In his rage at the right’s so-called book bans, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore really wanted to create a mental image.
“I continue hearing people making the argument that we’re [banning books] because we want to prevent our students from having discomfort or guilt,” Moore told MSNBC host Jen Psaki on Monday, regarding recent conservative efforts to keep lewd and ahistorical content from kids in public schools and libraries. “Because we don’t want our students to be able to really wrestle with these really difficult things in times when they are maturing as individuals and difficult historical points. But the thing I realized and I wanted to speak out about is, that’s actually not true. It’s a guise.”
He wasn’t done. “It’s not about making kids feel uncomfortable. It’s about telling other kids that they shouldn’t understand their own power. It’s castrating them.”
Poor choice of words.
Now, to be fair, Psaki teed up the “book ban” conversation to focus on racial rather than sexual politics, saying “a lot of the focus has been on African American history and literature.” So Moore indulged, invoking his skin color to lend credibility to his policy opinions. Presumably, Psaki and Moore were referring to a Miami school district moving the poem written for Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration from the elementary section of the school library to the more appropriate middle-school section. Or to Gov. Ron DeSantis blocking College Board from implementing an experimental African-American studies curriculum, which leaked materials proved was actually a pricey
