This is a story that is happening again in Florida. A story that once again bears witness to the threat to academic freedom posed by the wo… The “cursed wokes” have nothing to do with this story.
In the state of Stop Woke Actwhich notably prohibits since last year any teaching causing in a student a feeling of shame or guilt linked to the history of segregation, a mother refused to let her 8-year-old daughter see the film in class Ruby Bridgesabout the first African-American girl to enter the white elementary school in her New Orleans neighborhood in 1960.
In a complaint filed last month with the Pinellas County School Board, Emily Conklyn said she feared the 1998 Disney-produced film directed by Martinican-born filmmaker Euzhan Palcy (A Dry White Season) teaches second graders to “go racist” by making them feel like white people hate black people.
His complaint snowballed. Two other families also refused to allow their children to see Ruby Bridgeswhich was banned from screening last week pending a school board meeting on Monday night.
Ruby Bridges, offered on the Disney+ platform, denounces the ignorance of white parents who refuse to allow their children to attend the same school as a new black student. 6-year-old Ruby arrives at class every day under police escort, while dozens of parents, children and protesters waving Confederate flags throw tomatoes at her, spit on her, threaten her with death and call her names. names, some of which begin with the letter N.
This is what, ironically, seems to have shocked Emily Conklyn and other Florida parents. They in turn banned their children from attending school to prevent this story from being told to them. Suddenly their little rabbits would be ashamed of the shameless racism of their grandparents’ generation… And it’s the conservatives who, without laughing, generally accuse the progressives of “rewriting history”.
The story of Ruby Bridges, a gifted young student who became the symbol of the desegregation of American schools – and of its violent protest – was immortalized in a famous painting by Norman Rockwell, The Problem We All Live With. It is an essential story, inseparable from the struggle for civil rights in the United States, just like that of Rosa Parks. And a reminder that white supremacy, on the rise, is far from ancient history.
PHOTO NATHAN HOWARD, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Ruby Bridges
No wonder Euzhan Palcy’s film has been part of the curriculum of many American schools for 25 years, as part of Black History Month. Ruby Bridges, now 68, has become not only an icon, but also a civil rights activist.
Nor is it surprising, in this age when some do not distinguish between racial discrimination and the inconvenience caused by the loss of their privileges, that zealous parents try to ban the teaching of a film on racial segregation.
Ruby Bridges is not a great movie. It’s a thematic, effective family TV movie typical of pre-Marvel Disney productions that garnered 10 million viewers when it first aired on ABC. On the Disney+ platform, The Ruby Bridges Fight (the title of the French version) is presented with a PG rating, that is to say suitable for children under the “suggested supervision” of an adult.
What suits one person’s children does not seem to suit another person’s child. This explains the most recent attempts to censor artistic works by parents in Florida, where the image of David by Michelangelo caused quite a stir last month.
In addition to the Stop Woke ActFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis last year endorsed other laws, including one dubbed “Don’t Say Gay,” which restricts elementary school teaching of topics that bother conservative parents, such as sexual orientation and gender identity.
DeSantis, tipped as a candidate for the Republican nomination in anticipation of the next US presidential election, immediately attacked his detractors. He accused Disney, who denounced these reactionary measures, of indoctrinating children with theories of the LGBTQ+ community. Disney, in the process, lost the special status enjoyed by Disney World for 60 years in Orlando.
On Monday, Disney Chairman Robert Iger accused Gov. DeSantis of contempt for free speech, while drawing parallels between his company’s stances and those of pro-civil rights companies. in the United States in the 1960s.
“Governor DeSantis, likely candidate in 2024, is the beachhead of a ferocious attack on HISTORY, which he wishes to erase”, wrote (in French) on Monday evening on Twitter Euzhan Palcy, who won an Oscar. last year for his entire career. The filmmaker, the first black woman to direct a film for a major Hollywood studio, co-produced Ruby Bridgesscripted by African-American Toni Ann Johnson.
Hours later, the Pinellas County School Board unanimously decided that Ruby Bridges could continue to be introduced to its second year students. But for this story that ends well, how many end badly?
Much has been made in the media of censorship of works by militant “wokes” in recent years. Enough to lead many to believe that there are as many slippages in this matter on the left as on the right. It’s wrong.
The American Library Association recently disclosed that there were a record number of attempts to blacklist books in the United States in 2022. The Association registered some 1,200 censorship requests affecting more than 2,500 books last year in municipal and school libraries across the United States. In 2021, 1858 books had been targeted and in 2019, 566 books.
The vast majority of censorship requests are for books with racial or LGBTQ+ themes and come from right-wing groups, according to the Association. Groups like Moms for Liberty, an organization of conservative mothers who want to decide what is acceptable to be taught to their children. Like in 1960 in New Orleans…