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John,
What happens when Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republicans try to rewrite Black history under their 2022 education law, the incredibly named Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (Stop WOKE) Act?
Well, there’s nothing “woke” about a set of standards that includes this new benchmark:
Standard SS.66.AA.2.3: Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.
Another standard, minimizing the systemic violence perpetrated by slavery and its aftermath, enshrines “whataboutism,” placing the blame for race riots on Blacks as well as the white power structure:
Standard SS.912.AA.3.6: 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.
These “standards” are required to be included any time Black history is taught in public schools in the state of Florida -- and it’s a disgrace. Sign the petition demanding Ron DeSantis cannot rewrite Black history now.
When confronted about the accuracy of slaves learning skills “for their personal benefit,” the authors of the standard wrote that such incidences are “well documented,” listing 16 names, including the folk hero John Henry, who purportedly died battling a steamshovel, and President George Washington’s white sister, Betty Washington Lewis.
Of the 16 names listed, 9 were never enslaved, 9 were listed in the wrong industry, and 13 learned their skills outside of slavery (for instance, reading skills which were illegal to teach to slaves, or seamstress skills taught by an enslaved mother). And oh yes, one was the white sister of George Washington.
And when, exactly, was a person, enslaved for life, supposed to apply these skills “for their personal benefit”?
These “standards” are beyond outrageous and represent a real danger of misrepresenting history for generations of school children to come. How can a young person understand the very real destructive effects of slavery and the systemic economic and cultural racism that reverberate into the current day, when the schools view the past with such rose-colored glasses, blaming the oppressed for their oppression?
Register your objection to the severe distortions of the Florida education “standards.” Sign the petition and stand up for truth in the education of our young people now.
Thank you for taking this step against the perpetuation of racist ideologies in our nation.
- Amanda
Amanda Ford, Director
Democracy for America
Advocacy Fund
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