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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGAWD DAMN -This Florida shit is going too far -
Roberto Clemente book removed from Florida public schools pending review over discrimination referencesLatinoJustice PRLDEF, a Latino civil rights organization based in New York, blasted the school district in Duval for removing the Clemente book over its "references to racism and discrimination."
Learning about Clementes achievements, his pride in his Afro-Boricua identity and his struggles with racism and discrimination would provide needed insight on historical conditions in the U.S., and inspiration for the majority Black and Latino student population in Duval County schools," Lourdes Rosado, president and general counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, said in a statement.
"We urge the school district to restore this book and others that shine a light on the experiences of exemplary people in our country who have contributed greatly to our society and culture," Rosado said. "Our children deserve to understand the full scope of our societys flaws and strengths.
Clemente died in 1972, when his plane crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico as he was delivering relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He was 38
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/roberto-clemente-book-removed-florida-014504078.html
I admit I'm not a baseball or sport fan, but Roberto is/was my first hero figure -
Mysterian
(5,163 posts)Because that's what they're getting,
Sky Jewels
(8,644 posts)for four more years. And hundreds of thousands couldn't be bothered to vote at all. Ho hum, who cares about freedom and democracy?
My sympathies to the blue voters of FL. It must be unimaginably frustrating...
ancianita
(38,012 posts)intend to turn this state around. Koch, whose network pays for DeSantis, can literally buy a majority in this state -- The Villages literally being DeSantistan central.
madville
(7,447 posts)To reverse whats happened in the last two years, COVID made all the crazies move here to escape lock downs and mandates. New voter registrations the last two years have been 7-1 republican to Democrat, changed a 50/50 state to 60/40 almost overnight.
ShazzieB
(18,358 posts)I offer my sincere condolences.
SouthernDem4ever
(6,618 posts)difficult. Seems like you throw a big party and everyone votes for you while your hands are in their pockets, wallets and purses.
Mariana
(14,936 posts)I was in The Villages a few weeks ago. They're building new homes by the thousands, and they're selling like hotcakes. The same is true in hundreds of other retirement communities in Florida. And De Santis doesn't need to buy those people's votes. They move there because they're loyal Republican voters, and they want to live among like-minded people.
ancianita
(38,012 posts)The Villages is everything you say. But they are kinda pissed that their tax money is going to subsidize costs of the developers, I've read. Anyway, I'm glad you saw it so I don't have to. It's bad enough knowing my town's got the "Manatee Patriots" check schools for Black literature.
Mariana
(14,936 posts)Doesn't matter. They'll just blame the Democrats in the state for anything they don't like, and continue to vote Republican.
ancianita
(38,012 posts)calimary
(83,812 posts)Unfortunately.
ancianita
(38,012 posts)but local news goes for the optics more than telling the whole story of developer/county back room deals. The money behind DeSantis is so big that for all we know, this protest might even be astroturfed. In my experience, property owners haven't had that much say over property taxes anyway. Sure, they get a tax hearing. Those rarely, if ever, keep taxes from being raised. Then they grumble and pay up. (At least that's been my experience living in an Illinois suburb, Chicago proper, and now here in FL.)
calimary
(83,812 posts)to look even-handed, when its embarrassingly not so.
I think the radical right has raised such a stink about an imagined liberal bias for so doggone long that the networks and news executives across the country are extremely self-conscious about bias. Theyre SO super-sensitive about being accused of being biased that I suspect theyre super-motivated to counteract that criticism.
So how to do that? The cheapest and easiest way is to just bring in more GOP and CONservative-slanted talking heads and the way news scripts are written and what they lead with and how many minutes are spent on it. Unfortunately, that just creates a different perception problem, one that the news chiefs havent really wrapped their brains around yet - if they even recognize it yet.
I think theyre just trying to mollify the complainers. Its the whole squeaky wheel thing, unfortunately. Such a quick-n-dirty solution just creates a whole new bias.
ancianita
(38,012 posts)forgive me if I'm talking about another group along with FL Villagers and local media. But red state media -- except for big city newspapers like the Miami Herald or Tampa Tribune -- are, more than not, paid to do perception management. Some editors want digging, but when drama sells without any full range of facts, local media often settle for that.
