WWII widow calls out governor for book-banning legislation

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    JENSEN BEACH, Florida (WPTV) — Step inside Grace Linn’s Jensen Beach home, and you’ll find her surrounded by books.

Whether on her kitchen table, her clothing or the quilt that hangs on her wall, many of the books that adorn her house all have one thing in common.

“They were either banned or were targeted to be banned and are now banned,” Linn said. “I don’t have quite as many right now. I’ve loaned them to my friends.”

The 101-year-old went viral in March 2023 after speaking out against book banning at a Martin County Board of Education meeting, and was even featured in an Oscar-nominated documentary.

Now she fears her home, a haven for books unwelcome elsewhere, will soon have to harbor more outcasts.

“Why could they ban that book?” asked Linn, holding a copy of Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill They Climb.” “They all anger me, I have so many (banned books).”

Her frustration stems from new legislation Gov. Ron Desantis signed in Jacksonville on Tuesday regarding education.

House Bill 1285 makes various changes at public schools, including rules to remove books from school libraries.

According to legislative staff, the bill would allow people with no students in the school to only object to one book per month to cut down on what Desantis called “frivolous challenges.”

“Clearly people are trying to pursue an agenda,” Desantis said in an earlier news conference.

Yet staff also said the bill would require districts to discontinue a book if the school board denies a parent the right to read passages from a book.

“Without question it’s a bad thing that they have done,” Linn said.

“He fought the Nazis. The Nazis who banned books, then they burned books. Then you know what they did to people. And that is such a good reason why you don’t ban books. You don’t lose history,” Linn said.

Seventy-one books have been banned so far in Martin County, including two Toni Morrison books on slavery.

The Martin County School District told WPTV Tuesday up until this point they haven’t had an issue with the board stopping parents from reading books, and don’t foresee the legislative change becoming a problem nor impacting their review process.

The NAACP of Martin County, however, told WPTV they felt the law would have a greater impact.

“What we’re doing is we’re going backwards,” NAACP chapter president Jimmy Smith said.

“It’s biased because there have been a plethora of books that they’ve pulled that even educators have been shocked,” Annita McKnight, NAACP member and Martin County educator, said.

Smith and McKnight said many students don’t have access to libraries or bookstores, and felt the new law opens up the potential for even more restricted access to books that have been banned.

“I think they need to have access to all resources in one place,” McKnight said.

Linn, while praising the challenge limitation for non-parents as some progress, felt no books should be banned, period.

She fears history is all too eager to repeat.

“And we cannot let that happen,” Linn said.

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