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Miami Herald
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
On Juneteenth, their dream of bringing a bookstore to Liberty City becomes reality
A large-scale painting of the late Danny Agnew hangs on the back wall of the 750-square-foot space of the Roots Bookstore located along the iconic 15th Avenue Corridor in Liberty City. Inside the store, a few people, including his brothers Phillip and Cameron and their dad Barney, gathered inside placing books onto the shelves ahead of the store's Juneteenth opening. For years before his untimely death in a car accident, the late Danny Agnew had been conjuring up the idea for a bookstore. He'd come back home from his native Chicago with 'a ton of books' and would speak it into existence: 'He was like, 'Man, I want to do a bookstore,'' partner Isaiah Thomas told the Herald. At the time, their nonprofit Roots Collective, which was founded by Danny Agnew, his brother Phillip and Thomas, was located at the Blackhouse on Seventh Avenue, and only had one shelf with books. 'We didn't have the space back then, but that moment planted the seed.' Now, two years after Agnew's death, Phillip Agnew and Thomas opened up the storefront in Liberty City, with at least 2,000 books for sale, including several copies of 'Their Eyes Are Watching God,' 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,' and 'The Bluest Eye,' other books recently banned from Florida's classrooms and school libraries. Visitors can find books from indigenous and Hispanic authors as well as local authors inside the bookstore, which will also sell food and Roots Collective merchandise in the coming months. Thomas emphasized the store is a labor of love from community members and volunteers who helped raise more than $12,000 of their $14,000 goal. 'I think our community gets confused and brainwashed with this 'self-made' concept, but Roots, this bookstore, is highlighting what community really looks like when we come together for a big purpose,' he said. 'They're planting seeds' The three friends met more than a decade ago when Thomas, a Miami native, was feeding the homeless during the holidays. Danny and Phillip Agnew showed up to help and the trio clicked instantly. The brothers often referred to Thomas as the 'other Agnew.' Coincidentally, Phillip Agnew and Thomas had just missed each other at their alma mater, FAMU, with Phillip Agnew being a senior when Thomas was a freshman. After college, Thomas had an opportunity to teach in the Mississippi Delta, but instead decided to come back home. 'I wanted to make sure other kids felt that love from their community,' he said. 'I always say, having your community stand behind you and support you, that feeling… I can't even explain that feeling. I wanted to make sure that other kids from Miami received that love from the village and that support where they can make it anywhere.' That love of community blended well with the Agnew brother's love of books, fostered by their father Barney, a book salesman in Chicago. 'That's all we knew growing up, going around with my dad to different places around the city and selling books that he had gotten from one place to other bookstores,' Phillip Agnew said. Their father gave them books from his collection to start their bookstore and some books have been donated. 'They're planting the seeds in an area that a lot of people have thought couldn't support this type of growth,' Barney Agnew told the Herald as he sat in a chair sorting through books at the Liberty City bookstore. 'Everyone that comes to the bookstore or patronizes the bookstore looks around to the bookstore. It creates another option that people around here might not believe existed,' he continued. 'This is not just roots. This is a community place.' It is part of why the very existence of the bookstore is a form of resistance, Phillip Agnew said. 'This is a state, and this is a country that wants to take Black people and poor people back to a whole other time, that we've fought to be delivered from and deliver ourselves from,' Phillip Agnew said, adding that it was important for them to have books that have been taken out of school libraries in the bookstore. Since word spread of the bookstore's opening, Agnew said libraries and teachers have contacted them because they can't keep books deemed 'dangerous' by the Florida government on their shelves. 'It's just crucial that our young people, in particular, but our people have access to this knowledge and this understanding because we will repeat these patterns if we don't understand where our people have come from and where they've fought to get us to,' Phillip Agnew said. While the bookstore is not limited to works of Black authors, they do have some criteria: no books by presidents and no books by people known to do damage to Black communities. 