To be clear I have had both the Cass report and the wpath files thrown at me by anti-trans hater activists. What they refuse to do is listen to the follow up that destroys each of these as false, misleading, taken out of context, and in some cases what the haters claim is directly against what both reported finding. Like anti-vaxxers and maga, the anti-trans terfs feel comfortable lying about what really is to try to convince people that their weird views are correct. I have looked into this and even some people that claim to be my friend on this channel refuse to hear or read anything that disagrees with their anti-trans ideas. Even when those ideas are clearly proven wrong. They are no different from Covid / vaccine deniers, flat earthers, and others who prefer their prejudices and old ways to the accual facts. Hugs. Scottie
Journalist Erin Reed, author of the Erin In The Morning newsletter on SubStack, discusses the recent gender identity review by the National Health Services (NHS) in the United Kingdom.
To these open racist white supremacists any inclusion of non-white people is wrong and discrimination against white people. These people want to go back to the era of Jim Crow laws. They feel letting blacks be anything other than labors and lower class workers is harmful to white. No white no matter how bad or lacking in skills and education should lose a job to a “colored person”. They are horrible people who don’t have the skills to earn a position and hate that a black / brown person might have more skills than them. They believe education, especially higher education should be for white people only. Very sick people. What they don’t understand is non-white people make up a large part of the population. The smart people trying to make money want to sell to them also. Hugs. Scottie
by Frank Vyan Walton
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 12:12:21p EDT
I discovered this story because of this video between Dr. Rashad Richey and Journalism Student Juan Villasmil on the issue of CBS new policy on DEI.
CBS is aggressively stepping up its efforts to be more inclusive to diverse television creators and writers, setting a slew of targets for the 2021/22 season.
The broadcaster is committing 25% of its script development budget to projects from creators, writers and producers who are Black, Indigenous and people of color. The scheme will begin with the 2021/22 development season.
It is also mandating that writers’ rooms for CBS shows must be staffed with a minimum of 40% BIPOC representation for the 2021/22 broadcast season. This will be increased to 50% for the 2022/23 season.
Deadline understands that at least six new and current shows for this coming fall schedule are expected to hit this 40% mark.
To set this up let me show you the previous levels of diversity in Hollywood from a 2016 survey published in the WaPo.
The 83-page study examined 234 comedy and drama series across 18 broadcast, cable and digital platforms in the 2016–2017 season.
Here’s a snapshot of what they found:
Fewer than 10 percent of the shows were led by minority showrunners
14 percent of writers across all shows were members of a minority group, even though minorities represent nearly 40 percent of the population
Two-thirds of the shows had no black writers
Black writers overall accounted for less than 5 percent of the 3,817 writers across the shows, even though black people make up 13 percent of the population
More than 90 percent of the shows on CBS — which aired 25 scripted shows last season, second only to Netflix, and is the most-watched network — had either just one black writer or none at all
The lack of diversity extended across all platforms, including digital spaces such as Hulu. The report also singled out AMC and Amazon for failing to include black showrunners and writers. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post). The report said the lack of diversity at AMC and Amazon was especially troubling given their relatively new status as influencers of TV content.
A member of the writing staff for “Seal Team Six” subsequently filed a lawsuit with Stephen Miller’s law firm America First Legal after he was not invited during the 2021-2022 to remain as the script supervisor for the show. He’s a white male.
CBS and parent Paramount Global are being accused of “blatant” discrimination against a white, heterosexual male freelance writer as it imposed stringent diversity rules for writers on its “SEAL Team” series, according to a federal lawsuit.
Brian Beneker, a script coordinator and freelance scriptwriter for CBS’ “SEAL Team,” was unlawfully denied a staff writer position due to his race, sex and sexual orientation, according to the complaint, filed Thursday in US District Court of Central California.
Beneker, who became the script coordinator in 2017 on the pilot episode of “SEAL Team,” a drama about the pressure on a group of Navy SEALs, soon was offered to write an episode script as a freelancer for the show’s second season.
