Vice President Harris to speak in Florida against new black history curriculum: NPR
Vice President Harris is expected to give a speech in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday.
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Vice President Harris is expected to give a speech in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Vice President Harris is expected to speak Friday in Florida against the state’s new framework on how black history will be taught in K-12 schools, including guidelines that slavery was beneficial to enslaved people.
“We are fighting against attempts to enlighten us, cover up our history and rewrite the horrors of slavery,” Harris She said Thursday night.
Changes to the social studies curriculum were approved Wednesday by the Florida Board of Education. The divisive reviews come just months after the state turned down an Advanced Placement course in African-American studies.
Harris will deliver his remarks in Jacksonville, Florida. He is also expected to meet with parents, educators, civil rights leaders and elected officials to discuss a range of issues, including bodily autonomy, gun violence and voting.
Why some educators are against Florida’s new approach to black history
The main criticism against Florida’s new social studies standards is that they are a step backwards in telling a complete and accurate history of America.
Under elementary school guidelines, children will learn to recognize famous black figures including Rosa Parks, Zora Neale Hurston, and George Washington Carver. But educators say those lessons don’t go deep enough, failing to include studies of their stories or struggles.
“These new standards will ensure that, through the fourth grade, elementary school students’ knowledge of African American history does not go beyond knowing who a famous African American is when they see him,” the Florida Education Association, a statewide union of teachers, said in a statement. declaration.
Meanwhile, high school students will be taught that some racially motivated massacres, such as the one in 1920 Ocee massacre in which dozens of African Americans were killed for trying to vote – they were « perpetrated against and by African Americans ».
« This is victim blaming, » says Senator Geraldine Thompson, representing part of Central Florida, She said at a board meeting on Wednesday.
Probably most criticized have been the guidelines for middle school students, which state: « Education includes how slaves developed skills that, in some cases, could be applied to their personal advantage. »
Critics, including Harris, have called the claim that slavery was remotely beneficial to enslaved people inaccurate and offensive.
« They insult us in an attempt to enlighten us, and we won’t stand for it, » Harris said Thursday at the national convention of Delta Sigma Theta, a historically African-American fraternity.
Paul Burns, chancellor of Florida’s K-12 public schools, defended the new curriculum and argued that criticism is a false narrative, member station wgcu extension reported Wednesday.
“For the people in the media and in the teachers union who are watching, we want you to pay close attention because you really have been peddling a false narrative,” Burns said.
