In the two concerts she performed in Florida, American singer Pink distributed books that had been banned in libraries and public schools in this state as part of a national ban promoted by Republican politicians, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who aspires to achieve the Republican Party nomination for the presidency of the United States.
The So What or Just Give Me a Reason singer made a donation at the concerts she performed on November 14 at the Kaseya Center in Miami and on the 15th of the same month in Sunrise City in southeast Florida, as part of her trust fund. The tour, which began in June this year and continues until March 2024.
The donation of nearly 2,000 books during her presentations in South Florida is the result of the Grammy winner’s alliance with PEN America and Miami Books & Books.
Pink said he decided to join this initiative with the aim of highlighting the growing wave of book censorship in Florida. “It is particularly abhorrent to see the authorities targeting books related to race, racism, anti-LGBTQ+ and authors of color. We have made a lot of progress towards equality in this country and no one should want to reverse it,” the singer said in a joint statement with PEN America cited by El Pais newspaper. “This progress.”
The books that the singer chose to give as a gift include topics related to racial and sexual identity, with titles such as the picture book The Family Book by Todd Parr, which explains familial love to children regardless of the type of family, whether it is two mothers or two parents, a large family or a small family.
Also, a book directed to young audiences from the Girls Who Code series by Stasia Deutsch, which aims to encourage young women to bet on the world of technology in the future. Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved,” inspired by the real life of an African-American slave, and Amanda Gorman’s book of poetry “The Hill We Climb,” which the author delivered at the inauguration of US President Joe Biden as a “call” to a brave future. “
300 blocked addresses
They’re all part of a list of at least 300 titles, many with or on LGBTQ themes, that are no longer on the shelves of public libraries and schools in some of Florida’s 67 counties.
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According to this association’s data, Florida ranks first in the United States as the state with the most bans in public school classrooms and libraries and accounts for more than 40% of all banned books in the country. In total, they claim, there are more than 1,400 censored works and 33 school districts removed books in the past school year.
“Books have brought me special joy since I was a child, which is why I’m not willing to sit idly by while they’re banned in schools,” the Grammy winner insisted.
