The idea of banning these books about race and LGBTQ+ people is to remove representation of those concepts / people from society, from public view. It is not about protecting kids, it is about enforcing white straight cis fundamentalist Christian values on everyone and making everyone conform to a small segment of society view of what is proper to be allowed. So yes these guys pull this shit. After all who does this girl think she is to second guess old white Christian men. Hugs. Scottie
One of Hanover student and Girl Scout Kate’s “Banned Book Nook” at Morr Donuts in Mechanicsville, VA
The Hanover County Board of Supervisors spent their Wednesday afternoon meeting approving language to honor a handful of Girl Scouts for completing their Gold Award projects, among other items.
But one Girl Scout, whose project was designed to fight what she sees as censorship in the county’s school system, had her commendation “amended.”
Cold Harbor District Supervisor Michael Herzberg pulled out the proclamation for Hanover County student Kate Lindley from a group of proclamations for Girl Scouts achieving their highest honor.
It’s an idea she came up with after Hanover County removed over 75 titles from school libraries, claiming they contained “inappropriate language,” “violence” and “sexually explicit content.”
Lindley’s project got media attention, and she’s since grown her project’s collection to over 400 books, giving access to the censored literature where it might otherwise be denied.
You can find out more via Lindley’s Instagram account for the project here.
And while her original proclamation language specifically mentions quote “identifying locations where books were available that had been banned by Hanover County Public Schools libraries,” Supervisor Herzberg’s motion led to quote “amending” -Lindley says censoring- that detail along with any other mention of banned books or censorship.
“The Board of Supervisors has bestowed upon me the greatest honor anyone fighting censorship and banning could receive by censoring me and my project,” Lindley said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Hanover County said that items on the consent agenda are quote “always subject to change or amendment” and that’s what happened Wednesday.
And while Lindley is set to graduate in the next few weeks before heading off to college, she plans to attend and receive whatever commendation the board of supervisors is willing to give her.
But she plans to let them know how she feels afterward.
All of these attacks exemplify pushback against inclusion and welcome for ‘the other’: “The first and most fundamental way in which white Christian nationalism threatens American liberal democracy is that it defines ‘the people’ in a way that excludes many Americans. White Christian nationalism is a form of what is often called ‘ethno-nationalism.’ Liberal democracy rests on what is usually called ‘civic nationalism’ It defines the nation in terms of values, laws, and institutions.’” (The Flag and The Cross, p. 114)
Throughout the book the authors explore and re-explore the meaning of the deep story of white Christian nationalism: “White Christian nationalism is our term for the ethno-traditionalism among many white Americans that conflates racial, religious, and national identity (the deep story) and pines for cultural and political power that demographic and cultural shifts have increasingly threatened…. (T)he term Christian in white Christian nationalism is often far more akin to a dog whistle that calls out to an aggrieved tribe than a description of the content of one’s faith.” (The Flag and The Cross, p. 44)
It is a case of I don’t want my child to read these books so your child can’t read them either. These people want control over everyone, every child, they demand to rule your life. Hugs. Scottie
Hundreds of new books featuring characters of color and LGBTQ+ themes were found by the trash at a Staten Island elementary school, outraging some parents and sparking an education department investigation.
Gothamist obtained photos from a Brooklyn book lover that showed boxes of kids’ books left with the garbage at PS 55, known as the Henry Boehm School. Some had sticky notes on them detailing themes and content in the books, which appeared to be part of a 2019 initiative to diversify school materials. The city education department launched an investigation after Gothamist shared the images.
A note on “My Two Border Towns,” about a boy’s life on the United States-Mexico border, read “Our country has no room and it’s not fair.” A note on “The Derby Daredevils,” about a girls’ roller derby team, read “Not approved. Discusses dad being transgender. Teenage girls having a crush on another girl in class.” And a note on “We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know” read “negative slant on white people.”
A note on a copy of “My Two Border Towns” taken from the school reads “Our country has no room and it’s not fair.”
Holly Spiegel
Even books about the Marvel Comics hero Black Panther and legendary singer and activist Nina Simone were discarded.
It was unclear whether the removal of the books resulted from an objection raised by staff or parents. The education department said no formal challenge to the books was raised through official channels, though a part-time librarian had inquired about the process.
Until this incident, New York City had seemed largely immune from the high-profile efforts to ban books that are roiling school communities in Florida, New Jersey and other parts of the country.
