Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their respective, but collective, gang of misogynistic and homophobic sycophants pose a pretty significant threat to the safety and future of our country. Still, somehow, the Trump administration managed to identify a much more urgent and even more insidious threat: Freckleface Strawberry.
If you’re not familiar with the name, Strawberry is a seven-year-old fictional girl, created by Julianne Moore, who is “learning to love the skin she’s in.” Young girls learning self-confidence? Not on Trump’s watch!
On Sunday, Moore wrote on Instagram that PEN America alerted her that the first book in her series, published in 2007, had been removed from schools run by the Defense Department—which runs 160 schools across the globe and serves approximately 67,000 children. The removal follows two of Trump’s recent executive orders, Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling and Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism.
“It is a great shock for me to learn that my first book, ‘Freckleface Strawberry,’ has been banned by the Trump Administration from schools run by the Department of Defense,” Moore wrote. “It is a book I wrote for my children and for other kids to remind them that we all struggle, but are united by our humanity and our community.” Ultimately, Strawberry learns to accept her freckles because “the things that make you different also make you YOU.”
On February 10, the DOD, specifically the Department of Defense Education Activity, sent a memo to parents saying they were reviewing library books “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics.” Any flagged books were removed for a week and a “small number of items” were kept for further review, according to the Guardian. While “Freckleface Strawberry” was definitely part of the original list, the outlet noted that it’s unclear if it was then flagged for further review or not.
“At this time, we are conducting a review—no materials have been permanently removed from our school libraries pending completion of the review,” the department said in a statement to The Hill. “During this period, materials under review will have access limited to professional staff.”
Moore added that she was “particularly stunned” because she’s a “proud graduate” of the now-closed Frankfurt American high school in Germany, which was previously operated by the DoDEA. “I grew up with a father who is a Vietnam veteran and spent his career in the #USArmy. I could not be prouder of him and his service to our country,” Moore wrote. “It is galling for me to realize that kids like me, growing up with a parent in the service and attending a @dodea_edu school will not have access to a book written by someone whose life experience is so similar to their own.”
Other books included in the “compliance review” were No Truth Without Ruth by Kathleen Krull, a picture book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Becoming Nicole, a nonfiction book about a family accepting their transgender daughter. Meanwhile, the U.S. military news outlet, Stars & Stripes, reported that, as part of the two executive orders, student-run organizations like Pride club and Women in STEM were also being disbanded.
“I can’t help but wonder what is so controversial about this picture book that cause it to be banned by the US Government,” Moore concluded. “I am truly saddened and never thought I would see this in a country where freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right.”
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Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
