Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reiterated the state’s refusal to propose an advanced African American study course nationwide, saying it pushes a political agenda – something three authors cited in criticizing the state accused of doing it in return.
DeSantis said his administration rejected the College Board’s Advanced Placement African American Studies course because “we want education, not indoctrination.” It was revealed last week that the Florida Department of Education recently told the College Board it will block the course unless changes are made.
The country then issued a chart last Friday who said he certainly promoted the idea that modern American society oppresses Black people, other minorities and women, including the chapter “Black Queer Studies” that the administration found inappropriate, and the use of articles by critics of capitalism.
The governor said the course violates a law called the Stop WOKE Act signed last year. It is a bar of instruction that determines whether people should be oppressed or privileged based on race. At least some of the course’s authors believe that modern US society promotes white supremacy while oppressing racial minorities, gays and women.
“This course is about Black history, what’s one of the lessons? Queer theory. Now who’s going to say that an important part of Black history is queer theory? This is someone pushing an agenda,” said DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate in 2024.
Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell called the administration’s rejection of the course “cowardly” and said it “sends a clear message that Black American history does not count in Florida.”
“Imagine how boring and closed minded we all would be if we only found ideas that we agreed with,” she said there.
The College Board, after a decade of development, is piloting an African American Studies course in 60 high schools nationwide. No school or state is required to make an offer after it is scheduled.
The organization offers AP courses across the academic spectrum, including math, science, social studies, foreign languages and fine arts. Taught at the college level, students who score high enough on end-of-course exams usually earn course credit at university.
The College Board has not responded to emails and phone calls since Friday. It issued a statement last week saying it welcomes feedback and will consider changes.
The country, in its chart on Friday, criticized five writers who are still alive. The Associated Press sent an email and three responded.
– The section on “Black Queer Studies” includes readings by Roderick Ferguson, a Yale University professor of women’s studies, gender and sexuality. The state said they “shout, ‘We must encourage and develop practices in which queerness does not surrender to the status quo of race, class, gender and sexuality.'”
Ferguson said the quote came from an interview he did about his book, “Queer One-Dimensional.” The book, he said, is a discussion of “employment discrimination, anti-LGBTQ+ laws, suppression of the progressive movement in the US, police violence against minority communities, restrictions on immigration (and) anti-black racism.”
“This is real history. The argument about it is based on investigation and scientific research – just like the arguments of other scholars on this list,” said Ferguson. “Unfortunately, we are at a moment when right-wing forces are mobilizing to prevent a free discussion of these facts. If we need an example of such mobilization, we might just turn to the forces that come together to reject this course.
– The state recommended the course include “Black Studies, Black Struggle,” a 2016 piece by UCLA history professor Robin DG Kelley, saying he “asserts that activism, rather than the university system, is the catalyst for social transformation.” Kelley called the description an oversimplification.
The work challenges student activists to move their efforts beyond campus and resist racism, inequality, capitalism, militarism and police brutality. But he also said that activists must love everyone, “even those who were once our oppressors,” and read and understand Western literature if they want to criticize it.
He said that one of the points is that “we should not emphasize trauma and victims, but understand how we are fighting for justice not only for black people but for all peoples (yes, including white people who are struggling), despite violence and violence . the oppression we are experiencing.”
The state also showed Kelley writing the 1990 book “Hammer and Hoe,” a history of communism in Alabama during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
“It won several awards and accolades, including from some conservative anti-Communist historians, because it is based on thorough research – something DeSantis is not familiar with,” Kelley said.
– State criticized including a section on the “Movement for Black Lives Matter,” a coalition of more than 50 groups including Black Lives Matter and the National Conference of Black Lawyers. He said the group wanted to abolish prisons and declared that there was a “war” against black gays and transsexuals.
The state criticized the section including a reading by Leslie Kay Jones, an assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University. He cited the quote, “Black people produce indescribable content for the same social media companies that produce the superstructure of white supremacy that suppresses us.”
Jones said he has seen no indication that the Movement for Black Lives Matter has ever advocated for prison abolition. He was surprised DeSantis’ staff attacked him for criticizing the social media company, because he did the same.
He said students should have the ability to “find their own conclusions through evaluation of primary and secondary texts.”
“Is Ron DeSantis claiming Florida students can’t form their own opinions?” she said.
Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter that examines what leaders need to succeed. Log in here.