'In that way, we are at least attempting to be a radical space where we are very clear that there are some people that are for us and there are some people that are against us, and if you're against us, we're not going to have your book in the shop,' Phillip Agnew said. It's also why opening on Juneteenth was crucial. Prior to it becoming a national holiday —marking June 19, 1865, the day when the last enslaved people in the U.S. were notified that they were freed— the Roots Collective would regularly hold Juneteenth events, such as barbecues and events at the Blackhouse. 'We had music, food, and we'll have hundreds of people come out just for the Juneteenth barbecue,' Thomas said. From there, they realized their Juneteenth events were gaining momentum in Miami. 'Juneteenth is just one of those days that we make sure we're doing something for the community, and it was the perfect day to open the store,' Thomas said. 'I want people to feel like it's theirs' Beyond being a literary hub, the bookstore's opening will include a resource fair with partners such as the human rights nonprofit Dream Defenders and Dade County Street Response, a nonprofit that serves those affected by poverty. Phillip Agnew and Thomas want the bookstore to be a refuge for Liberty City, where people can relax and be in community with one another. For Thomas, who was born and raised in Miami, the bookstore is also an opportunity to reinvigorate the 15th Avenue corridor. 'I grew up seeing 15th Avenue just be the life of Miami at one point with the cars, the music and people,' he said, adding he saw a chance to invigorate the community as the redevelopment of the new Liberty Square began to take over the area. Liberty Square is one of Miami-Dade's oldest public housing and has been razed to make way for a new mixed-income development that will reshape the historically Black neighborhood in Miami. 'I felt if we can get there now, we can really represent Black Miami, in a good way at the right time during this transition,' he said. Agnew said he wants it to have a familiarity but with an updated vibe. 'I want for people to come in the store and be like, 'Oh, I remember the other Black bookstores that we had in Miami' but also see the newness,' he said. 'I just want people to feel like it's theirs already. We want the community to feel like it's their spot.' IF YOU GO: What: Roots Bookstore & Market When: June 19, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Where: 6610 NW 15th Ave., Miami
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
St. Francis schools to put banned books back on shelves
() St. Francis Area Schools will place banned books back on library shelves and rewrite its library policy to comply with state law, according to a settlement reached in a lawsuit filed by the teachers union. The district had banned hugely popular and celebrated books including 'The Handmaid's Tale,' 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower,' 'The Bluest Eye' and 'The Kite Runner,' among others. The settlement requires them to be returned to library shelves. Education Minnesota sued the district in March on behalf of students, teachers and parents, alleging that the district was violating state law by banning books based on their ideas, stories and characters. The American Civil Liberties Union also filed a separate lawsuit. In 2024, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor-controlled Legislature passed a law touted as a ban on book bans. The law does allow for books to be removed from shelves based on practical reasons, 'legitimate pedagogical concerns, including but not limited to the appropriateness of potentially sensitive topics for the library's intended audience,' and to comply with other state or federal laws. But school districts cannot remove books based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas or opinions it contains. St. Francis Area Schools relied on a website called — which has ties to the right-wing group Moms for Liberty — to determine which books were subject to removal from school shelves. (Booklooks has since shut down, but a third-party organization is maintaining the website's catalog.) The St. Francis case provides a free speech victory following years of repression of books, especially those with themes about race, sexuality and gender. 'I think the book ban movement … it really has little to do with protecting children. It has everything to do with targeting books with diverse viewpoints that may not be in line with the reviewers' political or religious beliefs,' 'Kite Runner' author Khaled Hosseini told the Reformer in March. In the settlement with the teachers union, St. Francis Area Schools agreed to put the books back on shelves and create a new library materials policy that guarantees input from parents and qualified media specialists.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Superintendent faces state board over Hillsborough book removals amid backlash at home
