DeSantis Reaffirms Support For Racist Slavery Lessons

NBC News reports:

DeSantis has tried to distance himself a bit from the standards, having said last month: “I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved.” But he has also defended the standards, saying they were “probably going to show some of the folks,” referring to enslaved people, “that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.”

Asked about the topic Sunday, DeSantis said: “So that means they developed skills in spite of slavery, not because of slavery. It was them showing resourcefulness and then using those skills once slavery ended.”

“We’ve been involved in education, not indoctrination,” he added. “Those standards were not political at all. The Legislature didn’t dictate any of that. Governor’s office didn’t dictate anything of that.”

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Ron DeSantis defends Florida’s new guidelines suggesting slavery benefited Black people https://t.co/9ZigrvQOOc

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) August 7, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reaffirmed his support for new history standards in his state’s public schools instructing students that enslaved people developed useful “skills” in the course of their enslavement. https://t.co/gkaKalxgK9

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 7, 2023