america have filed a lawsuit on behalf of several of those authors and two local parents alleging that the district is in violation of the first amendment and the equal protection clause. joining us now are nbc news correspondent antonia hylton and george m. johnson, a plaintiff in this lawsuit. he s also the author of all boys aren t blue, a book that has been removed from the escambia school district. thank you so much, good to see both of you here. antonia, why don t you lay out the arguments of this lawsuit for us and how it fits into the bigger picture. ana, what they re arguing is that this school district, escambia county schools in florida, that they ve systematically removed books from the shelves, from access to students there and in some cases have not followed their own district policies. that s what pen america has laid out in this lawsuit, and penguin, a number of authors and two parents in the district who ark in the lawsuit that the removal of these books has harmed
night the school board move to fire their superintendent in a 3-2 vote. one of the reasons listed for that was that some community members felt that the superintendent hadn t removed enough books that they found inappropriate from the school district. bill slayton, that school board member that i talked to said he found this ridiculous. he defended the superintendent. this is kind of a hallmark of what we re seeing happening not just in florida but communities around the country. school boards have transformed from pretty run-of-the-mill business quiet meetings to these all-out conflicts that have become politicized. george, your book all boys aren t blue has been banned or challenged in dozens of schools and not just in florida, but in eight different states. let s boil it down here. why do you think your book has had this kind of reaction? we know the current state of the country and we know that the demographics are quickly shifting in the country. my book sits at the intersec
analyst. and george m. johnson author of all boys aren t blue. and we are not broken. we ve got a lot to cover here, because an even know what to do with. we are seeing donald trump, attack attack as we are seeing president biden, saying, he s not helping east palestine because it is a rural white community. he would do so much more if it was an urban black community. that s not even true. yeah, and we are also having some people point out the fact that trump had a hand in the regulating a lot of this. so, as the investigation proceeds, there are a lot of questions about who s accountable. and so politics does play a big role in this, we saw pete buttigieg being criticized for not showing up earlier. it s a fair criticism, when something like this happens, you do want to show the community that it s a priority for you, and that you care about them.
black news, and bd wong, who i m a super fan of, actor and director of the upcoming show, yes i can say that and another nightcap they ve judy gold. ron insana, senior msnbc analyst. and george m. johnson author of all boys aren t blue. we ve got a lot to cover here, because an even know what to do with. as we are seeing attack president biden, saying, he s not helping east palestine because it is a rural white community. he would do so much more if it was an urban black community. that s not even true. yeah, and we are also having some people point out the fact that trump had a point in the regulating a lot of this. so, as the investigation proceeds, there are a lot of questions about who and who s accountable. and so politics does play a big role in this, we saw pete buttigieg being criticized for not showing up earlier. it s a fair criticism, when something like this happens, you do want to show the community that it s a priority for you, and that you care
could already be dealing wit this issue to pretend that our tetons are not, even if they re not havin sex, they re talking about it. this book is literally just ou resource guide to give them th information, the tools, an that knowledge they need shoul they enter that particular space. our school systems are tryin to deny them that information. denying them that informatio doesn t mean that they re no still dealing with the actua thing that s happening that s all my book is doing. one more big thank you to georgia on senate, the autho of all boys aren t blue, for joining us in february still ahead at the year an meeting at the velshi banned book club, who are going t dive into the pulitzer prize-winning novel, beloved by the late tony louriston this writing change th literary landscape forever, an open the door for discussion about black identity and the black experience plus, some of our featured authors have advice for parent