The Brief Hillsborough Superintendent Van Ayres is in Miami on Wednesday, expected to explain to state education leaders why flagged books are still on school library shelves. Ayres is facing criticism from parents, state officials, and his own school board over how he's handled the issue. Nearly 600 titles have been pulled for review, far more than the state initially demanded. MIAMI, Fla. - Hillsborough County Superintendent Van Ayres is expected to speak before the Florida Board of Education on Wednesday in Miami, defending his district's decision to temporarily remove hundreds of books from school libraries. The backstory The meeting comes after Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and Attorney General James Uthmeier raised concerns about "pornographic materials" in Hillsborough schools. In response, Ayres said that not only were the titles mentioned in their letters removed, but nearly 600 other books flagged in other counties over the last two years were also pulled "out of an abundance of caution." That move has sparked backlash not only from parents, but from school board members and educators who say the decision sidestepped normal procedures and lacked transparency. Tensions flared during a packed school board meeting earlier this week, with more than a dozen speakers weighing in on the issue. Some parents criticized the district for not acting sooner to remove explicit content. Others pushed back against the decision to pull critically acclaimed works, including Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye," Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," and a graphic novel version of Anne Frank's diary without first reviewing them locally. Trisha Long, a parent of two current students in the district, criticized the move as being outside the normal process for book removal. "In this case, we are in the dark," Long said. "There is no transparency about which titles are being reviewed, nor has the community been offered any opportunity to participate in the review process. As a parent, I find this concerning. Public school parents ought to be able to see what is being removed and to have a say in whether or not these books are inappropriate for our own children." Ayres said he acted quickly to ensure no inappropriate material would remain when students return in the fall. "That's my ultimate responsibility," he told the board. "But I'll learn from this and do better moving forward." READ: University of Florida presidential pick not approved in final vote amid growing GOP opposition Dig deeper Several board members said they were left in the dark, learning after the fact that the district had pulled hundreds of titles and responded to the state without first consulting them. "I'm trying to process your lack of communication," board member Nadia Combs told Ayres, "the transparency, and also lack of knowledge and input from me with the attorney general letter coming out. When that attorney general came out, I had absolutely no knowledge of the response that came (on behalf of the board.)" READ: New Florida law expands services, support for children with autism Board Chair Jessica Vaughn said the district's move undermined trained media specialists on staff who already follow a legal review process and risk penalties if they fail to do their jobs properly. "It's offensive to say you're protecting the community by removing books without proper review," Vaughn told the superintendent. The district is now paying certified media specialists $1,500 stipends to review the titles outside of normal work hours. The cost? As much as half a million dollars. Ayres acknowledged that the current process isn't working. "Come August, I want to make sure all the books have been reviewed," he said. Follow FOX 13 on YouTube The Source This story is based on public statements made during the Hillsborough County School Board meeting on June 2, and letters from the Florida Department of Education and Office of the Attorney General. STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app: Apple | Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Hillsborough school board grills superintendent over book removals
