Florida standards on Black history
DeSantis also sought to clarify his remarks about the new Florida standards around teaching Black history to middle schoolers — particularly a widely criticized provision that children be instructed that enslaved people developed “skills” that could be used for their “personal benefit.”
DeSantis has tried to distance himself a bit from the standards, having said last month: “I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved.”
But he has also defended the standards, saying they were “probably going to show some of the folks,” referring to enslaved people, “that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.”
Asked about the topic Sunday, DeSantis said: “So that means they developed skills in spite of slavery, not because of slavery. It was them showing resourcefulness and then using those skills once slavery ended.”
“We’ve been involved in education, not indoctrination,” he added. “Those standards were not political at all. The Legislature didn’t dictate any of that. Governor’s office didn’t dictate anything of that.”
DeSantis has faced significant criticism over the standards, including from four of the five Black Republicans in Congress. All four who have spoken out have endorsed Trump except Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is running for president himself.
Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, said last month: “What slavery was really about was separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives. It was just devastating. So I would hope that every person in our country — and certainly running for president — would appreciate that.”
Confronted with Scott’s quote in the interview Sunday, DeSantis replied: “Don’t take that side of Kamala Harris against the state of Florida. Don’t indulge those lies.”
DeSantis continued to note that a group of Black scholars developed the standards. But as NBC News has reported, a majority of the members of the work group did not support the most controversial elements that were eventually released.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
