Category: Black history

Harris fires back at DeSantis offer to talk Florida’s Black history curriculum

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

Vice President Harris on Tuesday fired back after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis offered to discuss his state's African American history standards following Florida's approval of controversial new rules for teaching the subject.

"Right here in Florida, they plan to teach students that enslaved people benefited from slavery. They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates, and now they attempt to legitimize these unnecessary debates with a proposal that most recently came in of a politically motivated roundtable," Harris said in remarks at the Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention.

"Well, I'm here in Florida and I will tell you, there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities of slavery," she added.

The vice president's appearance at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando comes amid contention with DeSantis after Florida’s Board of Education passed the new standards, which Harris said in a separate trip to Florida last month was the state “pushing propaganda” onto children.

DeSantis, who is running for the GOP nomination for president, invited Harris in a Monday letter to Tallahassee to discuss the new standards.

“In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues,” DeSantis wrote in the letter to Harris. “And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice. So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards.” 

The Florida governor had dismissed the vice president's criticisms of the standards and accused her of crafting a “fake narrative" about the curriculum.

One new standard that has come under scrutiny directs teachers to include instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Harris has said it's "ridiculous" to have to say "that enslaved people do not benefit from slavery."

"As I said last week, when I was again here in Florida, we will not stop calling out and fighting back against extremist so-called leaders who try to prevent our children from learning our true and full history," Harris said Tuesday at the event in DeSantis's state. "And so, in this moment, let us remember, it is in the darkness that the candle shines most brightly."

Gaetz calls DeSantis ‘thirsty’ for inviting Harris to Florida amid curriculum drama 

Posted on (Updated by Lauren Sforza

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “thirsty” for inviting Vice President Harris to their home state to debate over African American history standards approved last month.

“Imagine being desperate enough to be thirsty for a Kamala visit,” Gaetz posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, alongside the letter DeSantis sent to Harris inviting her to Florida.

DeSantis, who is vying to be the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, sent Harris a letter Monday inviting her to come to Florida to discuss the new rules for teaching Black history in the state. He said that he could meet with Harris as soon as Wednesday, adding that he hopes she is “feeling up to it.”

“In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues,” DeSantis wrote in the letter. “And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice."

"So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards," he added.

Harris has been outspoken about the new rules, which require lessons on race to be taught in an “objective” manner that does not seek to “indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.” She said during a trip to Jacksonville, Fla., that the state was “pushing propaganda” onto children over the new standards — which also mandates teachers instruct on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied to their personal benefit.” 

DeSantis has pushed back on her comments, however, accusing Harris of creating a “fake narrative” with her remarks. Harris has stood by her criticism, saying Monday that it was “ridiculous” to have to say slavery had no benefits.

DeSantis has faced criticism from both Democrats and Republicans over the new history standards in the state. He has also come under scrutiny from Black conservatives, including fellow GOP presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C), who said in response to the new guidelines that “there is no silver lining in slavery.”

The Hill has reached out to DeSantis's office for comment.

GOP Rep. John James slams DeSantis for curriculum comments on slavery: ‘You’ve gone too far’

Posted on (Updated by Tara Suter

Rep. John James (R-Mich.) criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Friday for his response to Republican lawmakers who called him out on his state’s new Black history education standards Friday.

“@RonDeSantis, #1: slavery was not CTE!” James posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Nothing about that 400 years of evil was a ‘net benefit’ to my ancestors. #2: there are only five black Republicans in Congress and you’re attacking two of them.”

Both Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have criticized the new standards, which indicate that American slavery helped enslaved people develop “skills” that benefited them, in the past few days.

Scott rebuked the language during a campaign stop in Iowa on Thursday, claiming "there is no silver lining in slavery."

“Slavery was really about separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives," he said. "It was just devastating."

DeSantis responded to the lawmakers by saying they were falling in line with Vice President Kamala Harris, who called the guidelines "propaganda."

“They dare to push propaganda to our children,” Harris said earlier this week in Jacksonville, Fla. “Adults know what slavery really involved. It involved rape. It involved torture. It involved taking a baby from their mother.”

James pleaded with DeSantis to change course.

“My brother in Christ… if you find yourself in a deep hole put the shovel down,” he wrote. “You are now so far from the Party of Lincoln that your Ed. board is re-writing history and you’re personally attacking conservatives like [Scott] and [Donalds] on the topic of slavery."

"You’ve gone too far. Stop," he added.