U.S. elections: Inside Florida’s culture wars • FRANCE 24 English

U.S. elections: Inside Florida’s culture wars • FRANCE 24 English

[Music] Americans are heading into this year’s presidential election more polarized than ever and one of the main issues dividing conservatives and Liberals are the culture wars we’re going to take a closer look here in Florida the state where Republican Governor Ronda santis says woke goes to die but first remember this this is a global pandemic during Co Governor DeSantis declared the free state of Florida refusing to lock it down the pandemic also saw the birth of an ultraconservative movement in Florida education moms for Liberty I join moms for Liberty because of the mandates because uh they I’m not against mask I’m not against vaccines I’m against this tyranny from the government that tell you if you don’t do this you’re going to be punished now with almost 300 chapters across the country moms for Liberty say they’re a Grassroots Army of Joyful Warriors anti-hate researchers say they’re well-connected extremists and once the pandemic was over they found a new state of Florida parents have a fundamental role in the Education Health Care and well-being of their children Flor parental rights and Education Act what critics call the don’t say gay law that prohibits public schools from any discussion of sexuality or gender identity Republicans say the legislation is needed to protect kids from pornographic content and liberal indoctrination but the laws can also ban books from school libraries all it takes is a simple challenge Florida has since pulled 1,400 books from schools the most of any state in the US moms for Liberty’s motto is we do not co-parent with the government but isn’t for example backing a Florida law like the parental rights and education law that effectively bans books in school libraries promoting government involvement well we’re not Banning books let’s say like first of all is stay clear of that uh word that that mislead so many people because those books you can find it everywhere than any public library what we want is do not use my tax dollar to indoctrinate my kids schools are for academics you have four kids I have two kids what if one of your children ended up being gay would you want them to have a safe space in the school where they could go and learn about things that perhaps they might not be comfortable about talking at home with you for me the safe space is at home the the the person who should help that child is the parents not a politician not a teacher not a schools right now you see uh children that they are not trusting their parents because at school they are telling if your parents don’t understand you it’s okay we are going going to take you in hands and we are going to proceed with what you need oh why because the the school knows what my child that I’d raised from birth know better than me I don’t think so moms for Liberty supported what’s known as the don’t say gay bill I don’t know then do not say gay Bill well the parental rights and education what’s known colloquially as don’t say gay because that’s what it is it says that teachers don’t have the right to talk about anything related to lgbtq from K through 12 that’s up to 18 years old that’s what the text said it doesn’t say that and we can go over the the bill is very short it says it protect any child even if you have a child that it’s identified as an lgbtq IT protect that child why but you’re not allowed to talk about it in school that’s what the law says about sex not about or gender related issu mean it’s only lgbtq talking about sex for me if a child is talking about heterosexuals this is talking about sex too of course and I am not against heterosexuals homosexuals B bisexuals open sexuals or other sexuality I’m against sexualizing children grooming children I am not against lgbtq my organization is not against lgbtq we have gay parents join our organization every day it’s not just about issues of sexuality there have also been books that have been banned that have to do with Race For example Ruby Bridges it’s about a little six-year-old black girl who suffered racial slurs death threats when she integrated white school in uh New Orleans in 1960 that book tells the true history of of a child’s experience why would that not be okay for another child to read today bully is real racism is real however to tell a child that is a victim instead of a Victor is not good because when you promote a victimization culture this is not the best way to get over this problems is telling that you have to stay in this problem and what we want is confident kids that no matter what happened to them they going to thrive in life they’re going to find finally what they want and and and fight for what they dream of but that’s this Ruby Bridges that’s her story she surviv that awful thing and she went on to become a bigger person in spite of that couldn’t that Inspire other children who are facing racism today I’m not going to promote victimization culture I’m going to promote uh Victor culture let’s [Music] say legal scholar will tell you that the path to Fascism starts with book Banning has happened multiple times and that is what we’re alluding to with this sign Cameron Driggers is a student at the University of Florida he also runs the youth action fund a group working to fight Florida’s Ultra conservative policies many of the group’s members are part of the lgbtq community let’s get Jack on the phone for them School used to be a safe space where they could explore ideas not in line with their families uh I