TAMPA — Days before he is expected to discuss his district's removal of library books before state leaders, Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Van Ayres faced scrutiny from all directions at a heated school board meeting Monday — including from members of his own board. In May, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz sent a letter calling for the removal of two books from Hillsborough shelves over concerns about their content. The week after, Attorney General James Uthmeier followed up with a second letter asking about more 'pornographic materials in your school libraries.' In a response, Ayres wrote that all titles mentioned had been removed. He also said that to 'err on the side of caution,' all 600 titles that had been placed on a list for removal by any county in the state during the past two school years had been taken out of circulation and would be reviewed, even though no objections to them have risen through Hillsborough's existing process. Ayres' response garnered rancor from all sides. During the public comment portion of Monday's meeting, 10 people, arguing that they were against book bans and censorship, questioned why the books were still allowed in the district. Julie Gebhards, a mother of a former Newsome High School student, pointed to passages in books that were still allowed prior to the state's letter, including Toni Morrison's 'The Bluest Eye' and Chuck Palahniuk's 'Invisible Monsters.' 'I can't believe that nobody stood up and said, 'This does not belong in our schools,'' she said. Three people spoke against the district's move to remove the titles, which include classics like Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet,' a graphic adaptation of Anne Frank's diary and other Morrison titles that have been critically acclaimed for their discourse of race and gender. Jeanne Coleman, a parent of two former students, questioned why the existing process, which includes parental input and community standards, had been overstepped. 'I agree there has to be age appropriate books for students, but don't tell me that it's inappropriate if I think it's appropriate for my child to read,' she said. 'That's a parental decision.' But Ayres faced the most heat from the board. Board member Nadia Combs said she was initially pleased with how he handled Diaz' letter, and appreciated a conversation that reiterated that no one stood for age-inappropriate books in schools. But she said the board was blindsided by the response to Uthmeier's letter, sent from the board's attorney, and his quick decision to pull books 'I'm trying to process your lack of communication, the transparency, and also lack of knowledge and input from me,' Combs told Ayres. 'I'm very concerned with your decision making process on that.' Combs continued: 'You created a financial burden for librarians. … You did not engage with parents, you did not engage with our PTA, you did not engage with the union. You did not engage with your employees. You did not engage with your supervisors or your lead librarians, and I was not informed at all.' Ayres said that as superintendent, he bears the final responsibility of day-to-day operations. 'I needed to ensure that we don't have inappropriate materials in libraries, and that's my ultimate responsibility,' he said. School board attorney James Potter called the letters from the state an 'unprecedented situation' and said they'd work to develop protocol in the future. Board member Patti Rendon said she wished there was a special board meeting called or some form of prior review of the letter Ayres sent out. She and board member Lynn Gray questioned other district officials for not having evidence of process of compliance with state statutes that put board members and Ayres at risk. Board chairperson Jessica Vaughn also expressed frustration with Ayres. She believed the district overstepped media specialists hired to fill libraries, who she said put their own licenses on the line and face jail time if they do their job wrong. The district is offering a $1,500 stipend to certified media specialists to review the books outside of their contracted hours. Vaughn asked Ayres about the anticipated cost of the reviews. Ayres estimated around $345,000. 'That's the low end,' Vaughn said. 'On the higher end, it could be up to half a million dollars that this is costing us.' Van Ayres said he had concerns about the existing process, which he called 'not acceptable.' 'I wanted to ensure that ... come August, all books have been reviewed,' he said. 'And that was the action that I took, was to make those books under review and unavailable while that process took place.' Vaughn pushed Ayres on whether he notified parents or board members about his decision. When he said he did not, she asked whether other districts had these books on their libraries. Ayres said they did. 'I find it offensive that you say that it's your duty to protect our community from inappropriate books, because taking sexual content books and reading them out of context does not make them inappropriate,' Vaughn said. Ayres is expected to address Hillsborough County's book removal process before the state Board of Education on Wednesday in Miami.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Where does the censorship stop?