“Our public schools do not shy away from books that teach students about the diverse people and communities that make up the fabric of our society,” education department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said, noting the removal of the books was not sanctioned.
The school principal and PTA president did not respond to inquiries.
Many PS 55 parents were surprised to learn the books had been removed.
The education department said it was investigating why the books were discarded from the PS 55 library.
Jessica Gould
“I don’t believe in banning books at all,” said Angela Hartje, whose daughter is in third grade.
“It’s one step closer to ‘Fahrenheit 451,’” she added, referencing the classic sci-fi novel by Ray Bradbury about a dystopian America where books have been outlawed.
‘Not approved’
Holly Spiegel, of East Flatbush, alerted Gothamist to the controversy. Her neighbor, who was working near the school in November, retrieved hundreds of the books from the trash and gave them to Spiegel, knowing she could use them for the free “Little Libraries” she manages around their neighborhood. Spiegel then got in touch with the school and made two additional trips where she recovered hundreds more books in boxes marked “not approved.”
Sticky notes on the books pointed to apparent reasons why they were censored. A note on “Julian Is A Mermaid,” about a boy who dresses as a mermaid, read “Boy questions gender.” A post-it on “Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker’s Story,” cited a specific page, along with the question “white man’s world?”
A copy of “Derby Daredevils” had a note reading “Not approved. Discusses being transgender. Teenage girls having a crush on another girl in class.”
Holly Spiegel
Notes on pages of “Black Panther: The Young Prince” read “Witchcraft? Human skulls” and “Pact with Devil. Burned in fire.”
A note on “Nina: A Story of Nina Simone” read “This is about how black people were treated poorly but overcame it. (Can go both ways).”
“At its heart, this feels like censorship,” Spiegel said. “It feels like book banning.”
City statistics show the student body at PS 55 is 78% white, 11% Hispanic and 8% Asian. The teachers are 92% white.
Two parents at the school, located in Staten Island’s Eltingville neighborhood, said they had heard rumblings about some controversy over books. But Gothamist was unable to confirm who led the effort that led to the books being tossed.
An unusual book battle
School controversies over books are rare in New York City. Since 2019, there have been only three challenges of books at other schools under an official protocol that involves the formation of a committee of parents, librarians, teachers and administrators, the education department confirmed. None of those books were removed.
“Should a parent feel concerned about the literature in their child’s classroom, they are encouraged to reach out to the teacher, principal, or superintendent,” said Brownstein, the department’s spokesperson.
It’s more common for discussions in the city to focus on ensuring access to the materials. The Brooklyn Public Library runs a program where local students talk about controversial books with students in other parts of the country where they’re actually being banned.
Alissa Barakakos, a PTA member at PS 55, said she was surprised that books about race, culture and sexuality had been removed — and that she would have opposed the effort if she’d known about it. She noted her son’s class just finished a series of discussions on Black History Month, and a unit on Native Americans.
“I don’t know why the books would be thrown out,” Barakakos said. “I want my kid to be a part of the school community where everything is open and honest and kids are being educated.”
Spiegel said she was upset to see the books were kept from children. “The books aren’t getting into the hands of kids who would identify with the characters, but they’re also not getting into the hands of kids whose worldview would be broadened by reading about people who aren’t like them,” she said.
‘Mosaic’ problems
Some of the boxes Spiegel retrieved were labeled “Mosaic,” the name of a $200 million initiative launched late in the de Blasio administration to diversify school lessons and materials. An analysis by the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice found in 2019 that only 16% of elementary and middle school books were by authors of color.
“Black Panther: The Young Prince” was also removed from the Staten Island elementary school.
Holly Spiegel
De Blasio called for a total rethinking of the K-12 curriculum with an eye toward diversity. Mayor Eric Adams then scaled back the Mosaic plan, launching his own literacy initiative and supplementing lessons with materials reflecting LGBTQ+, Asian American and Black communities.
Thousands of Mosaic books were still sent to school and classroom libraries. But Natasha Capers, the director of the Coalition for Educational Justice, said schools received little guidance about what to do with the new books.
“They just were like, ‘here’s a big box of books,’” said Capers, whose group advocates for more equity in public schools.
She added that she was glad to know the books found with the garbage at PS 55 were “rescued.” But she said she was outraged to hear they had nearly been discarded.
