Media Hoax: No, Poem Read at Joe Biden’s Inauguration Has Not Been ‘Banned’ From Florida Schools

Media Hoax: No, Poem Read at Joe Biden’s Inauguration Has Not Been ‘Banned’ From Florida Schools

I think it’s safe to assume at this point that if you read or hear in the news that a book or a subject has been “banned” from a Florida school or school system, the story is either misleading or downright false.

There have been numerous instances of these falsehoods or distorted news stories cropping up over the last six months or so, with one of the more recent ones being the media lie that The Diary of Anne Frank had been “banned” from one Florida high school.

The real story was that an illustrated version of the book was removed from the school because of a complaint by Moms For Liberty about how it sexualized the teenage Frank and turned her into a lesbian who dreamed about seeing adult naked women and who fantasized about seeing her female friend’s breasts and kissing her.

The latest example comes from multiple media outlets including the Associated Press and Politico, who reported that the poem “The Hill We Climb,” which was written and read by woke poet Amanda Gorman during Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, was “banned” from one South Florida elementary school.

You will not be surprised which outlets spread the false version of this story.

Credit to CNN for at least getting the facts. https://t.co/dKOPicjVcJ pic.twitter.com/FE0Sw9pZQn

— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 24, 2023

More outlets spread the false version…

CNN was pretty much the only major outlet that had an accurate headline and got the facts right.

And then you wonder why no one trusts the press?

They actively and consistently spread misinformation. pic.twitter.com/NmWrAIKQAW

— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 24, 2023

I know the definition of “ban” is already somewhat flexible but surely there are better words to to describe a book being moved from one section of the school library to… another section of the same library pic.twitter.com/x3icdHKtA1

— Kat Rosenfield (@katrosenfield) May 24, 2023

Politico’s original write-up, for example, contained the headline “Florida school bans Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem after parental complaint” and read in part as follows:

A Miami-Dade elementary school has removed Amanda Gorman’s presidential inauguration poem, The Hill We Climb, from circulation after a parent complained that it contained indirect “hate messages.”

Gorman, 25, who gained national prominence after she recited her poem at President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration, took to Twitter Tuesday to denounce the book banning.

“I’m gutted,” the poet wrote in a lengthy Twitter statement, before saying that censored books are often authored by people “who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves,” most of whom are “queer and non-white.”

The problem here is that the poem, which is also in book form, was not banned at all, as even CNN of all places reported:

The same parent made similar complaints about “Love to Langston,” a poetry-based biography of Black poet Langston Hughes; “The ABCs of Black History” and two books about Cuba, complaints obtained by the nonprofit group show.

A materials-review panel at the school declined to remove the books from the school entirely but did decide to move the Gorman poem and two other disputed items to the library’s middle school section, which is for grades six through eight, according to minutes of an April meeting of the committee that were obtained by the nonprofit.

[…]

In a statement to CNN Tuesday evening, Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesperson Elmo Lugo said, “No literature (books or poem) has been banned or removed.”

“It was determined at the school that ‘The Hill We Climb’ is better suited for middle school students and, it was shelved in the middle school section of the media center. The book remains available in the media center,” he said.

And not only “available in the media center” but also “accessible to all students”:

The school had to send out this message to parents today correcting the record because of the mob egged on by the press spreading falsehoods: pic.twitter.com/sgsl0HFstJ

— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 25, 2023

In order to ensure accurate information, @MDCPS is compelled to clarify that the book titled, “The Hill We Climb” by @TheAmandaGorman was never banned or removed from one of our schools. The book is available in the media center as part of the middle grades collection.

— Miami-Dade Schools (@MDCPS) May 24, 2023

I should note that the AP has changed its story, but it still misses the mark:

I see the @AP has (belatedly) stealth-edited its "book ban" report. The headline now reads: "Amanda Gorman’s poem for Biden’s inauguration barred for younger children by Florida school" (which is still inaccurate), and no correction.

Same story an hour ago: pic.twitter.com/RIJdkWIg91

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) May 25, 2023

But the facts didn’t matter to some so-called reporters, who went right on ahead and shared the fake news anyway:

This is seriously becoming an every day thing. Someone makes a bogus claim and reporters like this clown help spread it: https://t.co/ymWONuScG3

— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 24, 2023

Here is another one.

Did @abbydphillip take even 2 seconds to learn what actually happened? No, she just ran with the idea the book was banned (instead of being moved to the middle school section of the library)? https://t.co/m8rsFEGn2C

— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 24, 2023

I should also note that a viral video that was shared by far-left Twitter accounts like Meidas Touch and others that showed a Florida public school employee alleging a mass purge of books from her school has been been fact-checked, surprisingly enough, by the AP and USA Today, both of which found out that what was alleged to be happening in the video wasn’t happening at all:

The claim stems from a since-deleted TikTok video posted by a staff member at McNicol Middle School in Hollywood, Florida.

But the books were not removed by the state after being deemed “inappropriate” as the employee claimed, according to John Sullivan, chief communications and legislative affairs officer for Broward County Public Schools.

“The books at McNicol Middle School were removed because the vast majority – 89% – were more than 15 years old,” Sullivan said in an email. “It is the national standard that school library specialists review and ‘weed’ books from their collections to ensure the material is current and up-to-date.”

Sullivan noted the weeding was done in compliance with American Library Association collection maintenance standards and a 2000 legal settlement regarding educational equity.

So that makes two fake news stories about “book bannings” in Florida in one week. Now that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has officially entered the 2024 presidential race, expect more of this in the weeks and months to come as the woke left and the MSM work in concert to tear his candidacy down by any means necessary.

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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