Racist Florida Governor Blocks AP African-American History Classes

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Continuing a racist culture war on factual history, Republican Florida Governor Ron Desantis blocked the inclusion of advanced-level African-American history courses in high schools across the state.

The AP’s African-American story is inexplicably against Florida law and grossly lacking in educational value,” the Florida Department of Education’s Articulation Office said in a January 12 letter to the College Board, a nonprofit organization that oversees PA courses.

Yet the letter did not explicitly describe what she found objectionable, according to CNN. Florida is one of many states that have limited how public schools can teach about the breed.

Florida Governor Ron Desantis (AP)

Fresh off a major re-election victory after demonizing critical discussions of race in the classroom, the lengths the expected 2024 presidential candidate will go to elevate his standing among conservatives seem to have no bounds. .

Florida governor targets black history

Desantis’ decision to deprive black and non-black children in the state from learning the full truth about the oppression and impact of black people in the United States comes months after the College Board announced plans to include African American AP classes in classrooms across the country for the first time.

During Black History Month in 2022, the College Board announced a pilot program to offer the advanced courses. About 60 schools across the country have already started teaching them to their students.

Like all new AP courses, AP African American Studies is undergoing a rigorous, multi-year pilot phase, gathering feedback from teachers, students, scholars and policymakers, the statement said.

The council has worked with higher education institutions for more than a decade to implement the courses.

Meanwhile, after redrawing Florida’s congressional districts to limit the power of black voters, after establishing an election police force to intimidate voters, and after shipping desperate migrants thousands of miles away, Desantis’ desire to score political points knows no bounds.

After recent years of heightened attention to racial injustices and the central role slavery played in American history, the backlash against racial progress continues full steam ahead.

The step back has a new name today, it’s called the white backlash, but the white backlash is nothing new, Dr. King said before he was assassinated. It is the resurgence of old prejudices, hostilities and ambivalences that have always existed.

Much like the backlash against free blacks migrating North for better jobs, the right to vote and the first black president, Republicans have launched a new effort to divide and win over a racially unaware electorate.

Black state senator slams racist decision

Black Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones noted white supremacist hypocrisy in a Twitter post in which he listed other AP classes not banned in Florida.

AP European History, AP Art History, AP Japanese Language & Culture, AP German Language & Culture, AP Italian Language & Culture, and AP Spanish Language & Culture are all advanced courses currently taught in the state.

– AP European History– AP Art History– AP Japanese Language and Culture– AP German Language and Culture– AP Italian Language and Culture– AP Spanish Language and Culture

Are AP classes currently offered. It’s crazy how AP African American Studies has been doing the chopping block in Florida. ?

— Shevrin Shev Jones (@ShevrinJones) January 19, 2023

This political extremism and its attack on black history and black people will create an entire generation of black children who will not be able to see themselves reflected at all in their own education or in their own state, Jones said.

As an old battle for the soul and future of the nation in a new generation takes shape, the media plays an outsized role by serving as the fourth estate, a final check on power. It is not biased to call out blatant racism, and the media that does not portray it as such contributes to the breakdown of democratic norms and the stagnation of racial progress.

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