The executive director of the Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood says he's dumbfounded by the news that a children’s book on Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente has been banned in some Florida schools.
The 32-page book references racism Clemente sometimes endured.
On the Big K Morning Show, Museum curator Duane Rieder had this reaction to the book ban.
“Why can’t we just tell the truth, these things happened and now we’re going to try to pretend they didn’t happen, that’s the mind blowing part of this, it’s a stunt, the timing on this is just too coincidental,” said Rieder. “And yeah, here we are getting ready to start baseball and you know, everybody’s talking about it.”
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Rieder said the decision to remove the book from Duval County schools saddens him because Roberto’s story teaches children how to be kind to each other and work toward a common goal of decency.
The Clemente Museum is Engine House 25 in Lawrenceville and has the world’s largest collection of Clemente-related items.