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Why Gavin Newsom's Banned Book Tweet Is a Beautiful Self-Own

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  March 31, 2022 2:25 PM

I don’t think Gov. Gavin Newsom can read. The California Democrat decided to post on Twitter some books he’s ‘reading’ because they were banned. You see, he wants to know what “these states,” meaning red ones, are afraid of concerning these literary works. Toni Morrison’s Beloved, George Orwell’s 1984, and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are featured there right on the table. It’s staged. It’s fake. It’s also comical. It shows that Newsom can’t read. As our columnist Marina Medvin pointed out, California is one of the states that’s banned To Kill a Mockingbird over racism concerns. It was in the news, governor. Did you read it? Can you read it? You simply cannot make this up. This story isn’t new either. It happened in deep-blue California two years ago (via Newsweek):

Schools in Burbank will no longer be able to teach a handful of classic novels, including Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, following concerns raised by parents over racism.

Middle and high school English teachers in the Burbank Unified School District received the news during a virtual meeting on September 9.

Until further notice, teachers in the area will not be able to include on their curriculum Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Theodore Taylor's The Cay and Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Four parents, three of whom are Black, challenged the classic novels for alleged potential harm to the district's roughly 400 Black students.

Oh, what a self-own. It’s perfect. It’s amazing. Talk about a rake-stepping moment that leads to a buckshot blast to the face. The call is coming from inside the house, Newsom. I think he should delete this tweet. It’s beyond embarrassing.