During his debate with California Governor Gavin Newsom, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said his state’s book ban was a problem. “false narrative”. PEN America counted 1,406 book bans in Florida this past school year. But don’t take our word that Florida is banning books – take DeSantis’s.
This year, DeSantis’ Education Department asked Florida schools to compile the list of books they have banned and then publish it. Florida’s Own List, published in September, has 300 referrals in 20 of the school’s 67 districts in the 2022-2023 school year. Some of these books have been banned in several districts. Overall, the state said school districts received 1,218 objections about the books.
Even though Florida admits it bans books, the state’s list underestimates the actual number of bans. The list is based on districts’ self-reporting bans each year following complaints from parents or community members. PEN America’s count is more comprehensive, based on news reports, public records requests and district websites and guidelines between July 2022 and June 2023.
Any way you count it, there’s no doubt Florida Book Bans Not a Hoax – something DeSantis himself admits when he talks about removing books containing “CRT” and “pornography” from schools.
FALSE CLAIM: TONI MORRISON IS NOT BANNED IN FLORIDA
THE TRUTH: MORRISON’S BOOKS WERE BANNED 21 TIMES IN FLORIDA DURING THE 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR
DeSantis claimed that Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison had not been banned in Florida. But Morrison’s books appear four times on Florida’s Own List.
PEN America counted 21 Cases Morrison’s Books Were Banned in Florida school districts during the 2022-2023 school year. Publicly documented Toni Morrison book removals in Florida include those of Clay County, Hamilton County, Martin County, Okaloosa CountyAnd Pinellas County. Morrison’s bans were also documented during the 2021-2022 school year, such as in Jackson, Lee and Sarasota counties, as recorded by the Florida Freedom to Read Project.
FALSE CLAIM: DELETED BOOKS ARE PORNOGRAPHIC
THE TRUTH: NONE OF THE BANNED BOOKS IS PORNOGRAPHY
None of the books DeSantis cited in the debate fit the well-established legal and colloquial definitions of “pornography” or “indecency.” But it’s no coincidence that many reflect LGBTQ+ identities. 36% of book bans counted in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years included LGBTQ+ representations.
Books that reflect LGBTQ+ identities save lives and provide important mirrors for young people to see themselves in literature. Take Flamethrower, by Mike Curato, one of the books frequently targeted by the ban in Florida and cited in Thursday night’s debate. Curator explain to PEN America that the book is “It’s about telling someone that even if someone doesn’t agree with who you are as a person, you still deserve to be here. There is a place for you, and no one has the right to take it away from you. »
Making a book available to students in a school library or classroom library for voluntary reading is not the same as teaching the book as part of the school curriculum. Librarians and educators choose books for their literary and educational value and to reflect the diversity of their students and the world.
FALSE CLAIM: BOOK BANS ARE “LOCAL”
THE TRUTH: BOOK BANS RESULT FROM DESANTIS’ LAWS, COUPLED WITH PRESSURE FROM DESANTIS-FRIENDLY ADVOCACY GROUPS
When Sean Hannity, the debate moderator, asked DeSantis whether the bans were state or local, DeSantis responded that they were “local.” It’s misleading. Book removals are taking place on a district-by-district basis, but educators and media specialists across the state have been ordered to review and remove books to comply with new state laws, including “Don’t say gay” its expansion bill HB1069And “Stop
WAKE UP” District administrators cite these laws as explanations for their book withdrawals.
Additionally, PEN America research also shows the presence of advocacy groups, like Moms for Liberty – an organization closely aligned with Florida’s governor – can have an outsized influence on book bans. Moms for Liberty members challenged the books across the state, like in Santa Rosaoften lobbying school boards or using their positions on the school board to vote in favor of banning the books.
Saying a book ban is not enacted statewide doesn’t make it any less of a ban for children in schools who can no longer access the book.
False allegation: PEN AMERICA count is overestimated
THE TRUTH: PEN AMERICA’S ACCOUNT IS CONSERVATIVE
Sometimes critics like DeSantis claim that PEN America overestimates the number of book bans. The truth is, PEN America Index of Banned Books is a vast undercount of the actual state of book removals. It does not include the massive closure of certain classrooms and school libraries, nor does it take into account “soft bans” such as restrictions aimed at allowing children to read above their grade level or teacher-level decisions to exclude certain books to avoid conflict. PEN America also does not count book challenges that do not result in bans.
PEN America relies on information primarily from local journalists, school district websites and school board minutes, and organizational partners. And, occasionally, governors and their education departments.
As we reported in our Banned in the United States, report this spring, “during the 2022-2023 school year, many states have enacted “blanket bans” in which entire classrooms and school libraries were suspended, closed or emptied of books, either permanently or temporarily. This is largely because teachers and librarians in several states have been asked to catalog entire collections for public review at short notice, under threat of sanctions under vague new laws. These “Wholesale bans” have involved the removal of books that were previously available to students, in a way that was impossible to track or quantify.
PEN America defines a reading ban as “as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parental or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by legislators or other government officials, which leads to the complete removal of a previously accessible book from availability to students, or when access to a book is restricted or diminished.
Florida’s own definition in their report includes “records that have been withdrawn or discontinued by any of the Florida boards of education in response to an objection raised by a parent of a student of a public school in the school district or a resident of the county in which the district is located school. » Florida’s definition conveniently leaves out books that are removed in an attempt to comply with state law.
Whatever the definition, the results are the same: the books are banned in Florida.
THE VERDICT
DeSantis hasn’t just tallied hundreds of book bans in his state — he’s campaigned on the issue repeatedly. He hosted events featuring oversized props, including a poster of the book. Call me Maxabout a transgender child, and waved pages of Genderqueer during press conferences. His administration targeted classroom discussions about LGBTQ+ identities with “Don’t Say Gay,” launched the “war on woke” in classrooms with its “Stop WOKE” law, and targeted the teaching of AP African American Studies And psychology.
If DeSantis wants people to stop calling him a book banner, he should stop banning books.
