Florida schools weaponize DeSantis’ baseless ‘pornography’ claim to restrict book access

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ interpretation of “pornography” is not one based in reality, but it is nonetheless being weaponized to remove books containing no sexual content whatsoever from school bookshelves.

New reporting from by Judd Legum of Popular Information reveals what some of these books are: “Sleeping Beauty,” which includes a teeny-tiny illustration of the queen bathing from a distance, as well as “House and Homes” by Ann Morris, which includes a photo of a rural African child’s buttocks.

To be clear, a photo of buttocks is not, by definition, pornography.

Books proving the existence of racist white people are also flying off the shelves — just not in a good way. The latest being “Little Rock Nine,” a graphic novel by historian Marshall Poe about school integration in 1957. That was the year nine Black students in Arkansas walked through an angry white mob in order to attend Little Rock’s central high school upon its desegregation.

The Wakulla County School District in Florida has removed the book from its elementary school shelves.

A group called the Florida Freedom to Read Project uncovered documents showing that one parent objected to the graphic novel because it revealed the types of slurs white people used to describe Black people.

The school sided with the parent and removed the book.

In a letter, while the school maintained that the book was “historically accurate,” it claimed that “the subject of segregation and desegregation is difficult for elementary students to comprehend.”

“This book’s representation of feelings and emotions during that time period are above the understanding for most of our students,” according to the letter.

We reached out to the Wakulla County School District and received a statement from the assistant superintendent, who said:

Concerns regarding curriculum from parents and community members are appropriately reviewed. The outcome of the review for the book in question was the recommendation to move the book from elementary school to a grade level deemed more appropriate. This does not constitute a ban as … students will still have the opportunity to read the book during their K-12 experience.

In that earlier letter, which was grammatically a horror show, the school also noted that some middle and high school students read at a third-grade level and might enjoy the book for fourth graders.

This is an excerpt from Thursday’s episode of “The ReidOut.” It has been slightly edited for length and clarity.