Florida Will Shrink Black History Until It's Small Enough To Drown In Ron DeSantis's Bathtub

Florida Education Department offers some gibberish about 'woke indoctrination.'

Early this month, just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Florida rejected an Advanced Placement course on African American Studies. An unsigned January 12 letter from the Florida Department of Education to the College Board declared, "As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value." Considering what rightwingers seem to know about Black history, they probably don't think you need a whole class to learn that one line from Dr. King.

A federal judge had issued an injunction last year against Gov. Ron DeSantis's dystopian Stop WOKE Act, but that was specifically related to public colleges and universities. DeSantis is apparently free to make high school students less prepared for higher education.

Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the decision "incomprehensible."

"They have banned more books in schools and libraries than almost every other state in the country," she said. "And let’s not forget, they didn’t block AP European history, they didn’t block music history or art history, but the state chooses to block a course that is meant for high-achieving high school students to learn about their history of arts and culture."

PREVIOUSLY:

 Ron DeSantis Cancels 'Un-American' African American Studies AP Classes, F*ck You Is Why 

 Why Is A Florida High School English Teacher Trying To Ban Books? Could It Be ... She's Racist? 

 Federal Judge Stops DeSantis's 'Stop WOKE' Law, Because ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING HIM 

 Ron DeSantis Fights For Free Speech By Banning Teachers Mentioning Slavery And Gay People 

These true statements seemingly offended Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr., who almost immediately tweeted a slide labeled "Concerns Found Within College Board's Submitted AP African American Studies Course." He wrote, "Despite the lies from the Biden White House, Florida rejected an AP course filled with Critical Race Theory and other obvious violations of Florida law. We proudly require the teaching of African American history. We do not accept woke indoctrination masquerading as education."

This is, of course, classic doublethink. Diaz Jr. is fine with students learning a form of Black history that doesn't actually reflect Black history or the breadth of Black perspective and experience.

Civil War historian Kevin M. Levin responded, "You are conflating the teaching of theory and interpretation, which happens in every discipline, with indoctrination. Shame on you." I doubt Diaz Jr. experiences much shame.

“You are conflating the teaching of theory and interpretation, which happens in every discipline, with indoctrination. Shame on you. #historyteacher”

— Kevin M. Levin (@Kevin M. Levin) 1674315108 

The state Education Department objected to a section in the curriculum that “explores the case for reparations for the centuries-long enslavement and legal discrimination of African Americans in the US." This isn't woke "indoctrination." The push for reparations is a major part of Black history since the whole 40 acres and a mule never quite materialized.

“All points and resources in this study advocate for reparations,” the state Education Department said of the topic. “There is no critical perspective or balancing opinion in this lesson.”

The "balancing opinion," I guess, is that enslaved Black people deserved a big goose egg when finally freed. That's hard to rationalize when white enslavers literally received reparations in 1862 — $300 per human they'd held in bondage. (That's almost $9,000 in today's money.)

When Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates make the case for reparations, they do provide the arguments against reparations. It's not their fault those arguments are usually lacking. For instance, Republicans will insist the Civil War, which led to emancipation, is sufficient "reparations," but many Republicans insist that the Civil War wasn't even fought over slavery.

The state Education Department further objects to sections about intersectionality and activism; Black queer studies; the movement for Black Lives; and Black feminist literary thought. We don't expect conservatives to embrace these concepts, but they do exist as part of reality. Keep in mind that not all white Americans agreed about how best to pursue democracy. If students are assigned The Federalist Papers, that doesn't mean they're being indoctrinated to support a strong central government.

Florida Republicans might disagree with Angela Davis and bell hooks, but that doesn't automatically eliminate their works' value. After complaining for decades that academia lacks "intellectual diversity," rightwingers now summarily declare certain perspectives not simply "anti-American" but unworthy of discussion. They seemingly believe that if they control Black history, they can more easily control Black people in the present. Fortunately, they won't succeed.

[ New York Times ]

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