Florida approves new Black History guidelines for public schools 7/19/22

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www.wftv.com

This is the excerpt of the guidelines, covering Black History

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Joint Letter to the Department of Education​

Hon. Ben Gibson July 17, 2023

Chairman,

Florida Board of Education
325 W. Gaines Street, Suite 1520
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400

Chairman Gibson & Members of the Board,

We, the undersigned organizations, write to you today with a profound sense of urgency.

After having reviewed the proposed Florida State Academic standards for social studies, we have numerous concerns. These standards purposefully omit or rewrite key historical facts about the Black experience and ignore the legislative intent of Florida Statute 1003.42.

In 1994- when the statute was signed into law, it was a coalition of educators, parents, students, elected officials, and community leaders that led to Rep. Rudolph Bradley and State Senator Jim Hargrett to introduce legislation that mandated the teaching of Black History.

And today, less than 30 years removed from such a pivotal moment in our state’s history- we find ourselves fighting to preserve the legacy of those who dared to believe that Black History is American History.

While the names of those leading the fight may be different, the fight remains the same. Today - in the year 2023, we stand as a diverse coalition demanding you adhere to the law and adopt standards that require the instruction of history, culture, experiences, and contributions of African Americans in the state’s K-12 curriculum as directed in FS 1003.42.

We owe the next generation of scholars the opportunity to know the full unvarnished history of this state and country and all who contributed to it- good and bad.

As organizations who represent the interests of millions of Floridian’s, we ask that you forgo adopting these standards until you have an opportunity to meet with key stakeholders and address our concerns.

Black history has educational value and our laws must be enforced.

Please do the right thing and withhold approval of these standards.

If you have any questions, please contact Genesis Robinson, the Political Director for Equal Ground at Genesis@Equal-Ground.com.



In Solidarity,

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Reading....

 

[rabbid]

... so it wasnt all bad after all

 

[Secure Da Bag]

... so it wasnt all bad after all

Put a frog in boiling water and it hops out immediately. Put a frog in water and turn up the heat incrementally and it won't know it's boiling until it's too late.

IOW, this is slightly twisting the truth so it doesn't seem that bad. Do that enough times and you can get lie to seem like the truth.


To be fair, at 1st read, I didn't see the big deal. Then I read it again and noticed the slight changes to certain subjects. And the type of comparisons it was trying to make. They're certainly trying to change the narrative of slavery in America from gross human rights violation to "everyone did it; it's not a big deal".

 

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IT GETS WORSE.


Cliff Notes. To damage control/spin the backlash against the new Black History guidelines, the Board had two of the Black members who worked on it issue a statement defending the "benefited from skills acquired during enslavement" . They did, and it backfired.
Full statement and reaction below.

Creators of African American school standards say guidelines criticized 'without context'

Creators of Florida's new African American school standards said it's "disappointing" that people are criticizing the newly-approved guidelines "without context."

flvoicenews.com

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THE RESPONSE

 

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Town hall to discuss Florida’s new Black history standards coming to Miami Gardens​

July 26, 2023


Pastor Arthur Jackson was hesitant.
The thought of hosting a town hall that could possibly turn into a platform to peddle the same problematic rhetoric about African American history was very concerning. Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz will potentially be in attendance, something that might upset his congregation. Then the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church pastor realized the opportunity before him.
“There are some who don’t want him there,” Jackson said, “but you can’t fix what you can’t face.”

Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones (SD-34), Senator Rosalind Osgood (SD-32), and Miami-Dade School Board Vice Chair Dr. Steve Gallon III (District 1) intend to co-host a forum at 7 p.m. on Aug. 10 that will allow community members to voice their concerns about the changes to lessons about Black history. The town hall will be held at Antioch Baptist Church, one of the largest churches in Miami Gardens, Florida’s largest primarily Black city.

“My hope is that the commissioner will come with an open mind and open ears to actually hear the concerns of the people,” said Jones, a former educator who now serves as vice chair for the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee on Education. “Ultimately, they want the commissioner to go back to the drawing board to this work group and tell them to go rework these standards so that the wording in this is not offensive to Black people.”

The key to this town hall, according to Jackson, is to “control the mic,” assuring that the “structure of the forum won’t be the commissioner espousing a particular rhetoric.” Osgood agreed.
“Our collective history is American History, and although our lived experiences are different, it is important that we value each other’s history,” Osgood said in a statement. A former member of the Broward County School Board, Osgood sits on the Florida Senate Education Pre K-12 Committee. “This moment is an opportunity for community members to ask questions and express their thoughts regarding these standards changes.”

 

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:;;:

 

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Manny backed out of attending the Town Hall.

Education commissioner pulls out of Black History town hall due to DeSantis pushback, organizer says​

WPLG Local 10​

Aug 10, 2023
Florida State Senator Shervin Jones believes it’s pushback from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office that forced Education Commissioner Manny Diaz to cancel his appearance at Thursday’s town hall forum in Miami Gardens

 

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Miami Gardens' Black history town hall goes on without Manny Diaz, Jr.​

CBS Miami​

Aug 10, 2023
Hundreds of lawmakers, teachers, school board members and parents crowded into a Miami Gardens church Thursday evening for a forum on Florida's new standards for teaching Black history.

Spoiler: Full event