“I watched my children throughout their schooling read so many books that used horrific language about Black people,” Capers said. “There’s a book [that] used the N-word. You just had to suck it up because it’s part of the ‘canon.'”
She scoffed at the apparent discomfort with witchcraft and human skulls in the Black Panther book.
“You read Shakespeare, and [“Macbeth”] starts out with three witches around a cauldron,” she said. “Hamlet,” she noted, “is legitimately talking to a skull.”
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Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email jgould@nypublicradio.org
Thank you, Ten Bears for sharing this video so I could post it. What I want every one to understand is something the news reporters and the station buried. The people upset and demanding this huge change … are only 20% of the population. Now I listened to it three times and I couldn’t decide if they were saying the people in the county or the rural people in the country. To me it sounded like country wide the rural people were demanding and were 20% of the population. Which sounds right if you look at population maps. Do you understand what that is? A small minority is demanding the entire country abandon its progressive move forward into the modern age so a small segment of the population can be satisfied and happy. It is minority rule over the majority. It is not democracy! It is what the fundamentalist Christians are trying to do right now to every red state on LGBTQ+ issues. Are we as a country going to allow the most violent vocal segments of our society force us back to a regressive past that will eventually destroy what the US really is and could be? Hugs. Scottie
The divide between rural and urban areas in the United States has been growing in recent decades with grievances and political consequences on both sides. Judy Woodruff traveled across Oregon to learn more about that rift for her series, America at a Crossroads.
Where I lived as a kid in Vermont, the same issue was going on. The hydro dam was important and had been there a long time but, … it was blocking all the spawning fish. So they built this huge large grand viewing gallery alongside the dam so the fish could swim up past the dam and also it was built in stages for all to see. But then … in the late 1970s or so. Hugs. Scottie
Let’s look at what is driving this push to end of diversity, equality, and inclusion. Seem that most people would want those things. Why would anyone want a large segment of the population to be treated as lessor, denied jobs, denied housing, denied loans, face unrestrained bigotry. It can only come down to bigotry and the fragility of white males, the need for fundamentalist to return to a time of strict gender roles, and a push by religious people to put their religious bigotry before the rights of LGBTQ+ people to just be themselves in society and at work. It is OK for black kids at the youngest ages to suffer discrimination, be made to feel bad about their skin color or have to feel fear of harm. But it is illegal to make white kids feel uncomfortable that 150 years ago white people kept black / brown people as property doing horrible things to them as slaves. WTF. The only reason any white kids would feel uncomfortable or hate themselves for hearing this is if their come from a white supremacist family. It they themselves have been taught that black people are inferior or lesser. But what it can do is teach empathy for those who are different from you. It simply is some people thinking they are superior to others and should have privilege. And it is needed because systemic racism in the country still exists. Don’t think so, look at large company corporate structures. Most management is white males, most workers are mixed, and white males get promoted faster. Look at congress, mostly white males despite them not being such a large majority in the population. Look at loan rates, higher in black neighborhoods, yet home sales prices lower than a white home comparable in a white neighborhood. The Steven Millers of the US feel that if any white straight cis male loses a job offer, promotion, or school placement for anyone else it is wrong and a crime. No matter if the other person was more qualified, mo matter the situation, in their minds whites straight cis males always come first. Hugs. Scottie
A new Alabama law banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programming and training in public colleges and other state agencies will go into effect this fall.
Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB129, known as the “divisive concepts” bill, into law Wednesday. The law will become effective Oct. 1, 2024.
“My Administration has and will continue to value Alabama’s rich diversity, however, I refuse to allow a few bad actors on college campuses – or wherever else for that matter – to go under the acronym of DEI, using taxpayer funds, to push their liberal political movement counter to what the majority of Alabamians believe,” Ivey said in a statement Wednesday.
“We have already taken action to prevent this in our K-12 classrooms, and I am pleased to sign SB129 to protect our college campuses. Supporting academic freedom, embracing diversity of cultures and backgrounds and treating people fairly are all key components of what we believe in Alabama, and I am more than confident that will continue.”
Alabama joins Florida and Texas in enacting the wide-ranging legislation, which asks for sweeping changes or cancellations to state agencies and public colleges that currently fund DEI offices and programming. It is not clear yet whether the law will force some state colleges, which support a combined $16 million in diversity spending, to lay off staff.
