Orlando Sentinel: Rep. Maxwell Frost: For love and freedom, we must fight bad book bans | Commentary
My mother, a special education teacher of 37 years, raised me to appreciate what school can be: a place where, with supportive and inspiring instruction, young people can learn a-nd grow into their best selves. Reading is a critical part of that education.
But in Florida, with a teacher vacancy crisis, average SAT scores dropping to almost dead last in the nation, and curriculum under attack, our schools have instead become a frontline for politics, not learning. Florida’s law allowing anyone to pull books from classrooms and school libraries leaves leaves educators powerless to push back against the education crisis and letting down millions of children each and every day.
In the last year, more than 3,000 books were banned in schools in the U.S., with 40% of those bans occurring in Florida alone. These include texts central to advanced placement exams and even the plays of Shakespeare.
And these book bans don’t just affect “woke liberals,” as some folks would have you believe. All our students suffer when these bans go into place.
Take this year’s U.S. News and World Report college rankings, which saw the University of Florida, Florida State University, the University of South Florida and New College of Florida all slip in the rankings after months of relentless authoritarian attacks from Gov. Ron DeSantis and his GOP-controlled Legislature, including hostile takeovers of college campuses, eliminating DEI programs, and attacking liberal school faculty and administrators.
The education, well-being and future of our kids are under threat from a handful of extremists. Under the guise of parental rights, Florida passed a book-banning law that’s been exploited by two people in particular, who are responsible for more than half of our state’s book challenges. One of them claims the beloved PBS Arthur series “damages souls.” The other claims to be a proud member of the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Book bans are unpopular, undemocratic, and an outright attack on Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ existence that serves only to harm students. Out of love for every young person in Central Florida, we must fight back.
I have spoken with school-board members, teachers, parents, and students who shared frustration and heartache over these attacks on education. With tears in her eyes, a local teacher told me that she was forced to close her popular classroom library. The subject she teaches? Reading.
It’s no mistake that most bans target books about the experiences of Black, brown, and LGBTQ+ people, from award-winning children’s books like “And Tango Makes Three” to classics like “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Students in Central Florida told me this gives a simple, dangerous message: if these characters must disappear, then there must be something wrong with them.
Groups like Moms for Censorship (aka Moms for Liberty) ignore the fact that there are already multiple levels of approval in place to make sure that only age-appropriate books are on the shelves. This truth is inconvenient in the face of their crusade against librarians who read and determine book appropriateness and the flat-out censorship of groups of people they don’t like.
This is what’s at stake, Florida. A generation of children who feel isolated and ashamed, who fall behind, and whose history is erased. Our lawmakers in Congress must step in to help students in Florida and in other states with rampant book banning.
Earlier this month, I introduced the Fight Book Bans Act out of love for the students of Central Florida, to help fight to bring back a safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environment, one that doesn’t discriminate against students or books based on ethnicity or sexual orientation.
My bill would allow the U.S. Department of Education to reimburse school districts that have expended resources in the defense of their books. It is a first step to fight censorship and attacks on students’ freedom.
Letting love lead our policies means fighting back against extremist bullies who deprive young people of opportunity, acceptance, and knowledge. I won’t stop until all students get back their freedom to read.
Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democrat, serves Florida’s 10th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Source: Orlando Sentinel