Not just Floridians, but Americans all over the country have to always remember WHY Republicans slant and lie and hype: because they KNOW that they cannot win.
Their corporate dark money overlords are scripting new scripts to change that reality, but until they do, the basic political messaging stays the same. Loyal base won't see anything they don't want to see. They want new scripts to be consistent with their old ones. They also still have guns.
W_HAMILTON
(8,285 posts)To me, it seems the youth vote in Florida seems to be much further to the left than most Democrats, which puts them at odds not only with most of Florida right now, but Democrats as well. And it seems that -- unlike youth in other states -- they have simply decided to abstain from voting altogether because they inexplicably think that is the way to get what they want. I guess they are waiting on someone from the Green Party to come save them...
Again, this is just my opinion on the situation and I'm sure someone can find some random statistic that proves otherwise, but that's just been my high-level view of things. It just comes across as the youth vote in Florida wanting more extreme left candidates than Florida as a whole is willing to vote for, and when they don't get those types of candidates, they just sit out altogether and give fascist Republicans free reign.
It's another reason why I think Democrats as a whole should focus their efforts elsewhere in the nation until those on the left in Florida get their act together.
In It to Win It
(9,016 posts)I think Florida Democrats are largely moderate, so they tend to put up relatively moderate candidates (2022 being the classic example of choosing a moderate in Charlie Crist over Nikki Fried). However, the more liberal young voters aren't going to show up for Charlie Crist. That isn't good for Democratic candidates in Florida because there is no room to sacrifice voters. Every single part of the Democratic coalition is needed in Florida. Democratic turnout is not that reliable IMO so therefore you can't afford to turnoff moderates to target more liberal voters and you can't afford to turn off liberal voters to target moderate voters. You need them all to have a sliver of a chance at winning.
I think this will never happen without national Democrats. The Florida Democratic Party needs help, outside help. "Outside help" doesn't mean just showing up during the election season, which is what usually happens, and then going back to ignoring Florida afterwards. I'm of the opinion that if we wait for that to happen, Democrats will never win Florida again. Florida Republicans have year-round engagement. Florida Republicans have the support of the larger and broader Republican party. Florida Republicans remain well-funded for longer periods of time while Florida Democrats don't. The broader Republican party remains engaged in Florida while the broader Democratic party doesn't (and hasn't) IMO.
Democrats try to gain a foothold (adding constitutional amendments to re-enfranchise former felons, to end gerymandering, etc), we still end up with the short end of the stick even when we're successful.
I'm not one that thinks Florida is lost for a generation. I think Florida can be winnable again. As I've stated in a previous post, Florida has over 14 million voters. Only about 53% of them actually turned out. Ron DeSantis won Miami-Dade County in 2022, one of the big blue counties Democrats rely on for votes, but there was only around 47% turnout. With over 14 million voters, Ron DeSantis won re-election with 4.6 million votes.
My point in saying all of this is that there is room for growth, but that's only if the party is willing to invest and put in the time. I can't be the only Democrat in Florida that feels like the broader Party has largely abandoned us.
W_HAMILTON
(8,285 posts)...and it just seemed wasted.
I don't think it's a problem that you can just throw money at to fix. You need serious reform, starting from the ground-up there. And investing national time and effort to do that seems counterproductive given that you resources are finite and could better be used on more Democratic friendly purple states (e.g., Georgia and Arizona) or even red states where such time and effort could actually pay off in the near term (e.g., North Carolina).
Florida just seems like a lost cause, in large part thanks to the voters -- maybe non-voters is more apt at this point... -- on the left. It's just not a good mix there right now. The sorts of issues that drive out a small -- but necessary -- segment of potential voters on the left there are the same issues that put off a majority of Florida voters, and it seems like young voters there don't understand this dynamic and just throw their hands up in disgust rather than work through it and realize the root word of what they call themselves (progressives) is PROGRESS.
I haven't seen this near hopeless mix of factors in any other presumed "gettable" state and until it is somehow resolved, I think it is a waste pouring resources into the state when those resources at the present time could better be spent on other states that are closer to being Democratic leaning or even future Democratic stalwarts than Florida is right now.
