Ron DeSantis accuses teachers unions of pulling harmless books

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has accused teachers unions of ordering their members to pull benign books off school library shelves to falsely cast him and his supporters as racist, authoritarian zealots.

DeSantis made the charge Tuesday after being asked about the removal of a book on Puerto Rican baseball great Roberto Clemente that detailed his experiences with racism.

“That’s politics, though, to be honest with you,” the Republican responded. “Come on. We know — Roberto Clemente? I mean, seriously. That’s politics.

“I think the school unions are involved with this,” DeSantis added to reporters. “I mean, you guys can FOIA some of these communications — I guarantee you, you’ll find some of that with the people that are doing it. So that’s a joke, OK?”

Critics of DeSantis argue that Florida’s recently enacted “Stop WOKE” Act — which compels districts to remove books that espouse critical race theory — is causing educators to yank any volume that might touch on racial issues.

But the governor alleged the chicanery is part of a larger attempt to stymie his efforts to block kids from accessing sexually explicit content and other inappropriate material.

“You get something like that, about a baseball player — first of all, I don’t think parents are challenging that,” the governor said. “I think [teachers are] doing it unilaterally to try to create an issue, but that can be resolved in about two minutes … but none of these things — 99% of this stuff is, is manufactured, it’s not what you need to be spending time on.”

DeSantis’ detractors have pointed to the removal of books on Clemente, fellow baseball legend Hank Aaron, and civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

A report this week by the anti-censorship group PEN America stated that books about late salsa singer Celia Cruz and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor were also pulled because they addressed racism.

In Florida and other states, parents have spoken at school board meetings to complain about books they deem inappropriate for consumption by kids.

To make their case, some have read sexually explicit passages from titles in their children’s school libraries, or shown board members graphic illustrations of sex acts contained in the volumes.

In several instances, their microphones have been cut off.

“How, if it’s too graphic for a school board meeting with adults, it’s OK to do for a fifth-grader or sixth-grader?” DeSantis asked. “Of course it’s not. Let’s just get real real here. There is unfortunately an effort in our country to try to jam some of this stuff into the elementary and middle schools.”

“When you have the books that the parents really are concerned about, with the inappropriate [material], nobody justifies it,” DeSantis went on. “Nobody justifies it … That’s so much different, having [a book with] young kids engaging in sex acts, you’re going to compare that to a biography of Roberto Clemente? Give me a break.”

After Tuesday’s press conference, several members of DeSantis’ press team tweeted out explicit images from books they said were found in Florida school libraries.