() If you remember visiting the local library as a child, you likely went with your mom or dad, a teacher or with nothing more than your bike and a backpack. Chances are state lawmakers or religious zealots did not escort you inside, and you didn't have to wonder whose stories were hidden behind locked doors or inside a vault because nothing was locked up. By 'whose stories,' I refer to those books that reflect the lives of readers who may not often be depicted in literature, much less in a positive manner. So, a Black child who can't read about racial prejudice in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings might blame himself for his own race-based struggles in a white-dominated society. The child who was molested might blame himself until he reads another book often targeted by censors, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Or teenagers questioning their own sexual identity might fear they're the only ones with such a quandary until they read Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer. Kobabe's book was one of numerous books targeted by former state senator Jason Rapert of Conway during his tumultuous time on the Arkansas State Library Board. Recently, the Arkansas Legislature chose to abolish that board, which wasn't as censorship-prone as many lawmakers apparently wanted, and to have the governor appoint a new panel. As if that weren't bad enough, the legislature later approved a bill requiring librarians in schools with kindergarten through fifth-grade students to 'store non-age-appropriate sexual content … in a locked compartment within a designated area.' The bill defines 'non-age-appropriate sexual content' as 'any materials that include explicit instruction, promotion, or advocacy of sexual ideology, behaviors, or orientations that are not developmentally appropriate for kindergarten through grade five … students.' The law does not specify who decides what is age-appropriate. Arkansas' escalating campaign of censorship represents yet another vague, punitive, and politically motivated attempt to chill free expression and intimidate public servants. – Megan Bailey, communications director, ACLU of Arkansas, referring to Act 917 of 2025 This escalation in the war against libraries and public school teachers came after a federal judge in December struck down challenged provisions of Act 372 of 2023 which sought to criminalize librarians who provided minors with access to inappropriate books. Part of Act 372 that went unchallenged in court and that became law 'already requires school libraries to place books deemed to be inappropriate in an area inaccessible to students under 18,' said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. So, why was the lock-'em-up measure, Act 917 of 2025, even needed? Perhaps, for show, for politicians to look tough when it comes to already-denigrated librarians and teachers. I asked Megan Bailey, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, about the possibility of the ACLU's suing over Act 917. 'We are currently reviewing all options and are continuing to monitor how this and related laws are enforced,' Bailey replied. Referring to 'Arkansas' escalating campaign of censorship,' Bailey said Act 917 'represents yet another vague, punitive, and politically motivated attempt to chill free expression and intimidate public servants.' 'While it may appear narrower than Act 372 on its face, the lack of clarity around what constitutes 'developmentally appropriate' content — and the threat of civil lawsuits against libraries and librarians — creates a chilling effect that will likely lead to over-removal of lawful, constitutionally protected materials out of fear of retribution,' Bailey said in an email. Caldwell-Stone said in an email that, nationally, Act 917 'is unique in that it requires books that are deemed to include 'advocacy of sexual ideology, behaviors, or orientations' not developmentally appropriate for K-5 students to be kept under lock and key, requires parental permission to access such books, and includes provisions for punishing schools and educators who do not comply.' 'In targeting books that address or include themes about gender and sexual orientation, the law may be engaging in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment. Additionally, the parental permission requirement could also be found unconstitutional and a violation of students' rights to access books in the school library,' Caldwell-Stone said. She noted that in 2003, a federal court ruled against the Cedarville, Arkansas, School Board when the court 'set aside a school board's requirement that students submit a written parental permission slip to access the Harry Potter series.' 'It held having to obtain parental permission to check out the books from the school library constituted a restriction on access that violated the students' First Amendment rights, given that the books had been restricted because school board members 'dislike[d] the ideas contained in those books,'' Caldwell-Stone said. 'Laws that impose ambiguous standards and threaten punishment for subjective violations raise serious First Amendment concerns. Librarians should not have to face punishment for failing to implement vague, content-based restrictions,' she added. Despite court rulings and astute cautions, books and intellectual freedom have long been targets of the morality police, though I can't remember a time when the far right targeted libraries in Arkansas as much as it has recently. Censorship was, of course, a hallmark of the late 1940s-50s McCarthy era, and I trust — no, I only hope — that few politicians today yearn to be identified with an era that blacklisted artists and censored books. (Case in point: Ray Bradbury's dystopian 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, in which firefighters burn down any houses that contain outlawed books, was published 'for many years' only in a censored version, according to PEN America, a free-expression advocacy nonprofit.) Lest you think the ACLU, the ALA and I are overreacting, note that in 1965 the novel Black Beauty was banned in South Africa during that country's apartheid era because of the word 'Black' in the title, according to PEN America. In the United States, the first book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series became the most often challenged book in libraries from 2000-2009, according to the American Library Association. And the U.S. Naval Academy, responding to President Donald Trump's anti-diversity orders, removed nearly 400 volumes from its library this year. Where does the censorship stop? Should the Bible be banned because it features stories of polygamy, incest and horrific death? I say no. But if the censors are consistent, they will say yes.