Unfortunately for a segment of young voters, sometimes it does take a serious wakeup call for them to abandon their idealism and realize that achieving the achievable is sometimes the best that can be done, e.g., look at how many thumbed their nose at Hillary in 2016 but then were jolted into action by the deplorableness of Trump -- enough to have swung the election in 2016, that's for sure.
In It to Win It
(9,016 posts)I think we're on the same page here, mostly. I agree that it's not a problem that only money will fix. I think that whatever it takes rehab the Florida Democratic Party, it will take outside help to accomplish. If the Florida Democratic Party is left to fend for themselves, we will remain massively disadvantaged as we are now because the opposing party has support in every way possible beyond financial support. They have money, infrastructure, and structure. The Republican Party in Florida didn't get those things all by themselves with no outside help. They had help over the years from the broader Republican Party.
Just as you listed Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina, those states were (and are) being nurtured and developed by the Party. The Party is willing to invest the time, support and money to do that. We were not winning in those states for a long time until we were and that took being active and engaging in those states. That same long term view and commitment of Florida would be needed, rather than just thinking of the short term. I think the short term view is one of several reasons why the Florida Dems have crashed and burned. There's no thought to the long term. There's not been much thought to incremental improvement until we have the structure and support to put us over the top. More importantly, I think that the Florida Dems overall are not very united, and I think outside help is needed to corral the Party into a cohesive group. I don't think the Florida Dems is in a position currently to do that on it's own.
I think back to 2008 and 2012 with Pres. Obama winning Florida. I think about how that scared Republicans and made them realize it's where they should increase their efforts in engagement and voter drives over the years with every incremental increase in voter base until they surpassed Dems. They completely took advantage of the conventional wisdom that Democratic turnout is poor in midterm years, which is when the most important elections in Florida happen. Florida Dems did not prove that conventional wisdom wrong yet. I look at the map and I feel there's not much room for expansion unless the Party is willing to lay down roots in places they don't usually win, which now includes Florida.
Tell me about it! I do GOTV drives, I donate, I do everything I could to support the party. However, I live in Florida. If I don't fight for it, who will?
I understand the feeling but that's why my view is long term, rather than near term or right now. You have to start somewhere. I think Texas is in the same boat. There are people that are willing to show up and vote. I'm one to think that just because we didn't win in 2018 or 2020 or 2022 (in Texas or Florida), that doesn't mean you take your foot off the pedal. While I understand that it's difficult to keep people engaged, if you ever hope to win in those states, you have to keep nurturing the base you're building as just we did in Georgia or Arizona, and are doing in North Carolina.
Maybe that's just my hopeless optimism.
SouthernLiberal
(408 posts)But I just don't get this 'old people are crazy Republicans'.
Me, I was a Republican as a young woman. Even ran for local office once. Didn't win.
So, the older I get, the further left I get. I have voted for Democrats only since the late 1980's. Now I will turn 69 next month, and I would call myself a socialist.
If the government is not helping the people, what is the point of having a government? We spend so much money on the military, and I can't remember single time in my life when I saw our military actually used to protect America.
ancianita
(38,012 posts)I've never said anything to the effect of old people being crazy Republicans. Everyone I know who's old and Left have stayed that way.
I know quite a few old folks down here who are all Democrats. St. Petersburg has one of the highest elderly populations in the state, and it votes consistently blue, as do larger FL East coast towns. I don't even know where the 7:1 party differential that was mentioned in the thread comes from, but FL's party voting difference got close by 2000, with the Bush v Gore decision (Florida's even had Democratic governors), and though it seems that Repubs outnumber Democrats, I highly doubt the registration ratio is 7:1.
When things work the way they're supposed to, they fade into the background. Same with government. But they're not hard to see when one actually looks. Many only see "government" or "military" when they're not working.
One example is how everybody paid attention to Wm Barr and Trump's DOJ. But many of the same people now think the DOJ is 'doing nothing' of substance around the Jan 6 seditious insurrection, or has turned political. Another example is the kind of national civics lesson that went on during Trump's dysfunctional four years, resulting in record breaking voter turnout in 2020, greater than the voter blue wave of 2018. So, I'd say be glad you've never seen the "military actually used to protect America."