The law bans any program that “advocates for a divisive concept.” It also would prohibit higher education institutions from allowing individuals to use a restroom that is different from their sex as assigned at birth.
Ban supporters said the legislation would prevent “indoctrination” and “far-left ideology” in classrooms, and gave some examples of where they believed white students were made to feel uncomfortable on college campuses.
Opponents of the ban credited DEI programs for providing access and financial support, improving their campus experience, and in some cases, saving their lives. Others also worried that a ban would deter businesses and athletes from coming to the state.
“This unjust and inhumane bill ignores the will of the people and threatens years of progress toward racial and social justice and LGBTQ+ rights for generations to come,” said Jerome Dees, Alabama policy director for the SPLC Action Fund. “Students and workers value diversity, equity and inclusion in their schools and workplaces because it makes us all more safe.”
In a message to students and faculty Tuesday evening, University of Alabama System Chancellor Finis St. John IV and presidents of the System’s three campuses said leadership and legal counsel are working to determine what actions the colleges will need to take to ensure their programs are in compliance with the law.
“It is important to note that SB 129 defines divisive concepts and DEI programs in specific terms, and it offers several exceptions for accreditation requirements, academic freedom, medical and mental health care, research, recruiting and outreach, and a host of other areas. Please look to official university communications for guidance as we continue to assess the legislation,” the statement read.
“We recognize differences strengthen our campuses and help us successfully prepare students to live and work in a global society. We remain committed to recruiting and retaining outstanding students, faculty and staff from all backgrounds, providing open and equal access to resources and opportunities, and equipping all campus community members for success at our universities and beyond.”
What would the law do?
The law lists eight so-called “divisive concepts,” with most covering topics related to race, ethnicity, sex, religion and national origin.
Its sponsor, Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, said nothing in the legislation prevents the accurate teaching of history. Educators who knowingly “compel” students to believe certain banned ideas, however, could be terminated or disciplined at the discretion of college and school board leaders.
After debate on the Senate floor last month, the law will no longer prohibit college staff from discussing whether slavery and racism are aligned with the founding principles of the United States.
Democrats also added specific protections for women’s sports, the state Office of Minority Affairs, and changes to ensure “sex” was added to the list of protected classes in places where it was omitted.
Recent changes, which were approved on Tuesday, more clearly define the role of a contractor and protect those individuals from termination if they violate the law by accident. Another amendment ensures that nothing in the law would infringe on First Amendment rights of students or employees.
The law says it will not impede academic or medical research, federal reporting requirements or support services. It also does not prohibit housing or organizations that are segregated by sex, or affect “certain circumstances relating to accreditation.”
Students or staff may host a DEI program or event, it added, but must not use state money to fund it.
I have covered these bans before. Simply put the fundamentalist conservative right are terrified that social media is showing our kids that it is ok to be accepting and tolerant while doing things for all the public instead of just the wealthy. In other words, showing them a different way they could be than simply right wing fundamentalist religious straight cis republicans. So they revamped schools to indoctrinate the kids with right wing fundamentalist. Ah but their indoctrination was being undone by social media. Well ban that also. See that is the right wing way, they don’t like it so ban it, they are the original cancel culture creators. Their way of thinking is to force everyone to live and be just as they are, think like they do, be who they are told to be. Force everyone to worship the same way, live the same way, listen to only the same stuff, eat the same meals … in the land of the free! Their idea of freedom is the right to take freedom away from others. Hugs. Scottie
House Speaker Paul Renner said the bill addresses the ‘addictive features that are at the heart of why children stay on these platforms for hours on end.’
The measure would take effect at the beginning of 2025 – if it survives expected lawsuits from the nation’s largest tech companies.
In that case, minors under 16 would be barred from social media platforms, unless they’re 14- or 15-year-olds who get a parent’s permission.
“You can have a kid in the house safe, seemingly, and then you have predators that can get right in there into your own home,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Jacksonville. “You could be doing everything right but they know how to get and manipulate these different platforms.”
The governor was joined by local school officials and bill sponsors as well as state Attorney General Ashley Moody and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., all of whom backed the policy.
Also there was House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, who negotiated with DeSantis on the legislation (HB 3) after the governor vetoed the original version, citing legal and parents’ rights concerns.
