Florida’s one-man crusader against pornography in schools filed complaint No. 1,000 in Clay County this month — despite desperate attempts to shut him down.
Because of a new law that took effect July 1, he and everyone else now are limited to one book challenge a month.
Bruce Friedman, of No Left Turn in Education, isn’t a bit happy about that and he considers Republicans who voted for that law part of the “collective,” even though the GOP has championed parental rights.
In August, he filed 38 complaints but only one was accepted because of the new law and what he perceives as the complete failure of government school officials.
“They won’t listen; they won’t clean up their mess. Fire every librarian and hire good people to check on books,” he said.
“I wouldn’t let my child enter a school library.”
Still, as a result of the 1,000 complaints he has filed, 500 books have been removed from library shelves because they were too filthy for children to read.
The question no one has answered is: Why were they there in the first place?
Most of the remainder have been placed in age-appropriate locations, which he considers a victory as well.
Some disputed books have been placed in a parental advisory section. Friedman has little confidence that presents much of a barrier.
As a gauge of his effectiveness, parental rights organizations in Duval County have been filing complaints about inappropriate books but have had about one-tenth the impact the indefatigable Friedman has had in Clay.
Friedman has been talking to attorneys and pastors in his search for support. But he is understandably amazed at the number of people silenced by the virulent liberal assault on anyone who complains.
For example, the Far Left inexplicably refers to removing pornography from school libraries as “book banning.”
But this is the same crew who call killing unborn babies “health care.”
Clay County has constructed a maze for anyone who complains must navigate.
If alleged to be porn in a complaint, a book immediately is pulled for review. After 10 days it has to be put on a list. Then a review committee of five determines if it is porn and if it is the book is permanently pulled. If it is in a gray area they send it to another committee. If it is not porn by community standards it goes back on shelves. There are several other twists and turns and because the school district does not keep accurate information it is difficult to determine the outcome in some cases, Friedman said.
Previous controversies in education shoulder much blame for the problem, he said.
“Common Core and Critical Race Theory are the worst things we’ve ever done to our children,” Friedman says. He sees links between those two leftwing initiatives and pornography in the schools and all being efforts to indoctrinate America’s children.
The scope of the work can be seen on this website. Note: This is a compilation of book titles objected to by anyone, anywhere, not just Friedman.
Friedman has his hands full doing battle with the pro-pornography community in Clay County but he also has a take on the situation in Nassau County.
The Nassau school board has voted to settle a lawsuit by returning removed books to the libraries.
A key one is a book about two male penguins who raise baby penguins together.
It is an obvious attempt to promote homosexuality and claims to be a true story.
Friedman scoffs that it is true – in the sense that two male penguins in a zoo worked together to raise young after one lost his mate.
“But they weren’t in ‘love’. They have no souls,” he said. “It is just the way nature works.”
He considers it a silly story and he hasn’t bothered to complain about it even though it is in Clay schools.
There is plenty of disgusting material in schools that needs to be exposed and expunged before worrying about penguins, he said.