Ending both wouldn't feel sudden. But in a short period of time, you would suffer without them. Doing away with something because you don't see it working is kinda like having to learn the hard way, imo.
It appears the only way to get these bastards' attention is to hit them in the pocketbook. Come on, MLB--step up to the plate. Boycott Florida spring training!
allegorical oracle
(2,904 posts)always a fan of WDWorld, but DeSatan's overtaking of the Reedy Creek organization and replacing it with his own board of directors smells like something a fascist would do.
In It to Win It
(9,016 posts)Last edited Sat Feb 11, 2023, 07:06 PM - Edit history (1)
I live in the bluest county in the state. Generally, theres about a 2-to-1 Democratic advantage in my city and county. You cant get elected locally being a Republican where I am.
Its frustrating to watch rest of the state go in the opposite direction.
Its frustrating to watch a winnable state for Democrats slide backwards election after election.
Its frustrating watching Democrats lose midterm after midterm in Florida (when the statewide races happen GOV, AG, etc).
Its frustrating to watch Democratic turnout go from 4 million in 2018 to 3.2 million in 2022.
Its frustrating to watch a state with 14 million voters and only half of them actually show up to vote. Its frustrating that no one is trying to turn out these gettable voters.
The entire situation is frustrating.
BlueWaveNeverEnd
(9,922 posts)In It to Win It
(9,016 posts)live love laugh
(14,086 posts)uponit7771
(91,308 posts)... down on them.
uponit7771
(91,308 posts)usaf-vet
(6,749 posts)..... the country. Eliminate it, and the country might survive.
certainot
(9,090 posts)free speech spectrum - there are easy free political alternatives in most places.
talk radio has a larger audience, a lot of it captive, with much less scrutiny, and it is nationally AND locally coordinated. it does the unchallenged groundwork repetition for fox. without rw radio fox is nothing
and it would be easy to destroy/democratize the radio monopoly.
as soon as the dem party or an allied or media org starts using AI to digitize and analyze it the radio ad industry will have to break up the monopoly or lose tooo many advertisers who wouldn't want to be associated with what will be exposed as a massive repeated for lies and bullshit going back 35 years, with russian influence for more that a decade.
radio will also be very vulnerable when progressives start complaining/protesting all the universities that support rw radio by broadcasting sports on 100s of stations - like the 87 supporting 260 ex limbaugh stations
that includes 5 fla unis letting desantis piggyback their athletes on 20 ex limbaugh stations - UF on 10! one of the worst offenders
getting those schools off those stations, just getting attention to it will spell the end of desantis - AI could be used to count the thousands of times those stations repeated "woke" "CRT", attacked kneeling athletes, and called BLM a terrorist org etc
usaf-vet
(6,749 posts)... we talk and or listen to the music of our choice or Audible Books on our phones.
spudspud
(528 posts)So, yes. This place has been going downhill for years now.
Skittles
(157,676 posts)Last edited Sat Feb 11, 2023, 10:28 PM - Edit history (1)
but a LOT of repuke voters seem to APPROVE OF FASCISM
uponit7771
(91,308 posts)blue neen
(12,404 posts)The man is a hero in so many ways, so VERY VERY unlike Ron DeathSentence.
Mysterian
(5,163 posts)Roberto transcended baseball and showed us what a magnificent, human role model looks like. My entire life I have looked at Roberto as a role model. I have his picture on my wall here.
I was at the game against the Mets when The Great Roberto got #3,000.
blue neen
(12,404 posts)No one ever could have predicted that #3000 would be his final hit. I'll never forget New Year's Eve 1972.
Cha
(304,047 posts)deSadist is Jealous of anyone who has accomplished greatness and is admired by millions. And, hard working people in general who believe in our Democracy
What's pissant done? Nothing but throw his DICtator nightmare Fascist shit around Florida. .
republianmushroom
(17,050 posts)cbabe
(4,061 posts)This mornings post. As good an explanation as Ive heard so far.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=17638202
Why ban picture books? They are 'seeds' leading to curiosity and exploration later in life. Must nip that bud early.
