Thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Florida Black History debacle has residents and officials up in arms and fighting for what’s right.
Current Events :
In an effort to appeal to the Donald Trump MAGA movement during his fledgling run for the Republican nomination for president, DeSantis ignited a Florida Black History battle with some rather controversial words and deeds. DeSantis is among a growing number of White Americans who would love for the history books to pretend racism is imaginary and that slavery never happened. By removing legitimate African-American history from schools, his ultimate goal is to erase racism by simply pretending it never existed — and to teach future generations that slavery was a fictional story only told for entertainment purposes.
According to newly approved education guidelines in Florida, middle school teachers must now teach students about “the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation),” and that slavery was a “benefit.” They are not allowed to focus on the fact that slaves were held for a hundred years against their will for free labor.
If that’s not enough, DeSantis said he wants to teach students that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Or, in other words, slavery was “good” for Black people because it taught them a useable skill for free.
This comes after the governor once banned an advanced course in African-American history because he thought it “lacks educational value and historical accuracy.”
Needless to say, Black elected officials, religious leaders, educators, and community members in Florida were offended and angered by DeSantis’ words and his scheme to change the history books. So, they called for a Town Hall meeting last week to feature the DeSantis administration’s top education official, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr.
The only problem? He never showed up.
Now, members of the scheduled Town Hall panel — which included state Sens. Shevrin “Shev” Jones (D-Miami Gardens) and Rosalind Osgood (D-Tamarac) — have uttered some rather choice words for DeSantis, his invisible commissioner, and all those who wish to erase Black History.
“It’s not just African American children that need to know their history,” Osgood said at the event. “It’s other people that need to know African-American history — and then they won’t say dumb stuff like ‘Black people benefited from slavery.’ If they’re going to say it, they have to say that this whole nation benefitted from slavery.”
“Our history has long been treated as illegitimate. It has always been contested.”
– Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The New York Times’s 1619 Project
“Ron DeSantis knew that this was going on. Manny Diaz knew that this was going on,” Fedrick Ingram, secretary-treasurer with the American Federation of Teachers and a former state union leader, told the crowd gathered at the event. “They know how important this is to the Black community, they know that they have thrown an academic bomb in our community — and they knew that they should have been here to face you.”
He then went on to call Diaz a “coward” for backing out at the last minute.
However, in a face-saving move, Diaz took to social media late last week to respond to his Town Hall no-show.
“There was nothing sudden about my inability to attend Sen. Jones’s town hall,” Diaz posted on social media. “As I told the senator last week, I will be visiting schools throughout the state to welcome back students, parents, and teachers for the first day of school.”
So, Diaz effectively said he was unable to discuss the urgent topic of African-American history being silenced because he was much too busy greeting students and teachers on the first day of school.
Black officials in Florida understandably want education standards in the state to include teaching the “good, the bad, and the ugly” about American history and slavery. However, strong pushback from Florida’s largest teacher’s union, DeSantis, and the conservative/MAGA movement has created a confusing challenge.
OK WASSUP! covers Current Events:
Florida Black History fight boils over.
You said it right. They want to act like slavery never happen and racism is pretend. Then all the little white generations growing up would never have to hear about it. I am glad my people down there stood up to him. This could become a national thing if we let them get away with it.