"Blatant racism": Ron DeSantis sparks outrage over controversial curriculum in Florida Schools on slavery

On Wednesday, July 19, under the guidance of Governor Ron DeSantis, the Florida State Board of Education approved a new history syllabus for its public schools that will henceforth teach students that African-Americans benefited from slavery as it taught them "life skills." It has already earned severe backlash from the state teachers’ union, which stated that the updated Black history syllabus was a “step backward.”

The new 216-page long standards of the Florida State Board of Education use controversial language about how “slaves developed skills which, in some stances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” The recent modifications are a part of Florida’s 2023 standards in Social Studies.

Amidst this development, Florida’s conservative Governor Ron DeSantis has been slammed by the Florida Education Association, whose President said in a press conference:

“Governor DeSantis is pursuing a political agenda guaranteed to set good people against one another, and in the process, he’s cheating our kids. They deserve the full truth of American history, the good and the bad.”

Not only the state teachers’ union, but Ron DeSantis has also received severe backlash from netizens, like this particular Twitter user:

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“FLORIDA: WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?”: Ron DeSantis and Florida come under fire for being pro-slavery

Apart from stating that Black people benefited from slavery, the new standards of the Florida State Board of Education also mentioned how African-Americans were perpetrators of violence during race massacres. As per NBC, a part of the document read:

“Instruction includes acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans but is not limited to 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, 1919 Washington, D.C. Race Riot, 1920 Ocoee Massacre, 1921 Tulsa Massacre, and the 1923 Rosewood Massacre.”

The new standards are to be taught in Florida public schools at both middle school and high school levels.

This was publicly blasted by the state teachers’ union, The Florida Education Association, which comprises around 150,000 teachers. It called the new standards “a disservice to Florida’s students and are a big step backward for a state that has required teaching African American history since 1994.”

It further added during the press conference that in the absence of a full and honest picture of real American history, the students can never be equipped for the future. President of the union Andrew Spur continued by saying:

“Florida’s students deserve a world-class education that equips them to be successful adults who can help heal our nation’s divisions rather than deepen them.”

As soon as the news of the updated standards of the Florida State Board of Education surfaced online, netizens ranging from politicians to common people to educationists, and organizations severely criticized Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida. Check out some of these comments below:

A netizen calls the Florida Governor racist. (Image via Twitter/LanaQuest aka RosaSparks)

A netizen slamming Ron DeSantis. (Image via Twitter/The Tennessee Holler)

A netizen says that Florida's governor deserves to be behind bars. (Image via Twitter/Ricky Davila)

A tweet calls Ron DeSantis a dangerous man. (Image via Twitter/The Lincoln Project)

As per NBC South Florida, the recent updates to the Black history curriculum were required under a controversial 2022 law that Governor Ron DeSantis termed “Stop Wrongs To Out Kids and Employees Act,” colloquially called the “Stop WOKE Act.”

What’s interesting is that a spokesperson from the Florida Department of Education African American History Standards Workgroup told NBC that they “proudly stand” behind the new standards which were “comprehensive and rigorous instruction on African-American history.” They also added how they were disappointed that their research was devalued and reduced to “a few isolated expressions without context.”

Governor Ron DeSantis has so far not commented on the controversy. However, this is not the first time his administration has messed with the Black history curriculum. Earlier in January 2023, his government boycotted a new Advanced Placement Course on African American Studies from being taught in public high schools stating it violates state law and was historically inaccurate.