From discussion heard on npr (cant remember the show).
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roberto-Clemente
A close friend of Clementes, Spanish-language sportscaster Luis Mayoral, added, Roberto Clemente was to Latinos what Jackie Robinson was to Black baseball players. He spoke up for Latinos; he was the first one to speak out.
https://www.11alive.com/article/sports/mlb/atlanta-braves/hank-aaron-legacy-civil-rights/85-bc234e12-d07f-4a4d-928e-c4224ca28d48
Hank Aaron's legacy beyond baseball: The role he played in civil rights
Off the baseball diamond, Hank Aaron is viewed as as a trailblazer in civil rights.
https://www.history.com news before-the-bus-rosa-parks-was-a-sexual-assault-investigator
Before the Bus, Rosa Parks Was a Sexual Assault Investigator
That incident was on her mind when she traveled to Abbeville, Alabama, in the autumn of 1944 to deal with a disturbing case chronicled in the new movie The Rape of Recy Taylor. It was the evening...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rosa-parks-what-to-know-about-the-lifelong-activist-and-civil-rights-icon/ar-AA174dWM
Her advocacy work also extended beyond Detroit. When young people in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee helped build an independent Black political party with local residents in Lowndes County, AL, Parks journeyed down to support them. She visited the Black Panther school in Oakland, California; attended the 1968 Black Power convention in Philadelphia; helped organize many prisoner defense committees (including for Angela Davis, Joan Little, and Gary Tyler); fought for reparations; and opposed the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
regnaD kciN
(26,506 posts)If you look at the list of removed books, it includes a multitude of sports stars and other heroes of popular culture, all of whom are BIPOC. The message seems to be that only white people are to be held up as role models.
blue neen
(12,404 posts)I'm sure that bugs the living crap out of Ronnie DeathSentence. He's got the mistaken idea that he is better than everyone else.
caraher
(6,307 posts)How about better human being? DeSantis is an utter failure like that while Clemente was so much more than just a great ballplayer
blue neen
(12,404 posts)We were so lucky to have Roberto for the all-too-short time that we did.
DemocraticPatriot
(5,410 posts)LMAO
However, I think the wearing of the white boots was a "dog whistle"!
(that is the only barely logical explanation I can find for it)
blue neen
(12,404 posts)He and his lovely wife (who does all his planning for him) sure miscalculated on that one!
bucolic_frolic
(46,366 posts)Oh, wait. That's the whole idea.
ancianita
(38,012 posts)Koch-DeSantis cancel culture. Both of them went to woke universities, woke enough to provide them with the clever-by-half tools they use to game democracy.
erronis
(16,664 posts)This will backfire on the RW/intolerants in a way that will last for decades. Whole voting cycles - not just today's sound bites.
ancianita
(38,012 posts)Backfire? Right? What hasn't backfired on them. Seriously.
Baitball Blogger
(47,651 posts)Eventually theyll get the message.
NHvet
(253 posts)They are trying to white wash history, nothing else. White, Christain history and nothing else. I have a grandson in elementary school in Fl. We worry for his future.
pnwmom
(109,425 posts)like Grace Lin's "Dim Sun for Everyone" and "Knots on a Counting Rope" by Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault.
The district is full of whack-jobs.
panader0
(25,816 posts)the story could be about an old white man talking to his grandson instead of an American Indian.
pnwmom
(109,425 posts)I'd say about 2/3 of the books had characters or authors who were non-white or Hispanic. They also banned Heather has Two Mommies, and other books with LGBT characters or themes.
Ilsa
(62,161 posts)good enough for certain sports, coaching, leadership, being a chef, etc. because no one told them about the discrimination in all fields. I loved reading biographies of sports and historical figures when I was a child. Those books made me feel like I could do anything.
Shame on DeSatan.
yorkster
(2,264 posts)I am having trouble keeping track of just how widespread all of this is.
Seems like this banning of books, of crt, this anti-woke crap is all over the place in ways large and small. It feels out of control.
It's like we need a central clearing house just to keep up.
It ain't just Florida, sad to say...
OnlinePoker
(5,818 posts)Being published on Feb 28th.
