Banned from p7 Though book-banning incidents have been recorded in seven Florida school districts, none have been documented in South Flori- da’s school districts. The Miami-Dade and Broward County public school districts could not immediately answer New Times’ emailed questions asking whether they’ve received any book ban requests. But that hasn’t stopped Miami’s local bookstore owners from taking note of the trend and speaking out against the bans. “It’s extremely disturbing. But it’s no sur- Tetra Images/Getty Images UNHOLY ROLLER Atheist petitions to ban the Bible in Miami-Dade and Broward schools. BY JOSHUA CEBALLOS S ince July of 2021, more than 200 books have been banned in various school dis- tricts across Florida, the state with the third-highest number of school book banning incidents in the U.S. This comes as the Florida legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis have passed House Bill 1467, which allows members of the public to challenge and ban books available in school classrooms and libraries, and a swath of “anti-woke” legislation purportedly aimed at empowering parents to protect their children’s impressionable minds. With that in mind, local political stunt ac- tivist Chaz Stevens of Deerfield Beach has taken it upon himself to add another book to the lengthy list: the Bible. On April 19, in let- ters sent to superintendents in eight school districts in Florida — including Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) and Bro- ward County Public Schools (BCPS) — Ste- vens, an avowed atheist, petitions the districts to ban the Christian Bible from classrooms and libraries, citing its inclusion of inappropriate topics. “If they’re gonna ban books, then the whole library should be in play. My hope — and it’s a longshot — is that they will apply their own standards to themselves and ban the Bible,” Stevens tells New Times. Free-speech and literary-expression advo- cates have been sounding the alarm about what they see as a bureaucratic, authoritarian attack on education in Florida, particularly af- ter recent news that the state rejected 54 8 2 math textbooks from the curriculum for alleg- edly containing prohibited topics such as “Critical Race Theory.” When the state went so far as banning math books, Stevens says, he was inspired to use the same bureaucracy to strike back against the conservative wave with an operation he calls “Eff Off Jesus.” “I wish to file such an objection, requesting the Miami-Dade County Public School system immediately remove the Bible from the class- room, library, and any instructional material,” Stevens writes in his request addressed to MDCPS Superintendent Jose Dotres on April 19. “And, as is often the case with banned books, I ask your agency lay flame to that gi- ant stack of fiction in a pyre worthy of a Vi- king sendoff.” Stevens cites age inappropriateness, social- emotional learning, mentions of bestiality and rape, and “wokeness” as reasons to ban the Bi- ble. Each reason is accompanied by a corre- sponding Bible excerpt. “With the constant babbling concerns about teaching Critical Race Theory, should we not take stock of the Bible’s position on slav- ery? I am concerned our young white students will read such passages and wake up to civili- zation’s sordid past,” Stevens writes, followed by a passage from Ephesians that speaks of slaves and servants obeying their masters. Though book-banning incidents have been recorded in seven Florida school districts, none has been documented in South Florida’s school districts. But at least one South Florida school dis- trict has received Stevens’ letter. “We acknowledge receipt of the subject letter. District staff will review it and respond accordingly,” Elmo R. Lugo, a spokesperson for MDCPS, tells New Times via email. BCPS Superintendent Vickie L. Cartwright’s office could not immediately comment as to whether the agency received the request and how it intended to address it. “They better not fucking ignore me,” Ste- vens warns. “If they ignore me, doesn’t that tell you something? The government can’t pick and choose religion, but can they choose which books they review for banning and which ones they don’t?” [email protected] prise, given where our politics are today, that book banning and these cultural divisive is- sues will be exploited in order to make a po- litical statement or to gain political advantage,” Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan tells New Times. “The language is vague in some of these bills. Basically, it leaves educators in the dark.” There’s a hand- painted mural at Books & Books’ Coral Gables store that reads, “CENSORSHIP LEAVES US IN THE DARK,” and lists dozens of books that have been banned throughout the years, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Lord of the Rings, Ulysses, and To Kill a Mockingbird. “RON DESANTIS ISN’TGOING TO BE ABLE TO ERADICATE ALL MATERIAL THAT HAS BLACK PEOPLE, JEWISH PEOPLE, GAY PEOPLE, TRANS PEOPLE — HE JUST WON’T BE ABLE TO DO THAT.” Skimming PEN America’s list of banned books, Kaplan notes that many “wonder- ful” stories are being banned. He is dis- heartened that a group of people want to prevent students from not just reading them, but experiencing their overarching messages about acceptance, diversity, in- clusivity, and love. But Kaplan notes that censorship can sometimes backfire. Whenever a book is banned and appears on the news, Kaplan immediately notices a HERE, LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY COUNTY AND BY AUTHOR, ARE ALL THE BOOKS BANNED IN FLORIDA’S SCHOOL DISTRICTS SINCE JULY 2021 larger demand for that novel at his stores. For example, after a Tennessee school board voted in January to ban the Holocaust novel Maus from its classrooms, Kaplan says, sales for the book went “through the roof.” Sandler, whose used bookstore offers visi- tors one free book per visit, concurs that book bans can sometimes achieve the opposite of their intended effect: Instead of deterring children from a specific book, the bans could inevitably make students curious and seek it out — a phenomenon known as the “Streisand effect.” (In 2003, Barbra Stresiand tried to sue an aerial photographer documenting coastal erosion for publishing images of her Malibu home. The photo had only been accessed six times at the time of the lawsuit, but after the media picked up the story, the image received more than a million views.) “Ron DeSantis isn’t going to be able to eradicate all material that has Black people, Jewish people, gay people, trans people — he just won’t be able to do that,” Sandler says. “But what he can do is tell you that he is mov- ing in that direction. And to me, that’s a dis- play of power.” Bookleggers, which bills itself as “a no- kill shelter for books,” relies on book dona- tions, and many of the books on Sandler’s shelves were headed to the dumpster. That’s why, he says, patrons will always find banned books at his library, and he rel- ishes giving forsaken or unwanted stories a second chance. “Whatever Ron DeSantis and his ilk are hoping to do by banning books,” Sandler declares, “we, of course, have a promise to the community that those books will be ac- cessible here for as long as the organization is here.” Essentially, a government or school dis- trict or parent can’t simply eradicate a con- cept in a certain book by banning it — or, as Sandler likes to say, quoting the famous phrase from Russian writer Mikhail Bulga- kov, “manuscripts don’t burn.” [email protected] MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 APRIL 28 - MAY 4, 2022 NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS |miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com miaminewtimes.com