To continue as a scriptwriter, Beneker was told, he had to quit his job as a coordinator, the suit said, noting that he was replaced by “a woman without any experience as a script coordinator” who “struggled to do the job” and “quit approximately two weeks into training.”
Beneker’s lawyers from America First Legal Foundation and JW Howard Attorneys cited a widely reported mandate from CBS chief executive George Cheeks to “set a goal that all writers’ rooms on the network’s primetime series be staffed 40% [with] BIPOC [black, indigenous and people of color] in the 2021-2022 season.”
Now with this in mind, I suggest you listen to the video conversation.
Richey and Juan Villasmil’s discussion mostly ranges around the issues of whether this policy is in violation of the Civil Rights Act and the issue of using immutable traits such as race and sex in hiring vs “Merit.”
I’ll get back to “Merit” later.
The CRA discussion is valuable — but people like Villasmil tend to look at it entirely in a vacuum. They look at hiring entirely as if we are starting from zero with all other factors and that simply isn’t the case.
Race and Crime
As they go on Richey brings up the fact that there is racism baked into the cake in many systems. He cites “Stop and Frisk” statistics from New York which point out that over 80 of their stops were Black and Latinos, and that over 70% of the time they were found to have done nothing wrong. Only 10% of those stopped were White.
He leaves out a stat here: When people were found to have committed a crime or to be in possession of guns or drugs — they were far more often White.
White New Yorkers make up a small minority of stop-and-frisks, which were 84 percent black and Latino residents. Despite this much higher number of minorities deemed suspicious by police, the likelihood that stopping an African American would find a weapon was half the likelihood of finding one on a white person.
The likelihood a stop of an African American New Yorker yielded a weapon was half that of white New Yorkers stopped. The NYPD uncovered a weapon in one out every 49 stops of white New Yorkers. By contrast, it took the Department 71 stops of Latinos and 93 stops of African Americans to find a weapon.
The likelihood a stop of an African American New Yorker yielded contraband was one-third less than that of white New Yorkers stopped. The NYPD uncovered contraband in one out every 43 stops of white New Yorkers. By contrast, it took the Department 57 stops of Latinos and 61 stops of African Americans to find contraband.
This begs the question: if they are only finding guns and drugs on black and Latino men at ½ and 1/3 the rate — why are they really stopping them so often?
The answer to that question is obvious: Racism (and Poverty).
if Richey had brought this up it might have prevented Juan’s next, predictable, argument.
Black people commit more crime.
Richey responds to this by pointing out that FBI stats indicate that while White-on-White Crimes is 88%, Black-on-Black crimes is at 91% which is hardly different. This chart is often the first source used to argue that “Black people commit more crime” but most people don’t also look at the White-on-White figure as Richey does.
[Technically this data comes from the FBI chart on Murder by Race and Gender which is highly flawed. It only includes cases with a Single offender and a Single Victim — which excludes over half the actual cases. When you include the remainder of cases for multiple victims and offenders via the Supplemental Homicide Report, the percentages change to 58.9% Black-on-Black and 60.6% White-on-White murders.
Murder by Race — Supplemental Homicide Repot
So in reality, based on the best data we have, the rate of White murders is slightly higher than the rate of Black murders.
And the chart Richey is referring to also only includes those cases that have been “Cleared” where a suspect has been positively identified. So it doesn’t include how many were charged or the disposition of that charge be it, conviction or acquittal — this is merely a chart of those who are Accused of Murder, not those who have been proven to have done it.
Juan then falls back to…
“they commit more crime in proportion” .
Which by the way is exactly a QUOTA argument. He saying here that, in total, White people commit more crime — which is true — but that’s only because there are more White people. But when you look at things in proportion where White people are 60% of the public, Black people are overperforming in crime above their quota of 13%.
He, of course, doesn’t have stats for this. But I do.
