systemic racism. At the press conference, Florida state education commissioner Manny Diaz said critical race theory was "rooted in Marxism." I'm not alone in suggesting that some additional understanding of history should be required of anyone holding a post with Education in the title.
In other states, proposed legislation would defund libraries that refuse to remove 'challenged' materials. Illinois took the opposite tack. Politico reports that Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker supports a House bill that would withhold state funding from any of the state's 1,600 public or school libraries that remove books from their shelves. It passed in the Illinois Senate in early May 2023, and Pritzker is expected to sign the legislation. Florida, Texas, and Ohio: Take note.
"There is more than one way to burn a book," Bradbury said. "And the world is full of people running about with lit matches."
Let's hope the next fire our elected officials’ light sparks imagination, curiosity, and a quest for knowledge in our children, not the kind Bradbury depicted burning at a temperature of 451 degrees.
Photo Credit Taylor Heery