Two dozen banned books and Biden's populist flair
The state of the union is very divided
Welcome to a Tuesday evening edition of Progress Report.
President Biden tonight delivered his second State of the Union address in between growls and shrieks from red-faced Republican legislators sitting in the House chambers. The far-right hooting undoubtedly stoked the partisan defenses of Democrats watching at home, but it was the populist rhetoric and policy that made it one of Biden’s most powerful and successful speeches as president.
Biden focused much of his attention on the scourges of corporate greed and an economic system still rigged by the ultra-wealthy. There were the usual array of anecdotes from his storied childhood in Scranton, because no Biden speech is complete without one of his dad’s old pearls of wisdom, but it was the long list of legislative accomplishments and further policy ambitions that lent a new credibility to his populist rhetoric.
Biden touted the millions of new jobs that will be created by the first true American industrial policy since the 1980s and baited Republicans into swearing off cuts to Medicare and Social Security as part of the debt ceiling negotiations. The president also fired away at multinational monopolies, price-gouging pharmaceutical companies, predatory junk fees, and the vast union-busting efforts undertaken by many major corporations right now.
At one point, as Biden demanded further audits for wealthy Americans that use loopholes and off-shore accounts to avoid taxes, the camera cut to Joe Manchin, who sat listening in stupefied shock. The moment — along with every glance the dizzying yellow dress worn by Kyrsten Sinema as she sat on the Republican side of the room —, served as a reminder that a Democratic trifecta failed to pass many of the policies listed in Biden’s speech due to the legislative filibuster.
For now, they will largely remain ambitions, but also serve as proof of an alliance with the working families that Republicans have been so desperately courting with culture war cruelty.
Speaking of, tonight we’ll look at the results of the Florida book banning that we originally scooped in last night’s newsletter.
by Jen Cousins and Jordan Zakarin
Nearly two dozen books will be removed from school and classroom libraries in St. John’s County, FL, the superintendent of schools announced on Tuesday morning, marking a dramatic reversal made under pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Superintendent Tim Forson handed the county Board of Education a list of 23 books that violated the vague standards laid out by DeSantis’s signature school censorship laws. Included in the list of newly banned books are seven titles that the board had elected to keep in libraries after the’d been challenged by parents and other members of the community last year.
The reversal underscores the fact that Forson made the decision unilaterally, bypassing the standard process proscribed in DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” law and codified in training provided by the state Board of Education. Typically, all books are supposed to be voted by a school-employed media specialist, a requirement that has already driven teachers statewide to purge their classroom libraries.
Forson highlighted one book in his statement to the board: All Boys Aren’t Blue, the award-winning novel by George M. Johnson that chronicles growing up Black and queer. It was not a random selection; in 2021, a school board member in neighboring Flagler County attempted to press criminal charges against the book. The plot to arrest a novel fell short at the time, when the sheriff’s office could find no crime had been committed by having the book in a high school library.
Other books that Forson is stripping from library shelves include the award-winning picture books I Am Jazz, written by the transgender TLC network star Jazz Jennings, and When Aidan Became a Brother, a book about a trans child anticipating the arrival of their new sibling. A graphic novel version of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and the novel Forever, by YA icon Judy Blume, also got the axe.
The purge is not over, as other books continue to be quarantined pending a review by either Forson or the county’s media specialists.
Jen Cousins is the co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, a grassroots organization fighting back against the GOP’s assault on public schools and personal freedom.
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