The FBI Uniform Crime Report states that of 7 Million people arrested in 2018, 5.1 Million (66%) were White people and 2.1 Million (27%) were Black people. If you were expecting black people to stay within their quota of 13% that would be rather high. [The people who are underrepresented are Asians (11%) and Latinos(14%)]
Black people in California were stopped by police officers much more frequently than other racial groups in 2018, and police were more likely to use force against them, new statistics fromeight large law enforcement agencies in the state reveal.
Twenty eight per cent of all persons stopped by Los Angeles police officers during the last six months of 2018 were black, while black people account for just 9% of the city’s population, the data shows. In San Francisco,the black population has shrunk over several decades to just 5% of the city’s total population, but 26% of all stops carried out by the SFPD from July through December of 2018 were of black people – marking the widest racial disparity in police stops of the eight reporting agencies.
So it’s not true that they commit more crimes even proportionally — they are stopped and accused of crimes more often, but that doesn’t mean they’re guilty. This is consistent all over the country, in blue states and red states.
Eventually, they get to the issue of poverty — and in that area the charts of crimes and violence by income is very clearly linked, but it is not linked to race.
Violence by Race and Income
Also, to be completely fair, part of the reason police probably stop Black and Latino people at a higher rate is also related to poverty. If you’re driving a broken down hooptie with expired tags, you’re gonna get pulled over.
Police know that someone in a car that needs repairs probably doesn’t have insurance or they can’t afford their premiums. And if they can’t afford that — they certainly can’t afford a lawyer who’s gonna ask them “what was your probable cause, Officer?” “What was your articulable suspicion for this stop?”
Nobodies gonna stop somebody when they think they’re uncle might be a judge. And Black and Latino people have a higher rate of poverty in America.
This gets us back to the original subject, who is granted those opportunities and why?
Legacy and Inertia
When it comes to hiring, even if super Liberal Hollywood, it’s far more often for people to hire and rehire people they know, than people they don’t know. It can be a family connection or a friendship — but having a connection of some type will always give someone an advantage. It’s not just who you know — but who knows you that can help you get a leg up.
I know for a fact that every major job I’ve been hired for was because I had a connection who opened that door. And I’ve seen what it’s like when those connections are gone. During the short time that I pursued acting in LA, I was told directly by my manager that developing a relationship — particularly with a Director — was the key to getting acting gigs in Hollywood.
There’s a reason we repeatedly see Martin Scorsese working with Leonardo DiCaprio, and we see Quinten Tarantino working with Brad Pitt. Directors develop “pet” actors that they work with over and over again.
it doesn’t require active discrimination NOW for any of this to occur — it’s just the legacy and inertia of what has gone before going back decades.
We frankly live in a still grossly segregated country. White people live and work among themselves, as do Black people, as do Latinos. In our regular, nonwork, lives rarely are those lines crossed. Not in the schools, not in the pews. Relationships across racial lines do happen — certainly, they happen in LA, I can attest to that — but it’s clearly not enough alone to significantly change things even in Hollywood.
The ongoing Legacy of Hollywood has been that those making the major decisions — the studio heads and the producers — have been Straight White Men. The people they tend to hire as directors, writers and actors, have largely been Straight White Men.
This is what brings us to a situation where only 14% of the Hollywood writers in 2016-2016, were people of color. 90% of the shows on CBS had only 1 Black writer or none. Black writers were only 5% of the total in Hollywood.
This fact alone could be the basis of a Civil Rights suit against the industry that could have the government come in and FORCE the industry to improve their demographic mix using the provisions of the Civil Rights Act.
Now, I don’t think they need to have a hard and fast quota in place — they could have a flexible goal — quotas and bonus points systems were banned in Affirmative Action by the SCOTUS in the 1978 Bakke v UC Davis decision. But it could be argued this is the industry trying to self-correct from their prior and current bias and that should be allowed, or else it just won’t happen. Ever.
(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or
(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
(b) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, or to classify or refer for employment any individual on the basis of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
(c) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for a labor organization–
(1) to exclude or to expel from its membership, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;
(2) to limit, segregate, or classify its membership, or to classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual, in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities, or would limit such employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee or as an applicant for employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or
(3) to cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an individual in violation of this section.
