Libraries Off-limits: Examining Florida’s book bans

Into the Mix

Ben & Jerry's and Vox Creative

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 537 Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Andrea Phillips loves her job. She works at an elementary school as a reading interventionist, teaching struggling readers to love books. When she was told by her district to pack up her classroom library earlier this year, she was devastated. In 2022, Florida lawmakers passed HB 1467. This new law mandated that every book in Florida public schools be cataloged and reviewed for “harmful content”, and that schools create a system for parents to petition the removal of books they found inappropriate. Out of an abundance of caution, two county school districts – including Andrea’s – decided to block or remove all unreviewed books from schools while they adopted this new system. Otherwise, administrators worried they could be liable for violating another Florida law. In effect, more than 175,000 Florida students went to schools where library books were off-limits for part of the school year. Across the state hundreds of books containing themes of race, sexuality, and LGBTQ identities have been pulled from school libaries, even classics that are required reading in other states. Critics say this is just another example of Governor Ron DeSantis attempts to silence marginalized voices in Florida classrooms. Book bans have happened throughout our country’s history, usually in response to changing social norms. But when public education is unequal and struggling schools can’t afford to lose any resources, what do laws like this do to our most vulnerable students? Host Ashley C. Ford explores Florida’s book bans, their effects on students and educators, and the evolving history of American public education. For more information on how to support teachers and get banned books to kids, visit ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans campaign, and support Foundation 451. Into The Mix has been nominated in the Signal Awards for Best Public Service & Activism podcast! Vote for us below to help support the show. Voting closes on October 5. https://bit.ly/itmsignal

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Ashley C. Ford, and this is Into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice, produced with Fox Creative.
0:14.1	Shh.
0:15.6	And welcome to the library.
0:20.8	Or should I say, welcome to my favorite place on earth.
0:26.9	My grandmother taught me to cherish a good story, and going to the library was a frequent
0:32.4	treat for me and my siblings.
0:35.0	Our home wasn't always peaceful growing up, but the library was calm, reliable,
0:41.1	and filled with possibility. Literature was my entry point into the world, a beacon of life
0:49.2	outside of the one I was born into. I was galvanized reading books about girls like me, who were brave and cunning, and who
0:59.0	knew their worth even when the world told them they didn't matter.
1:04.5	When I ventured beyond the children's section, I found books for grown-ups that put
1:09.4	into words the feelings that were just beginning to cast shadows in my young heart.
1:15.6	Eventually, I wrote my own book, a memoir called Somebody's Daughter. It's about love and family and forgiveness, and also about the powerlessness I used to feel as a kid and the ways I grew past
1:29.7	it. You hear writers say this a lot, but I wrote the kind of book that would have meant everything
1:36.5	to me if I'd found it in my hometown library. So it's not hyperbolic to say that books and libraries save lives. They save mine, and I'm not alone.
1:50.9	All right, friends, today we are going to be reading a fairy tale today. So there are a couple of things that we're going to focus on today with our lesson.
2:01.3	Once you can read, no one can take that from you.
2:06.0	That is something that you will have forever, and that is something that can take you further in life.
2:13.1	This is Andrea Phillips, a reading interventionist at a public elementary school in Jacksonville, Florida.
2:20.2	With silver hair and a warm, youthful smile, she's the kind of teacher who radiates love for her students.
2:27.9	She absolutely glows when she talks about teaching.
2:31.8	So as an interventionist, I see between 60 and 70 students a day,
	...

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