 Ron DeSantis is tightening his grip on schools in Florida in ways that should worry anyone familiar with history. For example, his administration is expanding his sensorious don't say gay law to all grades now. Now this news comes after his initial pitch was that this was just a more limited effort to protect younger kids in lower grade levels exclusively. In fact, there was this viral moment where he confronted a reporter for not making that distinction clear. Does it say that in the bill? I'm asking you to tell me what's in the bill because you are pushing false narratives. It doesn't matter what critics say. It says advanced classroom instruction on sexual identity and gender orientation. For who? For grades pre-K through 3. So 5 year olds, 6 year olds, 7 year olds and the idea that you wouldn't be honest about that and tell people what it actually says, it's why people don't trust people like you because you peddle false narratives. So his initial defense was well, this only applies to younger grades but now that's all out the window I guess. See, if you give fascists an inch, they're going to take a mile and then two miles and then 10 miles. But as you all know, DeSantis' authoritarianism, it goes further than just anti LGBTQ plus censorship because he's banned African American studies. Some districts are removing books that educate children simply about other cultures. It's extremely Orwellian. So this is a huge problem and even though DeSantis is kind of the ringleader, he's leading the charge with regard to this nationwide effort to ban books, this is not unique to Florida to be clear. As Julia Conley of Common Dreams explains, according to the American Library Association, a record-breaking 2,571 unique titles were challenged in 2022, a 38% increase from the previous year. In Florida, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has led a nationwide effort by conservatives to keep public school students from learning about accurate American history and discussing issues regarding the LGBTQ plus community, one county removed from school library shelves 176 books which have been held in storage since January of 2022. The books include the children's books Hush, a Thai lullaby featuring a Thai mother and child and Dim Sum for everyone about a family eating in a Chinese restaurant. How dare you teach children about food from other cultures, I'm offended, ban it immediately. I mean this is just ridiculous. So never ever underestimate fascists because they'll tell you that they're drawing the line here but before you know it they've moved the goalpost again and again and again and they've been pulling so many books from school libraries and counties in Florida that normal people are starting to realize that something is wrong here especially in districts that go above and beyond. So for example as alternate reports, Martin County, Florida shocked its community on Tuesday night when it stripped almost 100 books from school library shelves. The removal comes after new state requirements were passed in January that allow community members to challenge books CBS 12 reported. Now concerned citizen showed up to Martin County School Board meeting on March 21st and one of them was this woman, 100 year old Grace Lynn who gave an incredibly powerful speech about why these book bans are a threat to freedom and a threat to liberty and they must be opposed. I am Grace Lynn. I am 100 years young. I'm here to protest our school's district book banning policy. My husband Robert Nicholl was killed in action in World War II at a very young age. Only 26, defending our democracy, constitution and freedoms. One of the freedoms that the Nazis crushed was the freedom to read the books they banned. They stopped the free press, banned and burned books. The freedom to read which is protected by the First Amendment is our essential right and duty of our democracy even so it is continually under attack by both the public and private groups who think they hold the truth in response to the book banning throughout our country and Martin County last year during the time I was 99 I have created this quilt to remind all of us that these few of so many more books that are banned or targeted need to be proudly displayed and protected and read if you choose to. The quilt was shown on national TV as part of Ali Valshi's ban book club segment. Ban books and burning books are the same. Both are done for the same reason. Fear of knowledge. Fear is not freedom. Fear is not liberty. Fear is control. My husband died as a father of freedom. I am a mother of liberty. Ban books need to be proudly displayed and protected from school boards like this. Thank you very much. What else do you say? That was beautifully said. Nothing else can be added to make it any better. That was very, very powerful and you couldn't see it but I want to show you the beautiful quilt that she made because it is just an incredible work of art. So as you can see it features titles like 1984 and various books that are under attack in states across the country. So I mean this is incredible. I'm so glad that she is making her voice heard and I just want to stress that these book bans are warning signs for all of us that we should take very seriously. It's not a new phenomenon but think of them as a sort of canary in a coal mine where once you start seeing them that's an indication that something is seriously wrong and that our democracy is in danger. So I'll leave that there. I'm glad that people like Grace are speaking up and I really, really appreciate her saying what she said in front of everyone. It's starting to go viral and for good reason. I mean threats to democracy they come in all different forms. Sure failed coup attempts but they also manifest in more subtle ways that normies might not necessarily be privy to at first but once residents become accustomed to censorship then more censorship is introduced. I mean this is what fascist creep is and if our media doesn't take this fascist threat seriously then I truly fear for the future of our country but it takes people like Grace to speak up and give us this wake up call and let us all know that this is not to be taken lightly. These book bans are Nazi-esque and there's no difference between book burning and book bans. It's functionally accomplishing the same thing and as a country it is our duty to fight back against these things vociferously.