Florida Gov. DeSantis is whitewashing Black history
Governor Ron DeSantis is hellbent on having Florida teachers whitewash history to brainwash kids. Only that explains his rubberstamp Board of Education issuing new standards for teaching Black history that read like White-supremacist propaganda.
Middle school students in Florida will soon be taught that slavery gave Black people a ‘personal benefit’ because they ‘developed skills.’
After the Florida Board of Education approved new standards for African American history on Wednesday, high school students will be taught an equally distorted message: that a deadly white mob attack against Black residents of Ocoee, Florida, in 1920 included ‘acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.’
(The Daily Beast, July 20, 2023)
Given that, imagine what distortions portend when it comes to teaching about the Civil Rights Movement. It will undoubtedly feature menacing Blacks preying on innocent Whites who were trying their best to integrate them into civilized society.
Of course, DeSantis has already convinced Florida moms that schools should no longer teach about the inhumane ways Whites enslaved and discriminated against Blacks. That, it suddenly turns out, inflicts too much emotional distress on their snowflake kids.
So, in Florida, Black history is all about “blaming the victim.” Blacks were the perpetrators, and their White oppressors were the benefactors. That’s even more Trumpian than how Florida’s most famous resident, Donald J. Trump, is playing the victim card these days to save his own skin.
From Orwell to neo-fascism
Allusions to George Orwell’s seminal work, “1984”, are as evident as they are unavoidable. But the dystopian distortion of truth and fact afoot would shock even Orwell.
After all, DeSantis is going far beyond manipulating information for mind control. He’s indoctrinating minds to embrace the presumptions of White supremacy. And that, of course, is the very essence of fascism.
He’s teaching kids that Blacks derived “personal benefit” from slavery, for Christ’s sake. That is no different from teaching them that Jews derived personal benefits from the Holocaust.
The fascistic tactics of DeSantis
As indicated above, this is textbook for DeSantis. Recall that he gained infamy for combating the phantom scourge of “critical race theory.” It’s the academic concept graduate students use to examine how racial bias manifests in things like hiring, law enforcement, and education.
Yet DeSantis proselytized and eventually codified the distortion that critical race theory was poisoning the minds even of White kindergartners. That it was making them feel guilty for the racist sins of their ancestors. Never mind that he’s now trying to convince them that, instead of sins, the racist violence their ancestors committed were blessings.
And, of course, no teacher would dare defy his fascistic indoctrination. After all, DeSantis had the Florida legislature enact the “Stop WOKE Act.”
This Act enables him to punish, for “thoughtcrimes,” any teacher who even dares to mention topics he deems woke (aka that reflects a true version not just of Black history but of the contributions Blacks have made throughout US history).
I cannot overstate the danger inherent in DeSantis’s attempt to whitewash Black history. Consider that Russia is now mired in a genocidal war in Ukraine because President Vladimir Putin attempted to Russify Ukrainian history.
Indeed, that analogy with Putin is apt. Because, just like Putin, DeSantis is motivated by a neo-fascist ideology characterized by a dangerous blend of thought control, distorted nationalism, and authoritarian rule. Yes, the dystopian world of Orwell’s “1984” resonates. But the darker forces of neo-fascism permeate.
How to counter DeSantis fascism
Fight fire with fire. In this case, fight any distorted version of Black history with the true version. In other words, no matter what “alternative facts” teachers are obliged to teach, concerned parents should “home-school” their kids with real facts.
Besides that, I reiterate my call for major colleges outside Florida to declare their intent to reject all applications from Florida. And they can cite a state-imposed curriculum that, by definition, makes Florida students unprepared for college.
That is bound to get even the White moms who compose his base to begin protesting against him in ways that make the likes of civil rights firebrand Rev. Al Sharpton look passive.