The crackdown on books and literature continues in Florida as Governor Ron DeSantis‘ bill continues to take effect. The Republican Governor has been waging war on literature that is deemed “harmful,” however the growing trend seems to be taking books off the shelves that are written by minority individuals with messages of inclusivity and diversity. Now, poet Amanda Gorman has discovered her Presidential poem has also faced the chopping block.
Thanks to the complaint of one parent her poem, The Hill We Climb, which was read aloud at President Biden’s inauguration has been banned from one Florida school’s elementary classes. The banning came after the parent complained that the poem referenced critical race theory, “indirect hate messages,” gender ideology, and indoctrination. The poem was one of a handful of titles the parent, Daily Salinas (who has two children at the school) objected to according to the Miami Herald.
Along with the poem the other titles that were challenged were The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba, and Love to Langston. These titles were reviewed by members of the school and all were banned for elementary students except for the Countries in the News Cuba, which was deemed age appropriate. All the books are still available for middle school students to read.
In response to this decision, Gorman took to Twitter to discuss how she was “gutted.”
She notes that “book bans are nothing new. But they have been on the rise according to the ALA, 40 percent more books were challenged in 2022 compared to 2021.” She also notes that all it takes is one “single objection” adding, “and let’s be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves. The majority of these censored works are by queer non-white voices.”
She went on to tweet a picture of the complaint form which attributed the poem to Oprah Winfrey and failed to even mention why they objected to it at all. The parent believes the poem is not fit for schools and that the purpose of the poem is to “cause confusion and indoctrination.”
If you wish to see what could possibly have caused such a response you can watch the spoken word poem on YouTube, shared by PBS NewsHour from Biden’s inauguration.
Gorman also mentioned in her first tweet how her publishers, Penguin Random House, are currently joining with PEN America and other authors to bring a lawsuit to Florida’s Escambia County School District and School Board to return these banned books.