(d) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for any employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining, including on-the-job training programs to discriminate against any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training.
The issue isn’t “does this new policy violate the Civil Rights Act” — the issue is that the Movie industry is already in gross violation of that Act.
There can be some level of “self-selection” where men may prefer a certain career or women may prefer a different career, just like Black people choose to prefer Hip Hop and White people choose to prefer Country and Pop — but when 86% of your writers are Straight White Men, that’s not a natural phenomenon. Something caused that and that something needs to be fixed.
They are on their own attempting to voluntarily correct that violation.
Gaining Work Experience
So if you don’t have any Black, Female or Gay writers — how exactly are they going to gain any experience? How do they get into the game if they don’t have any personal connections into the game?
He only has 4 credits as a writer. 3 for “Seal Team 6” and 1 for “Resurrection Blvd.”
What he’s trying to do is write more scripts for the show and at the same time remain the script coordinator. He’s trying to take two jobs at once. They gave him the choice of doing one — or the other, but not both.
That’s actually the conflict here — he wants his cake, he wants to eat it and he wants some more take home for later.
Now, it’s clear he has more experience as a script coordinator, particularly on that show, than anyone else they might want to bring in. But again, how did he get that experience back in 2017 when 86% of screenwriters in Hollywood were Straight White Men?
He’s experienced NOW — but he wasn’t then when a Straight White Man had a virtual LOCK on gaining that position. Now, that he’s benefited from that advantage and gained that experience he wants to complain that if he wants to be a screenwriter too, someone else has to be the script coordinator. And that someone else has a 50/50 chance of being either a Straight White Guy — or Black, Female, Asian, Latino, Arab and/or LGBTQ.
He was gifted an advantage that put him in this “Meritorious” position and that’s the key element that people like Juan refuse to see. We are not starting at zero — there are millions of people who have already been given a head start and for anyone else to break in, they have to be given that first chance too.
Then they can gain experience and “merit.” If we don’t allow someone diverse to gain an initial toehold, They. Never. Will. It’s almost impossible to compete against those who are already miles and miles ahead of you. On a “Merit” basis, you will never be able to measure up.
Plus, he could have stayed the script coordinator or he could have written more scripts for the show. Or for another show. He could have kept his job rather than trying to do two jobs. It was his choice.
Life Experience
One of the other problems in Hollywood, particularly with writers, is that they can only write what they know. And I’m sorry, even the most talented writer has problems accurately and honestly depicting the lives and perspectives of people who are different from them. White writers have a terrible track record of trying to document the Black Experience in America — or elsewhere — accurately or fairly. They have a hard time documenting the Female experience and they absolutely have problems documenting the LGBTQ experience.
Most people don’t know what they don’t know. They usually have no real idea of what’s happening in other people’s heads.
If Hollywood is going to portray ethnic characters without them turning into a modern Stepin Fetchit or Amos and Andy —it would help to have writers on staff with first-hand experience in that community. And not just one. This is how you build authenticity. This is how you create honest and realistic characters and stories.
If we don’t want to only have stories about Straight White Men — along with Token Ethnic Stereotypes — forever, we need people with the necessary life experience in the writing room keeping things honest.
Diversity and inclusion is a strategic advantage that promotes innovation in organizations, better decision making and stronger workplace cultures. See the strategies for building a diverse and inclusive organization to achieve long-term business success.
The value of diversity and inclusion has become increasingly recognized in society and in business. Organizations that promote diversity and cultivate inclusive environments are reaping huge rewards in terms of innovation, better decision making and better performance overall. The positive impact of diversity and inclusion extends beyond social responsibility; it is a strategic imperative that drives success and positions companies for long-term sustainability.
Demographics
The complaint here is that it’s just “so unfair” that one white guy can’t do two people’s jobs because it just might mean that one BiPOC gets a chance to also have a career, after probably hundreds of BiPOC have been denied an opportunity for the last several decades. If we do anything to correct that problem, it’s doing too much. Every white guy’s (extra) job is sacred, so we’ll just keep screwing other people over today just like we screwed them over yesterday.
