Joe Biden bemoaned the banning of several books depicting child pornography in a video announcing his candidacy for president in 2024.
Biden announced his run in a tweet posted Tuesday morning at 6:00 am eastern time. If he wins a second term, Biden will be 86 by the end of it.
“But, you know, around the country MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms,” Biden said in the ad. “Cutting social security, that you’ve paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy. Dictating what healthcare decisions women can make, banning books.” (RELATED: ‘Dirty Books’: Librarian Org Celebrates Efforts To Keep Pornographic Books In Schools)
Included in the stack of books Biden claims are banned are To Kill A Mockingbird, Kite Runner, Invisible Man, Paradise, The First to Die At the End, Lawn Boy, The Bluest Eye, They Both Die at The End and Homegoing.
Lawn Boy contains graphic descriptions of 10-year-old boys performing oral sex on each other. The book’s author, Jonathan Evison, says he never intended for the book to be available to children. A Fairfax County mom read the book aloud at a school board meeting as board members tried to get her to stop, saying there were children in the room.
“After seeing a September 9 school board meeting in Texas on pornography in schools, I decided to check the titles at my child’s high school, Fairfax High School. The books were available, and we checked them out. Both of these books include pedophilia, sex between men and boys,” Stacy Langton said, holding up Lawn Boy and Gender Queer, a book which depicts masturbation, sexting and oral sex using a “strap on.”
“The illustrations include fellatio, sex toys, masturbation, and violent nudity,” the mother continued.
Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours.
That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States. Join us. Let’s finish the job. https://t.co/V9Mzpw8Sqy pic.twitter.com/Y4NXR6B8ly
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 25, 2023
Biden’s ad also lists The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison in the stack of “banned books.” The volume, about an 11-year-old growing up in 1940s America, is described as “heavily sexual,” according to Squeaky Clean Reviews, describing incest, pedophilia, and masturbation.
Both Lawn Boy and The Bluest Eye are listed in The American Library Association’s (ALA) list of the most banned books. Gender Queer tops the ALA’s list.
Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation Of Teachers (AFT), was forced to retract a tweet where she claimed that To Kill a Mockingbird was banned in Florida schools in August. Weingarten had tweeted out a fake list of “Florida’s Anti-Woke banned book list,” only to admit later that “some of the books weren’t banned.” A book ban list by PEN America shows that “To Kill A Mockingbird” is not banned in Florida schools.