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Commissioner Diaz recommends book on Roberto Clemente, though it had been unavailable for months [1]

['Danielle J. Brown', 'More From Author', '- March']

Date: 2023-03-15  

An elementary-level book on famous baseball player Roberto Clemente, who faced racism prior to his death, became a symbol of widespread concerns over school book bans in Florida, spurred by 2022 legislation from the DeSantis administration regarding the review of school library books.

Now, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. is recommending that same book for Florida children to read across the state, according to a Wednesday press release from the Florida Department of Education.

For March, the books or materials that Diaz recommends for K-12 students are as follows:

Grades K-2 – “The Lion and the Mouse,” by Aesop

Grades 3-5 – “Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates,” by Jonah Winter

Grades 6-8 – “Lifeboat 12,” by Susan Hood

Grades 9-12 – “The Raft,” by S.A. Bodee

Diaz said in the Wednesday press release: “This new initiative will add to Florida’s ever-present focus on providing students access to challenging books that increase critical thinking skills and deepen understanding.”

But for many months, “Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates” by Jonah Winter was unavailable to students in Duval County of Northeast Florida, as media specialists reviewed the content for topics banned by the DeSantis administration, the Phoenix previously reported.

The book on Clemente was part of a larger list of books that were “held,” meaning kept off of school library shelves away from students, for further review by the district media specialist. This included another elementary book on baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aarons, along with over 150 other books that focused on communities of color or LGBTQ+ communities.

News of the Duval book review got national attention and faced immense backlash, while the district claims that the book review process was in an effort to comply with new state laws that require books offered in school libraries be approved by a media specialist.

District officials finally approved the two books on the baseball Hall-of-Famers in mid-February. A month later, Commissioner Diaz highlighted the Roberto Clemente book as a part of his monthly book recommendations, without any reference to how long the book was unavailable to hundreds of students in Duval County.

The Roberto Clemente book, for third grade readers or older, starts with his life as a baseball player from Puerto Rico, who then faced discrimination when he was invited to play for the major leagues in the United States.

The book discusses times when Clemente faced racism during his baseball career. Sports announcers mispronounced his name. Newspaper writers called him “lazy” and made fun of his Puerto Rican accent, according to the book.

“The mainly white newsmen called him a Latino ‘hothead,’” the book says.

But while most of the book focuses on his ability to overcome racism and adversity, the tone dramatically shifts as it discusses Clemente’s tragic death in 1972 at age 38. He was on a plane to Central America to bring aid to victims of an earthquake when the engine failed and the plane crashed into the ocean.

“And just like that, it was over. Roberto was gone,” the books says, reflecting the baseball world’s reaction to his abrupt death.

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[1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/03/15/commissioner-diaz-recommends-book-on-roberto-clemente-though-it-had-been-unavailable-for-months/

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