DeSantis officials push back on Byron Donalds' criticism of African American history standards
By: Eric Daugherty (Floridas Voice)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) - DeSantis administration officials slammed Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds after the congressman agreed with some criticism against the state's new African American history standards.
Donalds said Wednesday morning that while the new standards approved by Florida are "good, robust, & accurate," sections that "feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted."
"That obviously wasn't the goal & I have faith that FLDOE [state Department of Education] will correct this," he said.
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, Jr. affirmed to superintendents Wednesday afternoon that the standards will be approved in their current form.
Responding to Donalds, Diaz slammed the congressman as "supposedly conservative" and part of the federal government trying to "dictate Florida's education standards."
"This new curriculum is based on truth," he said. "We will not back down from teaching our nation's true history at the behest of a woke @WhiteHouse, nor at the behest of a supposedly conservative congressman."
Jeremy Redfern, the press secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis, also called Donalds a "supposed conservative."
"Supposed conservatives in the federal government are pushing the same false narrative that originated from the @WhiteHouse," Redfern said. "Florida isn't going to hide the truth for political convenience."
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Florida last week to decry the sections on slavery in the new state standards.
"Maybe the congressman shouldn't swing for the liberal media fences like @VP [Kamala Harris]," DeSantis' press secretary continued.
In response, Donalds noted he "expressed support for the vast majority of the new African American history standards" but only opposed "one sentence that seemed to dignify the skills gained by slaves as a result of their enslavement."
"Anyone who can't accurately interpret what I said is disingenuous and is desperately attempting to score political points," Donalds continued. "Just another reason why l'm proud to have endorsed President Donald J. Trump!"
Donalds endorsed former President Donald Trump for president in April. He's also recently said he'd accept a vice president position from Trump if offered one.
The congressman previously received a 100% "Liberty Score" from Conservative Review and a 96% conservative score from Heritage Action.
Critics have said provisions outlining that Florida instruction will include "how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit" were "inaccurate."
The creators of the standards responded to criticisms last week, saying, "the intent of this particular benchmark clarification is to show that some slaves developed highly specialized trades from which they benefitted."
"This is factual and well documented," they argued.
DeSantis pushed back after Harris visited Florida, saying she tried "to push a fake narrative about what Florida did."
"She wasn't going down to the border to actually do the job there to secure it. She wasn't working on all the cities that are decaying because of Soros-backed prosecutors," he said.
Democrats claimed that part of the standard is "perpetuating historical inaccuracies and contributing to a lackluster version of American history."
Rep. Jervonte Edmonds, D-West Palm Beach, said the curriculum's attempt to frame the labor skills developed by slaves as potentially "applied for their personal benefit" is "particularly concerning."
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This is an interesting article. We have heard since all this started that the "left" was playing politics and unjustly criticizing the standards.
Here, not only does a very conservative congressman criticize one of the standards, but more importantly, the DeSantis team doubles and triples down on supporting the standard that has come under the most criticism. In other words, the inclusion of the claim that slavery "benefited" the African slaves in America was not some sort of oversight, but is the "truth". DeSantis himself is saying that slavery benefited the slaves. That is what he knows his base ,and the Trump base he wants to erode, wants to hear.
I'm sure that he will keep up attacks on anyone that disagrees with his policy. Nothing new there but he should continue to get rid of the racists in his staff..Got rid of another in the last few days.
www.thedailybeast.com /fired-desantis-staffer-called-white-nationalist-nick-fuentes-a-good-influence
Fired DeSantis Staffer Called White Nationalist Nick Fuentes a Good Influence
Kelly Weill 5-7 minutes 7/26/2023
During a December 2021 Twitter Spaces conversation with white nationalist Nick Fuentes , Nate Hochman suggested that Fuentes might be a good influence on young conservatives, but that Fuentes’ outright bigotry would limit his political potential.
“I think Nick’s probably a better influence than Ben Shapiro on young men who might otherwise be conservative. I think that the fact that kids are listening to you, there’s good things and bad things about it,” Hochman said in comments first reported by the Dispatch .
“But the fact that you have said super edgy things means that there’s a pretty strong ceiling to what you can actually accomplish in politics. Is that something that you’re actually thinking about? Like the fact that your career now is basically broadcasting from your basement. You can’t get on an airplane. You’re definitely never gonna be accepted in actual politics. You’ve created a pretty big ceiling for yourself. There’s not really anything you can do about it at this point.”
This week, Hochman was fired from Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign after retweeting a video that superimposed a Nazi symbol over DeSantis’ face. A person familiar with the incident told Axios that Hochman had made the video himself .
Its funny how these white supremacists show up in conservative campaigns, but rarely if ever in a "liberal" campaign.
"Critics have said provisions outlining that Florida instruction will include "how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit" were "inaccurate."
The creators of the standards responded to criticisms last week, saying, "the intent of this particular benchmark clarification is to show that some slaves developed highly specialized trades from which they benefitted."
"This is factual and well documented," they argued."
It would seem if it was well documented the proof should be shown. Also of interest would be how many slaves developed these skills. IMO If "some" is a few dozen then it should be stricken from the standards. If it was a substantial number (that can be proven) then the number should be part of the standard if they insist on keeping it. It should also be mentioned that given a choice between leaning these skills and not being a slave the choice would have been freedom.
this might be the biggest self own in recent history for Kamala Harris and the progressives who follow her lead. The AP standards, that Harris so passionately defended, contain almost the exact same standard.
This standard will be used in pretty much every other state. Will progressives throw hissy fits over it like they did in Florida? Nope, no political points to be scored if the boogeyman desantis can’t be attacked. They don’t care that New York will teach kids that some slaves benefited from the skills they learn.
Such an immaculate face plant. But they got their talking points covered by the friendly media, now they will pivot to something else, learning nothing from their gullibility .
The vast majority of the slaves that existed from 1650 to 1865 never became free. They didnt benefit from their "skills", the slaveowner did.
So it is not just a Florida problem but an AP problem? Why is the outrage specific to Florida?
Why aren’t you attacking governor pritzker for teaching kids in Illinois that some slaves benefited from the skills they learned in slavery?
why, do you think, Kamala Harris passionately defends standards that teach that, but flipped out because Florida does the same?
The vast majority of slaves never escaped. Probably shouldn’t teach kids about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, right?
They got a week of headlines and hysteria. That was the whole point, obviously. Progressives know that the left wing media will never bother holding them to account and their gullible voters will fall for the same outrage of the day tomorrow.