National Review
No, Florida School Didn’t Ban Amanda Gorman’s Poetry
Amanda Gorman recites a poem during the inauguration of Joe Biden at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., January 20, 2021. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
By BRITTANY BERNSTEIN
May 24, 2023 2:51 PM
A parent of a student at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, Fla., filed a complaint with the school, saying the poem is “not educational” and has indirect “hate messages.” The parent suggested the poem would “cause confusion and indoctrinate students,” according to documents obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project.
The parent also voiced similar concerns about Love to Langston and The ABCs of Black History, as well as two books about Cuba, according to the documents.
Staff members on the school’s materials review committee ultimately decided four of the five books would be “more appropriate” for middle school-aged children and thus moved the books to the middle-school section of the library. A fifth book that also underwent review, Countries in the News: Cuba, was found to be “balanced and age appropriate” and was kept in place.
Minutes from a meeting of the review committee show the panel found the vocabulary used in Gorman’s poem was “determined to be of value for middle school students.”
A spokesperson for Miami-Dade County Public Schools told CNN that “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.”
However, that didn’t fit into the lingering narrative that Florida is out to ban books.
Gorman shared a statement saying she was “gutted” by the alleged ban.
“Because of one parent’s complaint, my inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
She goes on to say that “book bans aren’t new” and are “on the rise.”
“Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech.”
The mainstream media ran with the false story created by Gorman’s statement.
CNN’s Abby Phillip shared Gorman’s statement and described it as the poet responding to “her poem being banned by a Florida school because of one parent’s complaint.”
The New Republic reported that the school banned the poem “after a parent complained that the poem contained ‘indirect hate messages.’”
All In with Chris Hayes tweeted that the poem is “now banned in elementary classes at a school in the Miami area after one parent complained it had ‘indirect hate messages,’ and that its purpose was to cause ‘confusion’ and ‘indoctrinate students.’”
The Guardian reported that Amanda Gorman was “gutted” after “Florida school bans Biden inauguration poem,” while Rolling Stone published a headline that read: “Florida School Bans Amanda Gorman’s Inaugural ‘The Hill We Climb’ Poem.”
The New York Times reported that the poem was “restricted by Florida School,” while Politico said, “School bans Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem after parental complaint.”
In March, Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference where he shared sexually explicit material from books found in some of the state’s public-school libraries — one of several efforts his team has made to debunk claims that the state is banning books. The reaction to the material immediately proved his point: that many of these books were not suitable for children.
At the time, DeSantis spoke out against what he called a “book ban hoax.”
“There was a Duval County school video where they took a video of empty bookshelves and they say, ‘the state of Florida doesn’t want books, they’re trying to censor books’ and all this stuff. Turned out that was a hoax,” DeSantis said, adding that “a lot of what’s been going on is an attempt to create a political narrative, and it’s a false political narrative.”
The governor shared an infographic of myths and facts around Florida’s laws, which clarified that Florida schools have not, in fact, been directed to “empty libraries” and “cover classroom books.”
“School districts are required to report the number of books removed from schools based on legislation passed in 2022,” it adds. “Of the 23 districts that reported removing materials, the most removed were tied at 19 in Duval and St. Johns Counties — not even close to a whole classroom library. Of the 175 books removed across the state, 164 (94%) were removed from media centers, and 153 (87%) were identified as pornographic, violent or inappropriate for their grade level.”
