21 July 2023 , 22:17
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Recent standards passed by the Florida Board of Education relating to the state's Black history curriculum have been called a "shameful disservice to Florida's students and tantamount to gaslighting of the highest order" by members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
On Wednesday, the appointed body approved a revised version of the curriculum, which matches Republican Governor Ron DeSantis' push to prevent liberal indoctrination in the state.
The new model implies that slaves benefitted from the skills they learned during their enslavement. And in early grades, injustices faced by Black people, such as slavery and segregation, aren't covered - only the achievements made by Black people.
Students in Florida will be taught that slavery benefitted those forced into servitude (Getty Images/PhotoAlto)CBC Chairman Steven Horsford (D-Nevada) and the group's other members are furious.
"The Congressional Black Caucus condemns in the strongest language any school curriculum that would suggest that enslaved Africans benefited in any way from slavery. This revisionist telling of American history approved by the Florida State Board of Education is a shameful disservice to Florida’s students and tantamount to gaslighting of the highest order," the group wrote in a statement.
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It went on to call the approved standards an "attempt to minimize the darkest chapter in our nation's history" and "an affront to the intelligence of the American people in an overt attempt to maintain white supremacy," calling upon the Florida BOE to "immediately reverse its decision and put an end to the attacks on Black history in the state."
Vice President Kamala Harris visited the state on Friday in a last-minute trip to address the appointed body's decision - which she also addressed in a speech at the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority national convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Thursday.
Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Florida on Friday to address the approved curriculum changes (AFP via Getty Images)She called the members of the body "extremists" who are pushing a "revisionist history" onto the American people.
"They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it," she said.
"There is so much at stake in this moment: our most basic rights and freedoms, fact versus fiction, foundational principles about what it means to be a democracy," she added.
The vice president never mentioned DeSantis by name - she simply referred to the "so-called leaders" in the state who she said are depriving Americans of their rights and twisting history for political purposes.
The Florida governor took her statements as a personal attack, however, and used them to bolster his anti-Democrat rhetoric, which has become part of the basis for his 2024 presidential bid.
"Florida stands in their way, and we will continue to expose their agenda and their lies," he said in a statement.
Many are critical of the Florida BOE's decision (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler took it a step further and said Harris was trying to "lecture Floridian parents that their children belong to the government and the government has a right to indoctrinate and sexualize our children."
"The government overreach on parental rights has already been overwhelmingly rejected in Florida," he added.
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Wednesday's curriculum standards change is just one piece in a large puzzle of legislation introduced by the governor and his administration tackling education issues.
He previously introduced laws to ban drag shows at schools, impose requirements for bathroom use by trans individuals and also signed the Stop WOKE Act in 2022, which attacked critical race theory. His administration rejected an Advanced Placement (AP) course on African American history, too, which DeSantis called "indoctrination."
The Stop WOKE Act is being challenged in court.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are running for re-election on a platform based on preserving the rights of American citizens (AP)Democratic state Senator Bobby Powell has been critical of DeSantis' political moves in the education sector from the get-go and said, "The full measure of African American history is not a hand-picked Rosa Parks here and a Martin Luther King, Jr., there. It is the sweeping collection of stories spanning several centuries, the lessons of cruelty and inhumanity interwoven in the determination of a people to live and breathe free."
"It is as much Florida's story as the nation's story, and it needs to be fully told," he continued.
President Joe Biden and Harris agreed, and in a video announcing their re-election campaign, Biden slammed Republicans for "dictating what healthcare decisions women can make, banning books and telling people who they can love, all while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote."
Their 2024 bid for a second term will focus on preserving rights for the American citizen.
The CBC said it will "continue to push for the passage of" the Black History is American History Act, which was reintroduced by Representative Joyce Beatty. It incentivizes schools and educators to teach Black history in the classroom.