Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Hunter Crenian
Republicans and Governor Ron DeSantis were forcibly and again warned by Democrats two years ago that a new law that would make it easier to challenge school texts was so broadly written that it would cause chaos throughout the state.
They can now claim to have “told you so.”
On Tuesday, DeSantis renounced the 2022 law by signing a bill that widened its scope. Not the citizens whose objections to particular books account for the majority of book removals from school libraries and classrooms, but liberal activists he accused of misusing the legislation.
The day before the measure was signed, DeSantis stated, “It is just wrong that someone can use the parents’ rights and the curriculum transparency to start objecting to every single book to try to make a mockery of this.” That is theatrical. It’s political, that.
Interestingly, PEN America, an organization that opposes book bans, revealed in a report released on Tuesday that 72 percent of the books removed from American school systems in the first half of the current school year were from Florida.
According to the group, leftist activists shouldn’t be held accountable for breaking the law.
According to Kasey Meehan, director of Pen America’s Freedom to Read program, “the majority of books that we see being removed are books that talk about LBTQ+ identities, that include characters of color, that talk about race and racism, and that include depictions of sexual experiences in the most broadest interpretation of that understanding.”
According to Meehan, conservative people and organizations like Moms For Liberty are putting out these challenges.
The old law permitted book challenges on a per-book basis for anyone, district resident or not, parent or not. A book must be removed from the shelf after it is contested until the school district addresses the issue. The new law restricts challenges to one each month for anyone without children enrolled in a school system.
According to the PEN America report, 3,135 of the 4,349 school book bans that have been implemented nationwide this academic year have occurred in Florida. Meehan noted that one person in conservative Clay County disputed forty books only last week.
DeSantis focused much of his campaign on his education program, including the legislation granting individuals greater authority to challenge books, prior to withdrawing from the Republican presidential primary.
House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell stated, “DeSantis just created a big mess and now he’s trying to disown it, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to distance himself from this because he campaigned on it so hard.”
This is not the only instance where the blunt-speaking governor had to modify the beliefs he supported in his presidential campaign.
In the settlement of other lawsuits involving Walt Disney World and the state, he has also made compromises. Their disagreement began in 2022 when the business opposed a DeSantis-backed bill opponents nicknamed “Don’t Say Gay.” Lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools are prohibited by law.
When the Associated Press requested DeSantis’ office to name instances of liberal activists who were breaking the law, it named Chaz Stevens, a citizen of South Florida who has frequently made fun of the government. Stevens brought up issues with the Bible, dictionaries, and thesaurus in dozens of school districts.
According to a DeSantis spokeswoman Julia Friedland, the amended legislation “ensures that book challenges are limited for individuals, like Chaz, who do not have children with access to the school district’s materials.” Emails asking for further examples were followed up on, but she never responded.
Stevens was pleased that DeSantis’ staff picked him out. Stevens gained national attention eleven years ago when he erected a Festivus pole made of beer cans across from a nativity tableau displayed in the Capitol.
They send me up when they need to make foolish people even stupider. I have elements of an activist, a comic, and an artist. Stevens stated, “I just want a better society.” “I’m a smart guy, but I’m also an idiot.”
The “free speech zone” in the Capitol rotunda was permitted by DeSantis’ predecessor, current Republican Sen. Rick Scott, but under DeSantis, new restrictions were placed on the use of Capitol space for political discourse. Among the applicants who have been refused entry under the new regulations are Stevens and the League of Women Voters.
“I had no idea that I possessed the power of millions!” stated Stevens. “I’m only one man. I’m a troublemaker. I understand my part in this.
Driskell emphasized that DeSantis was forewarned that issues would arise if the book ban legislation was approved in 2022.
“We informed him as much. During our discussion and questioning on the floor, the Florida House Democrats brought up the original law’s ambiguity and potential for misuse, she added. “The issue is not with Chaz. The fault lies with those who are abusing the legal system.
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Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.
