frickin picture book for grade school for Christ's sake. Our new motto in Florida is ''Florida where intelligence goes to die"....
Forget that we have Proud Boys on the Miami Dade and Sarasota Republican Executive committes, we can't have a picture book for black history for grade school kids.
Talk about some screwed up priorities.
The book in question has 2,306 reviews on Amazon, 91% gave it 5 stars, 6% gave it 4 stars, 1% gave it 3 stars, 1% gave it 1 star and that person found it "too elementary". But hey, it's Florida and all it takes is one disgruntled citizen to be the final adjudicator.
You didn't specify if all of those Amazon reviews are from "Verified Buyers". Even Yelp, Trip Advisor, NYT (etc) have allowed people and bots to post bogus 'reviews' on different topics for many years.
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It never stops or ends, does it?
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"there is nothing objectionable about this book other than that it black-centric and mentions slavery and other discrimination."
Ah, and there's the rub!
Nothing like getting grade school kids indoctrinated at an early age about race and slavery and how awful white people are.
As if these are serious problems today. And who needs reading, writing, math, and critical thinking anyway
You are correct, grade school children do not need to know the "truths" about the world, when lies work so much better, and simple ignorance is the absolute best.
Instead of teaching them this country's tue history9 the good and the bad), let's just teach them about the imaginary sky fairy and his commandments of how you should behave. Since teaching children about the existence of something they cannot sense themselves is nothing like indoctrinating them with true historical facts.
We're talking about very young children....ages 5-8 or so. Way too young to have their minds filled with leftist mush.
The Nazi's started their brainwashing of the Hitler Youth at a somewhat older age
Black history is leftist mush?
I should have said lies.
Seems too USA-centric to be called Black History.
True history is considered leftish mush by the right wing.
There is nothing in the book about how awful white people are. I dont think the word white even appears in the book.
Why are you reading children's books?
Dont make me go off on you Greg
A better question is why are you commenting on/complaining about a book you have never read?
you made me giggle
This is a drawing by Dr Seuss, although not from one of the childrens books
Not only does the scene suggest cannibalism, the two Africans depicted are shown with ape like features, particularly the mouths.
This may have been acceptable in the 1930's, but it is not now. Times change.
Don't visit The continent of Africa much do you.....................Perhaps some of your reading skills should be spent with a subscription to National Geographic.
I'm not sure what your point is. Are you trying to say Africans resemble apes?
Nope. Just looking actually at the clothing or lack thereof that is still predominant in some tribes
I didnt comment about the clothing.
No you didn't but your vivid imagination saw suggested cannibalism as well as ape like features. Looks to me like meal prep for the tribe. [Deleted]
Stop embarrassing yourself.
Isn't 98.8% of our DNA shared with chimpanzees?
Stop moving the goalpost. Those don't look like Seuss pictures..................Any more in your collection? And as said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Not Africa but one good goalpost move deserves another.
Your comment is so inane it is not worth any further response.
I dont see a lot of white people drawn with ape like features.
That's because all non-white artists aren't racists.
First, let's stop with murdering the English language.
Are these books illegal? Can students, or anyone else get in trouble for possessing them? If not, they aren't banned. Putting books on the shelf in a library that will appeal to the right age group is the opposite of banning. If you actually want to ensure a book is never read one would put where its too advanced to appeal to the age group looking at it.
Many progressives have some sort of compulsive need to be oppressed and search for imagined slights to hysterically overreact to so they can congratulate themselves on their heroism on surviving despite being the most victimized people in history the world. Witness extended voting in Georgia being called "Jim Crow 2.0. " So now, amongst progressives desperate to role play as fascism victims, putting books in a library on the shelf recommended by the book publisher is "book banning" and they can pretend to be oppressed heroes dealing in prohibited ideas (which can, of course, be owned by anyone and read anywhere without any fear of punishment).
Even more egregious than making which shelf in a library a book is placed on a national story is that it's absolute bullshit from top to bottom. After the progressive freak out, the school sent a letter to the parents confirming the book always was and remained available for all students to check out and read.
You have a story and you're sticking to it. There is nothing objectionable in the ABC's Of Black History and nothing that cannot be understood by 8 9 or 10 year olds. And because it is a picture book it could be enjoyed by 6 and 7 year olds even if they didnt quite understand all the words.
This book has no "gender" issues, so the complaint is simply that it focuses solely on black history.
I listened to the author read the entire short book, which took her about 15 minutes. Keeping this book away from young school children is totally wrong.
I don't recall ever experiencing books being banned although D.H.Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover as not being considered appropriate reading for children, but it wasn't banned. Of course there was no such thing as Playboy or Hustler when I was a kid. Thankfully I got all my education in Canada, but although my kids got all their education up to receiving their Bachelor of Arts degrees in Canada, they did get their Master of Arts degrees (son has one, daughter has two) in the USA. It did provide them with very credible basic education that led to their ability to excel in their higher education and go on to very successful careers. I truly pity the American kids who have to suffer the consequences of conservative-controlled restricted education, but I'm aware that it is meant not to prepare the kids with a well-rounded education, but to lead to sufficient ignorance to make stupid choices when they vote.