Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed back on what he says is a 鈥渉oax鈥� from news outlets claiming the state is banning mass amounts books from school libraries and classrooms.
DeSantis started the news conference in Tampa by showing some of the pages from the books that had been flagged.
The video shows images from books like "Flamer," "Let's Talk About It," and "Gender Queer," which contain sexual images and conversations about sexuality that DeSantis says is inappropriate for children in Florida schools.
"I think if we had the entire state of Florida somehow either sitting in here watching that, I don't think there'll be very many people who honest-to-goodness believes that what was up there is appropriate for our schools," DeSantis said.
He said of the 175 books removed across the state, 87% of them were 鈥渋dentified as pornographic, violent or inappropriate for their grade level.鈥�
DeSantis also said the removal of books on prominent minority figures like Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron was done for political reasons and not due to state guidelines.
鈥淭hat's a false narrative that they're trying to do,鈥� DeSantis said.
DeSantis also once again pushed back on criticism the state faced after , saying the topics focused on critical race theory and Marxism.
鈥淲hat they would say then, is because this ideologically driven course was not something that met our standards, that somehow Florida prohibited teaching anything about Black history,鈥� DeSantis said. 鈥淎nd that is not only not true, [but] Florida law does the opposite. We require that all the aspects from the colonies all the way to the present.鈥�
A prepared document shared with media members outlined the issues that the Florida Department of Education had with the course:
- Intersectionality and Activism 鈥� the document states 鈥淚ntersectionality is foundational to CRT, and ranks people based on their race, wealth, gender and sexual orientation.
- Black Queer Studies 鈥� the document quotes a line in the course from Roderick Ferguson, who states 鈥渨e have to encourage and develop practices whereby queerness isn鈥檛 a surrender to the status quos of race, class, gender and sexuality. It means building forms of queerness that reject the given realities of the government and the market.鈥�
- Movement for Black Lives 鈥� the document connects the organization to a quote from Leslie Kay Jones, which reads 鈥淓very day, Black people produce an unquantifiable amount of content for the same social media corporations that reproduce the white supremacist superstructures that oppress us.
- Black Feminist Literary Thought 鈥� the document points to a recommended reading for the course from Bell Hooks, which says, 鈥淚 began to use the phrase in my work 鈥榳hite supremacist capitalist patriarchy鈥� because I wanted to have some language that would actually remind us continually of the interlocking systems of domination that define our reality.鈥�
- The Reparations Movement 鈥� the document states that 鈥減oints and resources鈥� from the course advocate for reparations, with a lack of 鈥渂alancing opinion.鈥�
- Black Study and Black Struggle in the 21st Century 鈥� the document states that the course argues that activism is the 鈥渃atalyst for social transformation,鈥� rather than through higher education.
DeSantis was joined by several supporters and state officials, including State Education Secretary Manny Diaz and Hillsborough School Board member Stacy Hahn.
Hahn says she's been pushing to keep certain books off school bookshelves that she believes are inappropriate in the district for the past year.
"It is very difficult to be in the minority on a school board,鈥� Hahn said. 鈥淎s much as I fight, I have one vote. So that's a lot of the times that is why you see Hillsborough County on lists where these books can be found."
DeSantis also defended a that says that a teacher with a book that contains pornography and sexual material in the classroom could face a third-degree felony, saying that law has been in place for years.
鈥淲hen they're citing that law acting like somehow that's chilling 鈥� it's been the law for a long time,鈥� DeSantis said. 鈥淚 don't think it's ever been appropriate in the history of Florida for adults to be providing pornography to minors.鈥�
This comes after school districts like , , and others across the state have caught national headlines for stripping books from their classroom libraries and media centers, as they work with media specialists to make sure the books meet Florida education laws.
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