The legislation passed both legislative chambers by a broad bipartisan basis, with only a fraction of Democrats dissenting, claiming it was government overreach that would be overturned in the courts. First Amendment advocacy organizations have also come out against the measure, saying largely the same.
But DeSantis and Renner said they believe the measure will survive judicial scrutiny.
“What’s unique in this bill is we didn’t focus on content,” Renner said. “You will not find a line in this bill that addresses good speech or bad speech because that would violate the First Amendment.
“… But what we have addressed is the addictive features that are at the heart of why children stay on these platforms for hours and hours on end.”
The bills defines the affected social media platforms as ones with features such as push notifications and infinite scrolling, which loads content as the user scrolls down, eliminating the need to click to a next page. Those features have had an “devastating effect” on the mental health of children, Renner said.
He predicted an imminent legal challenge from NetChoice, a tech industry trade group that has filed lawsuits in other states against similar measures and has opposed Florida’s.
In a statement shared shortly after the signing, the group called the restrictions unconstitutional.
“An unconstitutional law will protect exactly zero Floridians. HB 3 is also bad policy because of the data collection on Floridians by online services it will in effect require. This will put their private data at risk of breach,” said Carl Szabo, NetChoice’s vice president and general counsel.
“HB 3 forces Floridians to hand over sensitive personal information to websites or lose their access to critical information channels,” he continued. “This infringes on Floridians’ First Amendment rights to share and access speech online.”
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA TODAY Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com.
Again Ten Bears has done it. He posts a longish list of links many of which interest me, and I wander down them. All are interesting to different people, to me only some. But sadly today before I realized I also wanted to share some of them, I closed the tabs. But I did mange to reopen a few. I really recommend everyone check out his blog, you might not like everything he posts but so many have so much information that you can get lost in them. For me who always feel rushed for time … Bad Ten Bears, but thank you. You do give me a lot of information to consider. Below I will put the few links I read / clicked on a felt were really worth reading but remember they were not the only ones I read, they were only the ones I could quickly recall. Hugs. Scottie
So this is the second time I am writing this as the first time I lost everything due to … A sudden loss of internet and a dropping out of my entire comment on the video, which was against the government. Ron asked me if I thought it was deliberate and I am not such a conspiracy theorist yet … but it was weird timing.
The point I was making is he is correct that all our data is already collected by every social media, every news sites … if I don’t want to give a news site permission to all data on my computer or every other website I visit they block me. It is why I don’t post from them. And the same with one of my favorite news sources for in depth information, they demand others to register or pay with them, so I have stopped sharing them. Any way I won’t retype all I wrote, my hands are sore and I have so much more to get to. The video is here. If you want to see through the political attempt to hold down the progressive youth vote watch the video. Time moves on and societies progress. Hugs. Scottie
To me as I listened to the video it became clear that the real issue is how a lot of this is driven on the male side from the era where men look at it as their entitlement to the best looking most attractive women they are attracted to, but can not have. So they feel women are the real enemy, rather than the system that is denying each gender of equality. Why do incels feel entitled to a female, a woman that is to please them as they demand / wish? Because for far too much of history that was how men were taught to look at women, taught that females were to be used, subjected to their whim, to keep them happy but not really a person like they are. They don’t see women as full humans like them. The day that men and women see each other as equal will be the day all this conflict dies. Hugs. Scottie
Young men are more likely than women to drop out of college, commit suicide, and support far-right parties. But while misogynistic influencers like Andrew Tate are correctly blamed for fueling the incel manosphere’s backlash against feminism, there is a lot more to this story than incels, culture wars and wokeness. From stagnant economies and unaffordable housing to fears of cultural obsolescence, young men are grappling with a myriad of challenges that seldom enter the public discourse. So what is really behind the growing political rift between Gen Z Boys and Girls?
In the video we talk to Richard Reeves, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of the book “Of Boys and Men” where he explores all the ways in which the modern male is struggling. Alice Evans, visiting scholar at Stanford University, who is travelling around the world to study this divide and makes the point that lagging economies, corporate algorhythms, and patriarchal mentality can explain this backlash. And Neil Shyminsky, Professor at Cambrian College and famous on TikTok as @professorneil, who sees in Influencers like Andrew Tate as a main threat.
Brad Kutner / Radio IQ
Douglas Soule
Scottie's Playtime 