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-courage-to-be-free-ron-desantis?variant=40977857544226
plimsoll
(1,690 posts)Talk about a punchable face.
lambchopp59
(2,809 posts)How far can they stretch using the word "free"? Free for me but not for thee?
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)He wrote about how "Liberty" actually meant the god given right of white wealthy men to do as they please, even (especially?) to the detriment of everyone else. This was rediscovered, researched and written about by James M Buchanan in the 1980's, and his views were in turn picked up and embraced by 21st century american Republicans, notably the Koch Brothers and Federalist Society.
HubertHeaver
(2,526 posts)burrowowl
(17,956 posts)Need to be free of DeSatan!
plimsoll
(1,690 posts)While small in population it had a disproportionate percentage of volunteers. My guess is that the core of that animus remains. Adding to that they are a "retirement" state, so you have a big population of people whose interests really are not in making the state better.
I suspect the situation will only get worse. A polarization of migration patterns to Florida. Exodus of young people with marketable talents. Who knows.
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)I do not think burning books will sell with the middle. I really believe this dishonest culture war is going to backfire.
Just look how badly the right underestimated the outrage over abortion.
Christianity is crashing in America. That is just a fact. The uninformed middle we fight over is not going to church.
We must keep the pressure on and increase the out rage over burning books to be sure the middle hears us.
Tickle
(2,919 posts)there an out bidding on homes. 😐
madville
(7,447 posts)Between 2020-2022 republicans out registered Democrats 7-1 on new voter registrations. We were purple and then COVID made them all move here because we didnt lock down. Its going to take decades to reverse.
Tickle
(2,919 posts)49 to go?
patphil
(6,837 posts)Now he's going after one of the most famous Latino baseball players of all time.
That's not going to sit well with the Cuban Americans. Their culture is heavily into baseball.
That guy's a true dildo (mindless f**ker).
Joinfortmill
(16,120 posts)I love FL. I lived there for 5 years. Would love to go back but I never will as long as Republicans run the place. At the rate they're going no decent person will want to live there, not to mention it will likely be uninhabitable in 10 years.
Paladin
(28,697 posts)Initech
(101,455 posts)They are digging their own hole here, and happily taking it because Fox News owns that state. Like they own Texas and Georgia.
Paladin
(28,697 posts)Not any more so than all of Texas or all of Georgia.
Warpy
(113,015 posts)if their skin was dark. That just wouldn't do! They might start hating their own families and feel bad about themselves!
Stupid asses don't realize children take this in and don't analyze it like that, they're children, dammit. They think differently.
They might start to think about it later when they're adults, but Grammaw and Grampaw will be gone by then.
If you don't think this is true, read "Huckleberry Finn" again, as an adult. It's a very different book from the adventure story you read as a child.
maxrandb
(15,795 posts)They seem to be cool with being taken over by a fascist, since their CEO just caved and said; "they're cool"
Nothing will change. The racism, fascism, misogyny, hatred and white supremacy...NONE OF IT...will change, unless and until we make racism, fascism, misogyny, hatred and white supremacy unprofitable to the businesses, corporations and individuals that fund and enable it
LudwigPastorius
(10,558 posts)aggiesal
(9,406 posts)Iggo
(48,188 posts)When I was a kid in the 60s, white racists were plain mean. Now theyre fucking crybabies. Sad.
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)You can't get more anti-American than that!
Scalded Nun
(1,327 posts)GreenWave
(8,795 posts)Clemente had exactly 3,000 hits and a way to show solidarity against the forces of evil.
Clemente went to save lives losing his life.
DeSantis received donations from a Covid treatment mogul and put millions of lives at risk. DOJ if you are reading (and same thing in Texas), go get 'em!
NGeorgian
(80 posts)*
DemocraticPatriot
(5,410 posts)Perhaps he should have turned south, instead of north, from Savannah....
FakeNoose
(35,184 posts)They claim the books are "under review" whatever that means, but meanwhile the books have been removed from every school library in the county.
DeSantis is already working on getting the other counties in line on the same book ban.
Initech
(101,455 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,723 posts)Jilly_in_VA
(10,752 posts)I want to punch DeSatan into the next millennium! And all of his minions with him.