grew up in a hyper conservative family that supported the likes of Donald Trump and Ronda santz they continue to support him I had no sort of lgbtq representation as a kid um and where I found that representation often times was in my libraries was picking up a Nella and and characters that look like me one of the biggest fights is here in Bard County where moms for Liberty was born the youth action fund is handing out free copies of some of the hundreds of books pulled from school shelves we have things like all boys aren’t blue I mean this this Memoir is actually among the most ban books in the United States not just in Florida and it tells the story of being queer being black discovering yourself in unfortunate Circ circumstances under going through a trauma that many people do Tony Morrison is is a renowned author I mean I don’t I don’t to explain that the fact that we would censor a work by Tony Morrison is just AB absurd we know that these bands are rooted only in fear bigotry and attempt of an older and dying generation to restrict our critical thinking very [Music] there is a extremist movement that is using Florida as a blueprint for the rest of the country We Believe pin America and others that are fighting in this fight in Florida feel like Florida will be the blueprint for resistance to better fight in the culture wars Free Speech organization pen America has just opened a brand new Florida office not far from this bookstore it’s funded by best-selling authors like Michael Connelly or Judy Bloom who’s seen her own Works pulled from the shelves every single book band that happened in Florida started with objections from less than five people in Florida for pen America the arguments put forth by parental rights groups are flawed there’s a lot of talk about oh it’s not a ban because they could get it on Amazon or it’s not a band they could just go they can buy it at this amazing bookstore there are plenty of children who go home every day have a key to get in and their parents have to work and they don’t get to go to the public library they certainly don’t have a credit card to log on to Amazon and get whatever text they need and then there’s just what happens in the magic of being surrounded by books and texts and not even knowing what you’re looking for until it finds you I mean how many of us have wandered into bookshelves and felt you know the excitement of finding a new book and what that means for you let’s talk about moms for Liberty uh the group that’s been behind many of these book bands the group started in Florida it now has chapters across the country what does that say to you about the state of America today well I think just the existence of mom for Liberty is is scary but what the moms for Liberty sort of movement that’s happened in Florida I think also tells us and part of our job in protecting our democracy is to fight back against this idea that we’re talking about Republicans and Democrats we’re an incredibly polarized position throughout the country especially in Florida and other where other places throughout the South um but it’s not a republican Democratic issue it’s not a blue and a red issue it is an extremist versus democracy lovers issue and I think it’s very clear that we you know name something truthfully when we see it the moms for Liberty Group practices in extremism they’re a minority the majority of floridans do not floridans do not want this and we want to continue supporting that movement so I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate a bit here sure we interviewed someone from moms for Liberty who said the book bands in school libraries aren’t a problem it’s it’s similar to having internet uh for example internet protections on search engines for kids some parents might say that they kind of have a point I mean what do you think about that targeting specific viewpoints in the content of speech runs contrary to the First Amendment so when you look at the overall theme of what’s happening and what it means for public education you have a very clear message that’s being sent to teachers administrators and students these are viewpoints these are positions that this that the state finds disfavorable then what is the message that happens to our actual school children if a text is pulled and says we’re focusing on lgbtq plus things or we’re focusing on things that tell the story of black or brown history in the states and those are disfavored then what we’re also doing is telling Floridian students that they are of less value and that is incredibly harmful moms for Liberty calls themselves joyful Warriors is this a war that’s a tough question for me to answer because I tend to be an optimist in a glasses half full sort of person so I hate to say yes but I think the answer is probably yes I mean I think we’re in a battle for sure for the fabric of our democracy and I guess my glasses have full position would be yes it’s a battle but um it’s being joyfully waged but the chaos of thousands of proposed book bands could mean some small victories are in store Governor DeSantis now now out of the presidential race is downplaying the bands accusing people of hijacking the process

Americans are heading into this year’s presidential election more polarized than ever. One of the main issues dividing conservatives and liberals are the “Culture Wars”. Genie Godula heads to Florida to meet those on both sides of the aisle, the state where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said “Woke goes to die”.
#Florida #Trump #USA

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