- By Ian Youngs
- Entertainment and arts journalist
Image source, Getty Images
Pink said she “didn’t want to stand idly by while books are banned by schools.”
Singer Pink will give fans 2,000 free copies of books “banned” by some Florida schools during her concerts in Miami this week.
The star launched into the controversy surrounding the removal of books with sexual content or themes related to sexuality, gender identity and race from certain libraries and classrooms.
“It’s confusing, it’s infuriating, it’s censorship” she says.
Florida officials say they want to restrict inappropriate and harmful content, but they are not banning books.
Pink has teamed up with Pen America, a campaign group that says it defends free speech for authors.
It says Florida has seen more books banned than any other U.S. state, accounting for more than 40 percent of all documented examples.
“Books have brought me special joy since I was a child, and that’s why I don’t want to stand idly by while schools ban books,” Pink said in a statement. a press release published by the group.
“It is particularly abhorrent to see authorities attacking books about race and racism and against LGBTQ authors and authors of color.
“We have made so much progress toward equality in this country and no one should want to see that progress reversed.”
Copies of four books, which Pen America said appeared in its Index of Banned Books, will be distributed at its exhibitions in Miami on Tuesday and at Sunrise on Wednesday. They are:
- Beloved by Toni Morrison – Pulitzer Prize-winning 1987 novel about the horrors and legacy of slavery is ‘banned’ in nine Florida school districts, says Pen America
- Todd Parr’s Family Book – a picture book for young children about different families, including same-sex parents, makes the list in three districts
- The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman – Poem written for President Joe Biden’s inauguration moved from elementary library to middle school section of Miami school
- Girls Who Code by Reshma Saujani – reportedly temporarily removed by a Pennsylvania district last year, but does not appear on Pen America’s current list
Nearly half of Florida’s school districts have experienced “book ban cases.” according to Pen America. In the United States, school book withdrawals increased by a third over the past year, according to the report.
The Florida Department of Education has said it is “not banning books,” while Gov. Ron DeSantis called the idea of banning a “hoax.” He said he wanted an education system “free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age-appropriate.”
He said earlier this year: “It is important to expose the book ban hoax because it reveals that some are trying to use our schools for indoctrination.
“In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been brought into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate state educational standards.”
In March, Florida’s education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr tweeted: “Students should spend their time in school learning basic academic subjects, not being force-fed radical ideology about gender and sexuality.”
School districts that removed books cited recent state laws, including one called Don’t Say Gay, which says children should not learn about sexual orientation or gender identity.
Last year, another law was introduced stating that school textbooks should be age-appropriate, free of pornography and “tailored to the needs of students”. They must be approved by a specialist trained by the Ministry of Education, with parents having more power to request a withdrawal.
Another law introduced in 2022 does not allow the “far-left woke agenda” to “take over our schools and workplaces” when it comes to teaching issues related to race, Mr. DeSantis said.
