California governor Gavin Newsom has been mocked online after he took aim at Republicans for calling for some books to be removed from schools.
Appearing in a picture along with a pile of books on Wednesday, the Democratic governor said the titles were among those banned elsewhere in the US.
That was an apparent attempt at rebuking Republicans who have tried to censor conversations on race and LGBT+ issues in classrooms by removing allegedly sensitive books.
Mr Newsom suggested he was reading titles including 1984 by George Orwell, Beloved by Toni Morrison and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and wrote: “Reading some banned books to figure out what these states are so afraid of.”
However, Mr Newsom was reminded that a Californian school district had removedTo Kill a Mockingbird from its reading lists last year, however.
“Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, staged a photo saying he was reading banned books to figure out what other states are afraid of,” wrote one Twitter user. “Except one of the books is To Kill a Mockingbird.”
The same Twitter user continued by saying that the book, which was published in 1960, “was banned by the city of Burbank. In California.” Mr Newsom’s photo and tweet was described as being “Absolutely beyond parody.”
Marshall University, which has kept track of “bans” on certain books, said the Harper Lee title was removed from Burbank schools reading lists but not libraries, and that at a board meeting, the superintendent stated, “This is not about censorship, this is about righting the wrongs of the past.”
Although the reasons for the “ban” by Burbank was out of concern for racist language, rather than an attempt at censoring conversations about race, the criticism of Mr Newsom again highlighted concerns on both sides of the political divide about what is taught in classrooms.
On Monday, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed his “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law, forbidding schools from teaching about LGBT+ issues to those below third grade. The move has been strongly condemned by campaigners, some parents, and the White House.
The Independent has approached Mr Newsom’s office for comment.
