American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten admitted to sharing an incorrect list of books banned in Florida in a tweet.
âI should have double checked before I retweeted this list. My bad. Looks like some of the books werenât banned. Book bans are very real dangerous,â she said on Sunday.
The AFT president included the screenshot of the tweet which said they were âBooks we have taught for generations!!!!!â
In addition to her apology, the teacherâs group leader added, âBook bans are very real dangerous.â
Included in the incorrect list of books included âTo Kill a Mockingbird,â âA Wrinkle in Time,â and âThe Lord of the Flies,â as well as a number of other books.
The false list was a retweet from an account called âFreesus Patriotâ which regularly posts content about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), former President Donald Trump, and other Republican causes.
According to Fox News, the same account didnât divulge where the information came from but said, âIâm not going to say where this list came from due to protecting sources.â
They went on to say âif this list is wrong then I invite to publicly state the books on this list will not be banned in Florida schools he intends to protect studentâs rights. I will take it down if he does.â
The account responded to a now-deleted tweet, saying, âSatire is dead. The unholy hell this unleashed from the right did make me laugh though,â seemingly in response to the backlash over the book list.
âI really thought the list was THAT obvious for satire so I had to thread actual books banned and was dumbfounded to find some are actually on this list,â the social media user said.
https://twitter.com/CGSDemocracy/status/1561697756321746944?s=20&t=XFyiLWvEaqWbuEoTtWwxoQ
The AFT presidentâs re-tweet was met with derision as a number of users called out the list, including political and communications consultant, Frank Luntz who said, âThat list is fake, Randi. Notice that thereâs no link to a source for it.â
DeSantisâ press secretary Bryan Griffin also responded to a different tweet on the subject where âA Worried Citizen,â claimed that âFlorida bans the Pulitzer Prize winning novel âTo Kill a Mockingbird.'â
âCompletely false,â Griffin said. âIt is recommended reading by the State of Florida in the 8th grade. The best the left can do nowadays is try to make people think their own failures belong to someone else.â
