Going Backward
These days we seem to see more and more movement to the political right from Florida. The State’s policies regarding the LGBTQ community are far from fair and push decency out the door. Is this how we were taught to treat people? Are we afraid to stand up to injustice? Is our ignorance so great that we have lost sight of the basic tenets that make us who we are? Why is free speech only applicable when we want to make our point? Why does it not apply to everyone, anytime, anymore?
Not too long ago a teacher was forced to resign after showing her class a picture of Michelangelo’s sculpture, David. Parents accused her of showing their kids pornography. 16th century pornography, that the rest of the world views as a very special piece of art.
We just experienced National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, be judged by a Florida mom who complained about and won her move to have the poem, “The Hill We Climb”, removed from elementary school curriculum at the Bob Graham Educational Center. Now only middle school and high school aged kids have access to this work. This parent, Daily Salinas, felt that the poem did not support the curriculum. Three other books were also “aged up” at the time. This school in the Miami-Dade County school district agreed to this restriction. It may not specifically support the curriculum, but it marks a moment of brilliance and history that every age group can benefit from. I hope we all felt mesmerized and exhilarated, as I did, when we heard Gorman reciting her work at President Biden’s inauguration.
Gorman’s response, “for those claiming my book wasn’t banned just aged up. ‘The Hill We Climb’ is an inaugural poem for the world. Relocating it to older age group library shelves by its nature bars younger and equally deserving generations from access to said moment in history.”
Support has been coming in from many directions. The Miami-Dade Mayor has invited Gorman to speak in her county. And from New Roads elementary, the school Gorman attended:
“When our students see this book, they are reminded that they too are authors, thinkers, speakers, social justice advocates, champions for those who have been marginalized, and compassionate young people who want to listen and be heard.”
And it keeps getting better. Salinas has appeared at rallies that have protested school curriculum that mention LGBTQ rights and critical race theory. She has shared a post of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” an antisemitic hoax that has circulated online. She has been seen with Proud Boys and Moms for Liberty at public gatherings. Although she states that she is not a member of either group and has since apologized for the antisemitic online post. To add insult to injury, she recently came out and admitted that she had only read parts of Gorman’s poem and the three other books she objected to. Just so we have this straight, she complains to the school about certain reading materials. Manages to get them aged up, essentially banned from younger children and then admits she has not actually read them all the way through. Really? Are the inmates running the asylum now?
Another frightening and sad Florida development occurred at a meeting of the Hernando County School Board. Hundreds turned out to listen and speak during an investigation of a Fifth-grade teacher who played a Disney movie for her class. Jenna Barbee teaches at Winding Waters K-8. A school Board member Shannon Rodriguez reported her to the Florida Department of Education for showing the Disney movie, “Strange World”. This film has an openly LGBTQ+ character in a key role.
Barbee’s argument is that the movie related to an Earth Science segment that the class was doing at the time. And that all of the parents had signed a waiver allowing her to show PG movies to her class. But that does not matter because the School Board and State Department of Education only care if it is a violation of the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Teachers are “scared to say anything that will get them fired.”
Students and parents tried to defend the action and speak out against these laws and beliefs that are moving education backward in time. They are literally forcing our children into a state of ignorance that will, unfortunately perpetuate these practices in the future. Fortunately, many have come out against the restrictions placed on teachers and against the laws that dominate the state now.
“You need to listen to us when we say that the rainbow in our classroom is not indoctrinating us, seeing two girls together in a Disney movie is not brainwashing us, and your policies are not protecting us from anything”.
In other acts of defiance and perhaps exasperation. Hernando County has lost 33 teachers to resignation in the year. WFLA TV says that Barbee is one of 50 teachers that plans to resign from the school district in the near future. The station also discovered that the same district will be down 150 teachers this next year. Maybe, Daily Salinas can teach a class since she is a part of the problem driving teachers out of the district.
Leading the way in all of this is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who has chosen this platform among other hate programs to launch himself into the Presidency of the United States. We simply cannot let this happen.
Lastly, Shannon Rodriguez, elected to school board last fall was endorsed by Moms for Liberty. She feels that there is “smut” and “porn” on our school’s library shelves and it is her goal to remove them. I guess that the next step is to start burning books. And here is a warning to us all. This is the new trend. The Far Right has enacted this plan to change the United States from the ground up. They are starting at City Councils and School Boards. They are working to change or at the very least disrupt the processes of Democracy. The plan did not seem like much when I first heard about it, but it seems to be working in some places. Beware people! It might be your town next.
