DeSantis Defends New Curriculum Teaching How Slavery Brought ‘Personal Benefit’ To Black People
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is defending a new school curriculum that will teach Middle school students in Florida that slavery gave Black people a “personal benefit” because they “developed skills.” The Florida Board of Education approved new standards for African American history on Wednesday that states “instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Acts of violence “against and by” African Americans are also mentioned in lesson plans included in the new changes.
These changes come after the Florida legislature passed DeSantis’ “Stop-WOKE” law, described as an act that creates protection for students and workers, allowing them to not feel “discrimination based on race, color, sex or national origin.” During a campaign stop in Utah on Friday, DeSantis was asked about the backlash surrounding how slavery will be taught in Florida schools. “I think that they’re probably going to show some of the folks that eventually parlayed being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.
But the reality is, all of that is rooted in whatever is factual,’ DeSantis responded before calling them “the most robust standards in African American history” in the country.
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, condemned the new curriculum, saying in a statement: “Our children deserve nothing less than truth, justice, and the equity our ancestors shed blood, sweat, and tears for.” “Today’s actions by the Florida state government are an attempt to bring our country back to a 19th century America where Black life was not valued, nor our rights protected.