If you’ve been robbed repeatedly for decades and then finally someone goes and takes back a tiny piece of what was stolen — is that now somehow a crime?
According to Stephen Miller, it is. Shocker.
The CBS rule is that 50% of their writing staff is to be BiPOC for 2023. Ok. But here’s the thing, if we were to really look at an appropriate demographic [Quota] of how many Straight White Men should be on staff… it would be 26%.
White people are 58% of America. [Juan tries to argue that White people are 60% and that’s true but White MEN aren’t 60%] Half of those white people are women so that takes us down to 29%. About 7% of America is LGBTQ so removing about half of that takes us to 26%.
That means that this rule PROTECTS a special amount of 50% of the available slots for just 26% of the people. Everyone else has to squeeze into the remainder. It means that White Straight Men will likely always be overrepresented among the writing staff compared to their actual population in general.
Apparently, that isn’t enough for some of people like Stephan Miller — they still want more.
They’re used to having more. They’re used to having 86% of the jobs. And they, sadly, think they’ve legitimately earned that position rather than having systematically stolen it. Making room for new people is difficult. It means choices have to be made. But since 50% of the slots are being held for Straight White Men, couldn’t it be argued that he’s not being forced out because of a BiPOC, he’s forced out because one of the other protected white guys is in the way of his [extra] slot?
Couldn’t they drop a less experienced white guy off that staff to leave room for him so he can still technically take up two slots? But then again, is there a less experienced writer on staff, he only has 4 scripts — maybe he simply isn’t qualified to be a staff writer yet.
Hmm.
Also, if this is such a big problem now in Hollywood and CBS — why is this guy the only one complaining?
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.
I strongly recommend everyone wondering about why there are different ideas of the Christian god. This is why I love some Christians and pity / detest others. The Christians looking for god, the deity, are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. The ones looking at the bible as god itself are some of the most horrible people I have met. Hugs. Scottie
Yes let’s put the LGBTQ+ hater who demands control over everyone’s children in charge of what books should be removed from libraries. That is like putting a fundamentalist religious extremist in charge of women’s rights. Hugs. Scottie
Some of Florida’s loudest advocates for public school book removals make up half of a state government-sponsored group to advise school districts on how to select titles and when to pull them off shelves.
Moms for Liberty members made up three of six members of a Department of Education workgroup that met Thursday in Tallahassee to redevelop an online training program for school librarians and media specialists following a 2023 state law focused on book challenges.
It’s a demonstration of the state’s willingness to cater to the conservative group, which has long supported Gov. Ron DeSantis and, along with its local chapters, has become the leading voice against books in schools that it considers inappropriate.
“It’s evident that the Florida Department of Education is not ready to turn a corner and start tamping down on the gross censorship we’re seeing across the state,” said Stephana Ferrell, co-founder and director of research and insight for the Florida Freedom to Read Project, a book access advocacy organization.
Ferrell had applied to be a part of the workgroup. So did more than 20 others, according to resumes her group received through a public records request. Most, like Ferrell herself, weren’t picked.
Instead, the department selected Priscilla West, chair of Moms For Liberty-Leon County, Moms for Liberty Indian River County Chapter Chair Jennifer Pippin and Jamie Merchant, Florida legislative chair for the national parents’ group.
West and Pippin, in an interview after the meeting in the state Department of Education building, emphasized their role as parents, not just Moms for Liberty representatives.
“Organizations aside, at the end of the day, we’re parents, we’re moms and we’re concerned with what we’re finding in the schools,” Pippin said.
And they were also concerned with the meeting itself, which lasted approximately only an hour. Advocates on both sides of the book debate said it didn’t do enough to clarify the expectations for schools.
Meet the Moms for Liberty on the librarian training workgroup
As previously reported by the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, West’s group is working to remove a number of books from school libraries.
“Good Evening, Joyful Warriors!” she wrote in an email to members last year. “We are rockin’ and rollin’ with these book challenges!”
