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USA | Jan 27, 2023

Ron DeSantis ban on black history course in Florida stokes even more controversy

Al Edwards

Al Edwards / Our Today

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. (File Photo: REUTERS/Tom Brenner)

Governor of Florida, Republican Ron DeSantis is adamant that children in the ‘Sunshine State’ should not be indoctrinate by skewed lessons of black history and be riled up by Black Lives Matter rhetoric.

The history of African Americans is one of slavery over 400 years ago (1619), with many not having the right to vote until the 1960s.

DeSantis declared it was the American revolution that questioned slavery and that history cannot be taught that is being used to pursue an ideological agenda.

Kyle McMann, of the Jacksonville chapter of the Proud Boys, said: “Parents in Florida are alarmed at what their children have to learn, particularly with the pushing of a black agenda that makes them feel guilty about their heritage and the fine accomplishments of this country. Race hustlers have become too embedded in the American education system and they must be deliced. This is a God-fearing, Christian country created out of the European tradition. You can’t revise history to your own liking.”

“We have standards and guidelines in Florida. We want education, not indoctrination. If you fall on the side of indoctrination, we’re going to decline. If it is education, then we will do this course.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

DeSantis has taken exception to an AP African American course and has suggested that it should be resubmitted with acceptable revisions.

“We have standards and guidelines in Florida. We want education, not indoctrination. If you fall on the side of indoctrination, we’re going to decline. If it is education, then we will do this course.

“This course on black history, what are one of the lessons about? Queer theory. Now, who would say that an important part of black history is queer theory? That is someone pushing an agenda on our kids. And so, when you look to see they have stuff about intersectionality, abolishing prisons, that is a political agenda. That’s the wrong side of the line for Florida standards. We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think but we do not believe they should have an agenda imposed on them. When you try to use black history to shoehorn queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes.”

Leader of the House Democratic Caucus and Representative for House District 67, Fentrice Driskell.

On DeSantis’ stance on the matter, the Leader of the House Democratic Caucus and Representative for House District 67, Fentrice Driskell had this to say: “By rejecting the African American history pilot program Ron DeSantis has clearly demonstrated that he wants to dictate  to whom the story does and does not belong. He wants to control what our kids can learn based on politics and not sound policy. He repeatedly attacks the First Amendment rights of Floridians with books being banned from libraries and classrooms and now by throwing his weight against this AP African American history course, he is undermining the rights of parents and students to make the best decisions for themselves.

“He wants to say that I don’t belong. He wants to say that you don’t belong, whose story does and does not get to count. But we are here to tell him we are America. Governor, black history is American history and you are on the wrong side of history.”

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is now planning a lawsuit against DeSantis’s claim that the AP African American history course has no educational value.

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