Daily Salinas Florida parent with ties to white groups forces Miami Lakes school to ban Amanda Gorman poem, decrying the literature as inappropriate of students in the face of recent efforts by Florida to ban what it calls woke activism and critical race theory in education.
‘We must fight back!’ A Florida elementary school has banned its students from reading the poem Amanda Gorman recited aloud at President Joe Biden’s inauguration following a complaint from a parent who decried the poem as ‘inappropriate for students.’
The poem, ‘The Hills We Climb’ predicated on ‘racial justice,’ going forward will only be available to middle school students at the Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes, FL, the Miami Herald reports.
‘I’m gutted,’ the 25-year-old poet wrote on Instagram, saying that book bans are on the rise in the US and that ‘all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection.’
Indirect hate messages
Gorman’s poem was included among several pieces of reading materials banned from the school, which is for students from kindergarten to eighth grade.
While the body of work received international praise, Daily Salinas — a parent whose two kids are students at the school — has challenged its context about critical race theory and gender ideology.
Critical race theory refers to the ‘controversial notion’ that racial bias is inherent in many parts of western society, especially in its legal and social institutions, on the basis of their having been primarily designed for and implemented by white people.
In addition to Gorman’s poem, Salinas pushed back on four books, including: ‘The ABCs of Black History,’ ‘Cuban Kids,’ ‘Countries in the News Cuba,’ and ‘Love to Langston,’ in which the parent cited indirect hate messages. Do you suppose?
Instead of asking that her child not be present during the reading of ‘contested’ books, the ‘concerned’ parent believes she is validated in mandating the books be banned entirely. A point of reference paralleling recently introduced legislation by Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis, banning, ‘woke and activism and critical race theory in schools and corporations.’
Daily Salinas at a Proud Boy rally with her husband Alberto Rego
She is the reason for books like ABCs of Black History and Amanda Gorman poem banned
Salinas’ has ties to far-right groups like M4L(Moms for Liberty) & openly supports Proud Boys
Make her racism famous #Twitter pic.twitter.com/hu4QxrjEMT— AnonOpsUnited (@AnonOpsUnited2) May 23, 2023
Florida parent contentious ties to white power groups
Salinas who seemingly has ties along with her husband, Albert Rego to White Supremacist group, The Proud Boys and M4L(Moms for Liberty), told the Herald in Spanish that she’s ‘not for eliminating or censoring any books’ but instead wants children to be taught ‘the truth’ about Cuba.
Raising the awkward question who gets to define what the truth is?
According to the complainant dated March 29, 2023, Gorman is mistaken for 69-year-old talk show host Oprah Winfrey as the poem’s author.
It also alleges the poem contains ‘hate messages’ and could ‘confuse and indoctrinate students’ before requesting Gorman’s work be removed from classrooms.
Gorman revealed publisher Penguin Random House is joining forces with PEN America in challenging book restrictions with a lawsuit.
‘Let’s be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves,’ she continued. ‘The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices.’
Gorman said that banning her body of work is a way of ‘robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature.’
Posted Gorman on Twitter, ‘So they ban my book from young readers… fail to specify what parts of my poetry they object to, refuse to read any reviews, and offer no alternatives. Unnecessary #bookbans like these are on the rise, and we must fight back.’
