Protesters march through Miami to object to Florida’s Black history teaching standards
By Ashley Isom August 17, 2023
Reprinted by Imanche Sunday Adiyoh, March 12, 2024
MIAMI — Dozens of teachers, students, and labor leaders marched to a Miami school district headquarters Wednesday to protest Florida’s new standards for teaching Black history, which have come under intense criticism for what they say about slavery.
The protesters who marched to the School Board of Miami-Dade County objected to new curriculum standards that, among other things, require teachers to instruct middle school students that enslaved people and “developed skills that, in some instances, could be applied for their benefit.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, has repeatedly defended the new language while insisting that his critics, including Vice President Kamala Harris and two leading Black Republicans in Congress, are intentionally misinterpreting one line of the sweeping curriculum.
“These new state standards that DeSantis has come up with will not be tolerated in our schools. We will not let our children be taught that slaves benefited from their slavery. That’s a lie,” said march organizer Marvin Dunn, a professor emeritus of psychology at Florida International University.
About 50 protesters who started the 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) trek from Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Miami’s historically Black Overtown neighborhood chanted, “What do we want? Truth. When do we want it? Now. What if we don’t get it? Shut it down!”
They were greeted by another 50 protesters at the school board building, where speakers addressed the crowd. Among them was Tennessee Rep. Justin Pearson who was propelled into the national spotlight after being expelled from the Republican-dominated legislative body for leading a gun control protest on the House floor. He was reinstated by local officials and then won a special election.
“The true history is that Black people have always fought to make America what it ought to be, and it has always resisted what it could be,” Pearson told the crowd. “We’ve always fought for the America that we know is possible. That is not here yet.”
Harris, the nation’s first Black vice president, traveled to Florida last month to condemn the curriculum. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is the chamber’s sole Black Republican and is also seeking the White House, issued a direct rebuke of DeSantis.
Critics said the new school standards are the latest in a series of attacks on Black history by the governor’s administration. At the beginning of the year, DeSantis’ administration blocked a new Advanced Placement course on Black American studies from being taught in high schools, saying it was contrary to state law.
DeSantis has also pushed through the “Stop WOKE Act,” a law that limits discussions on race in schools and by corporations, and banned state universities from using state or federal money for diversity programs.
The new educational standards represent a continuation of the governor’s administration’s efforts to undermine Black history. DeSantis’ administration prevented a new Advanced Placement course on Black American studies from being taught in high schools at the start of the year, citing it as against state law.
The Governor has enacted the “Stop WOKE Act,” which restricts conversations on race in educational institutions and businesses, and prohibited state universities from utilizing government funds for diversity initiatives. How long must the minority black population tolerate the infringement of their rights through certain discriminatory policies?