While leaving for a two-week family vacation, Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted his red state rivals with a selfie tweet showing him sitting at a table with a neatly arranged stack of novels and saying he’s “reading some banned books to find out what these states are so afraid of.” /p>
The Democratic governor’s office confirmed it was targeting efforts in Republican-led states, including Texas and Florida, to keep controversial books out of schools. Newsom’s tweet showed him reading Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” with a stack that included Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” George Orwell’s “1984,” and Art Spiegelman’s “Maus.”
read some banned books to find out what these states are so afraid of. pic.twitter.com/z6ej01nzje
You are reading: California banned books list
— gavin newsom (@gavinnewsom) March 31, 2022
It didn’t take long for the twitterverse to point out that at least one of the four identifiable books in his pile, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” had recently been removed from the curriculum by a California school district.
“California awakening progressives (newsom voters) have been banned from killing a mockingbird for ‘anti-racist’ purposes,” florida governor press secretary christina pushaw tweeted in response.
California Awakening Progressives (newsom voters) banned killing a mockingbird for “anti-racist” purposes https://t.co/o8vz4qin9v
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— christina pushaw 🇺🇸 (@christinapushaw) March 31, 2022
According to a newsweek account, the burbank unified school district in September 2020 dropped “to kill a mockingbird,” mark twain’s “the adventures of huckleberry finn,” john steinbeck’s “of mice and men,” The Cay” by Theodore Taylor” and Mildred D. taylor’s “thunder roll, hear my cry” from the syllabus. all but the novel of two had been required reading.
burbank’s decision came after complaints, mostly from parents, many of them black, that the novels include racial slurs and demeaning portrayals of black people. The district’s action was opposed by groups like Pen America, which represents poets, playwrights, publishers, essayists and novelists, who gathered 890 signatures to reverse it.
new: pen america calls on the burbank unified school district to lift a temporary ban on several books dealing with race in america and allow these books to be taught in burbank classrooms. sign our petition today: https://t.co/rqkszynnu6.
– pen america (@penamerica) October 14, 2020
The Burbank Unified Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent did not respond to questions about whether the books remain outside of the curriculum.
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Newsom’s office said Burbank’s action was different than efforts the governor criticized in other states because the books were simply taken off the reading list, not completely removed from classrooms or schools.
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in contrast, newsom’s office said the texas governor. Greg Abbott in November directed the Texas Education Agency, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the State Board of Education to develop state standards to keep “pornography and other obscene content” out of schools and texas public libraries.
abbott’s management raised complaints about depictions of “overtly sexual and pornographic acts” in carmen maria machado’s “in the dream house” and “pornographic cartoons” in maia kobabe’s “gender queer: a memoir,” which appeared to be one of the books in newsom’s stack.
newsom’s office also noted a curriculum transparency bill signed by the florida government. ron desantis, hb 1467, which requires that parents be notified of specific textbooks that will be made available to their children at school. Efforts to prosecute library staff in Wyoming for books with controversial sexual content and by oklahoma lawmakers to prevent public school libraries from stocking books that focus on sexual activity or identity were also highlighted. .
of the other books newsom showed off on his reading list, “beloved” became a flashpoint in last year’s virginia gubernatorial race won by republican glenn youngkin, who sided with the parents They criticized their Democratic rival’s veto of a bill that would require notification of sexually explicit books in schools. A parent who sponsored the bill was upset that the book on the horrors of slavery included descriptions of bestiality, infanticide, sex, and violence.
A Tennessee school board this year banned “maus” citing “its unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide.” Orwell’s dystopian “1984” has been controversial since it was published in 1948 and was recently criticized in 2017 in Idaho for its violent and sexually charged language.
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