In the lead-up to Thursday’s meeting, the Facebook page for West’s chapter made a multitude of posts soliciting parents to challenge various titles with sexual and LGBTQ material.
When a commenter responded that transgender students deserve to see themselves represented in books, the account ridiculed gender transitions.
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Pippin, meanwhile, made many headlines for her school book challenges. One of them was about a children’s book, called “Unicorns Are The Worst,” that showed the bare behind of a goblin. As a result of her challenge, clothes were drawn over the goblin.
She also got “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” pulled from a Indian River County high school.
Merchant, the Moms for Liberty Florida legislative chair, was previously reported as a “Mamas for DeSantis” participant, a pro-DeSantis initiative launched during his gubernatorial reelection campaign in 2022. The conservative education reform-focused Florida Citizens Alliance lists her on its website as a member of its advisory council.
In an emailed statement, Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, said, “We are glad that our members are taking an interest in public schools and public policy in education.”
The other three members were made up of media specialists from Republican-dominated Marion, Manatee and Wakulla counties.
‘We shoud err on the side of freedom’: Meeting leaves all sides disappointed
Both Pippin and Merchant had been in the original workgroup, which was formed after DeSantis signed the Republican-backed Curriculum Transparency Act in 2022, which he touted as a way to increase parental involvement in education and prevent “indoctrination.”
The law requires districts to catalog every book they offer and put a formal review process in place for complaints.
The original online training program, which came out at the beginning of 2023, contained a slide that warned educators to “err on the side of caution” with their book choices. Another slide pointed out that school officials could be charged with a third-degree felony if materials are found harmful to minors under an older state law.
School districts interpreted the guidance in wildly varying ways, leading some to pull hundreds of titles out of fear of potential penalties, and others to pull none. A national free speech advocacy group recently ranked Florida No.1 in “book bans,” a much-debated term to describe the books pulled from public schools.
The workgroup didn’t alter that original presentation wording, much to the disappointment of a Florida Education Association representative who spoke during the public comment period of the meeting.
“We should err on the side of freedom. We should err on the side of education, not on the side of caution,” said Luke Flynt, communication specialist for the teachers union.
Instead, the group discussed the incorporation of yet another book challenge law into the training. The measure makes it easier to get a challenged book removed for “sexual conduct.”
Much of the meeting, which was not broadcast virtually, was dominated by the complexities of the new law.
Members agreed on adding a new slide about the new objection criteria, which includes requiring that a book be removed within five days of a challenge because it includes pornography or “sexual conduct” and until the complaint is resolved. They also OK’d adding audio to a slide about book selection criteria explaining that people can file sexual conduct objections.
Despite having an agenda predicting the meeting would last much of the day, it started and ended in about an hour.
Pippin and West said they would have liked more time. The meeting, they said, could have been a virtual meeting or email.
“My anticipation was to do the work and discuss other things,” said Pippin, who added that she had woken up at 3 a.m. to make it to the meeting, which was attended by and steered by Department of Education employees. “I probably had five or 10 more questions I could have asked, but I saw they kept redirecting to (the new state law).”
She pointed out a recent press conference from DeSantis where, citing frivolous objections, he called for limits to how many books the public can challenge in schools. The Legislature passed a bill this past session, which the governor has not yet signed, that states a “resident of the county who is not the parent or guardian of a student with access to school district materials may not object to more than one material per month.”
Ferrell also said the group should have done more, such as including information about the settlement from earlier in the week between the state and LGBTQ groups over the critic-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which restricts classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation. Some school districts had pulled books citing the law.
But the settlement, in part, comes with a statement from the state that the law does not affect library books (something that had already been said by Attorney General Ashley Moody in legal filings).
Ferrell said she doesn’t believe the training properly explains the new law and only adds to the confusion: “They will encourage more removals,” she warned.
It’s unclear if the group will convene again.
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.
Priscilla West, chair of Moms For Liberty-Leon County, is in the group.
