A Roberto Clemente book and others about Latino figures like singer Celia Cruz and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor are among more than a million titles that Florida school officials are determining whether to exclude from libraries.
In January, 52 certified media specialists for Duval started reviewing about 1.5 million book titles, Sonya Duke-Bolden, a spokesperson with the public schools district told NBC News Friday. Close to 2,800 books have been approved by media specialists so far. Duke-Bolden did not say if more books were reviewed but not approved.
The organization said the books removed included some substituted titles and more than 100 deemed to have “Duke-Bolden said that 47 substituted titles, which were swapped in for books in the Essential Voices collection that were unavailable, Of the books removed from Duval County, more than 30 were by Latino authors and illustrators or centered Latino characters and narratives. Among these were “Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa” by Veronica Chambers and Julie Maren, “Sonia Sotomayor ” by Kathleen Krull and Angela Dominguez, and Winter's Clemente book.Atheneum Books for Young Readers via Simon and Schuster
“Learning about Clemente’s 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.
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