Ron DeSantis and his self-serving book ban
There was an ex-U.S. Marine who suffered a tragic death while trying to save the lives of the victims of a devastating earthquake in Nicaragua in 1972.
He鈥檚 hailed as a national treasure by many Americans because of his professional skills and his sense of humanity.
Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker was my hero. He was a hero to a lot of people.
I won鈥檛 list his accomplishments here. If you don鈥檛 know who he was, or what he did, you probably never will.
I do know that he doesn鈥檛 deserve to have a book about him 鈥� 鈥淩oberto Clemente, The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,鈥� pulled from the shelves of school libraries (even if temporarily) to satisfy the political agenda of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Clemente book is just one of 176 books that have been pulled from circulation in the Duval County, Florida, Public Schools to comply with a new law that DeSantis championed that supposedly filters out inappropriate content for children.
According to the Florida Department of Education, it鈥檚 a way for the state鈥檚 school districts to 鈥渆rr on the side of caution鈥� to ensure that students are shielded from bad stuff.
That鈥檚 bad stuff, I suppose, like the 鈥淭he Life of Rosa Parks (Famous Lives Series)鈥�?
I never knew Rosa Parks was anything more than a civil rights icon. A woman who fought on principle against racism. Little did we know that a book about her could be considered provocative.
How objectionable could a book be about a sitting Supreme Court justice? 鈥淪onia Sotomayor (Women Who Broke the Rules Series)鈥� is on that list.
All of them are supposedly pulled until a review of their bad parts might be discovered.
This is all so very despicable.
DeSantis is leading a charge that over-scrutinizes books about Jackie Robinson, 鈥淭hank you, Jackie Robinson,鈥� Hank Aaron (鈥淗enry Aaron鈥檚 Dream鈥�), and Jim Thorpe (鈥淯nstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army鈥�) could give young schoolchildren nightmares.
Might it be disturbing for schoolchildren to learn about the man (Thorpe) who many considered to be the greatest American athlete of the 20th century, and how he led his Native American team against members of the U.S. Military Academy?
I would hope not.
Interestingly, Thorpe鈥檚 team beat Army鈥檚 team, even though one of its team members was the future U.S. president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The DeSantis cover story is that some books are too 鈥渨oke鈥� for Florida鈥檚 school kids.
In other words, they might show that some people, even those thought to have become legends, were forced to fight against racism or sexism to achieve great things.
The reason I began this column with a paragraph about Roberto Clemente being an ex-Marin is because many of the people who knew about his exploits on the baseball field were unaware that he also put on a uniform to serve this country.
We should all have a healthy appetite to learn more about people of distinction. Not less.
For the record: Clemente joined the Marines in September 1958. He went through basic training and served for six months in North and South Carolina.
He was in the Marine Corps Reserves until September 1964.
They still pulled a book about him from the shelves of schools in Duval County, Florida.
Yeesh!
The books can be restored to the school鈥檚 library once a review of them has been completed. Yet, there are no reports that any review has even begun.
Until then, Ron DeSantis still has the final word in what has become a shameless example of political grandstanding.
To be fair, Clemente鈥檚 oldest son, Roberto Clemente Jr., believes the school district may have acted appropriately by pulling the book about his father from the school鈥檚 shelves.
But so far, nobody close to the subjects of any of the other books (about Rosa Parks, Jim Thorpe, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, or Sonia Sotomayor) has publicly agreed with the fact they鈥檝e been pulled.
And they probably won鈥檛.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.