“Good Evening, Joyful Warriors!” wrote West in an email to members last year. “We are rockin' and rollin' with these book challenges!”https://t.co/y5CXRMopFc
Moms for Liberty members make up half of a group to advise Florida school districts on how to select titles and when to pull them off of shelves. https://t.co/TGjxvih9DC
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)
This may be one of the best short videos from a religious leader on why some people get stuff wrong when reading the bible. He explains how the bible shouldn’t be taken literally because it was first oral stories, then written down in one language, then translated over and over, often by people who did not get the exact word means correct. He talks about the wrong idea the bible says life begins at conception. Well worth the listening to even if you are not religious. Hugs. Scottie
To those using the Constitution to justify why we should be living under outdated & archaic laws. The Constitution was created to evolve, you might want to try the same…
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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BOOKS
EDUCATION
STATEN ISLAND
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
Read the full article. The bill has the backing of the “Christ-centered” anti-LGBTQ hate group, the Kansas Family Voice. Its author is GOP Rep. Susan Humphries, whose bio notes that she is a graduate of Texas Christian University.
I saw this story. I tried to post it from the newspaper but it was impossible. Then I see that Joe My God posted it. So here it is.
The author of the bill is a fundamentalist Christian and graduated from a Christian college. On democrat claims the bill is written too vague by mistake and would basically keep young people from any website that even mentions gay couples / LGBTQ+ information. Dude that is not a mistake it is what they want to use the law for. The goal is to remove any and all positive mentions from anyone under 18 in society. The further goal is to wipe the LGBTQ+ from society totally. The people behind these bills hate that LGBTQ+ people are treated with respect, affection, and equality. They hate that kids accept and like their LGBTQ+ fellow students. The right wants those kids to hate and target any other kid who is different for harassment and harm. Beat and scare those kids straight and cis. Hugs. Scottie
A Kansas bill could consider a photo of a same-sex couple holding hands pornographic, some Democratic lawmakers warn. They say a bill aimed at barring children from accessing online material considered harmful to minors could carry serious unintended consequences for LGBTQ+ communities.
The bill would require users to verify they are over 18 years old to enter any website where more than 25% of its content is deemed “harmful to minors.” It aims to restrict children’s access to pornography. However, homosexuality is listed in the statute alongside overtly sexual acts as harmful to minors.
The statute has raised questions about whether the law could be applied to censor LGBTQ+ content in books, chat rooms, and non-explicit photographs of same-sex couples. Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, would be in charge of determining what is considered obscene.
Read the full article. The bill has the backing of the “Christ-centered” anti-LGBTQ hate group, the Kansas Family Voice. Its author is GOP Rep. Susan Humphries, whose bio notes that she is a graduate of Texas Christian University.
Could a Kansas bill censor non-explicit, LGBTQ+ content? Lawyers, lawmakers disagree https://t.co/XrXtWlLkg0
Funny thing is that we didn’t have access to any websites yet still turned out gay.
I would have loved to have had access to a site like JMG when I was a kid, it would have been so nice to have a supportive community like we have here on JMG
The fascists will go as far as they possibly can, implementing countless anti-LGBTQ laws, before they are pushed back. We still have time before we hit the iceberg but it’s a huge ship to turn around.
OMG…how much happier a struggling, self-tormented teen Mark would have been if there was a site like this, with so many wonderful, intelligent, funny & awesome people to let me know I wasn’t alone and that I would be alright.
In high-school I had a friend who came out to me as a transgender woman. Because this was the early 90’s, while she had come out to her parents who were supportive, she was waiting until she was 18 to go on HRT and living as her true self. One Monday in our junior year, she just never showed up for class. The teachers were told her parents had moved, but the administration was rather cagey when I tried to ask. I hope they had moved to help keep her safe, but I never saw her nor heard from her again. In a way, to me, she’s the sign on the easel. 😿
“They say a bill aimed at barring children from accessing online material considered harmful to minors could carry serious unintended consequences for LGBTQ+ communities.”
How fucking naive can they be? This isn’t an unintended consequence. They want us to be considered legally obscene
Brad Kutner / Radio IQ
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Douglas Soule
Scottie's Playtime 