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Florida
Republican
Governor
Ron
DeSantis'
office
has
defended
a
decision
by his
administration
to
reject
an AP
Course
in
African
American
studies.
Ron
DeSantis
has
previously
taken
action
to ban
Critical
Race
Theory
and the
New York
Times’
1619
project
in
Florida’s
schools.
The 1619
Project
began as
a
collection
of
essays
re-examining
the
legacy
of
slavery
in the
U.S. in
a
special
issue of
The New
York
Times
magazine
in 2019.
L-R:
SPENCER
PLATT/GETTY
IMAGES;
OCTAVIO
JONES/GETTY
IMAGES |
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Lawyers
have 3
students
ready to
sue if
Florida
bans
African-American
Studies
AP class
By
Mary
Ellen
Klas
Herald/Times
Tallahassee
Bureau
TALLAHASSEE
-
Florida’s
Black
leaders
delivered
a
warning
to Gov.
Ron
DeSantis
on
Wednesday
that if
he
doesn’t
stop
attempts
“to
exterminate
Black
history”
in
Florida
classrooms,
they
would
sue him
for
violating
the
constitutional
rights
of
students.
“We
are here
to give
notice
to Gov.
DeSantis,’’
said Ben
Crump, a
Tallahassee
civil
rights
attorney,
to a
cheering
crowd of
supporters
in the
Capitol
Rotunda,
as three
high
school
students
stood at
his
side.
They
were
protesting
the
announcement
last
week by
the
Florida
Department
of
Education
that it
had
rejected
a new
Advanced
Placement
elective
course
on
African-American
studies,
developed
by the
College
Board
for high
school
students.
“If
he does
not
negotiate
with the
College
Board to
allow AP
African-American
Studies
to be
taught
in the
classrooms
across
the
state of
Florida,
these
three
young
people
will be
the lead
plaintiffs,’’
said
Crump,
who has
represented
families
in
several
high-profile
civil
rights
cases.
The
College
Board is
expected
to
release
its
updated
version
of the
AP
course
on Feb.
1, the
first
day of
Black
History
Month.
As a
pilot
program
taught
in 60
select
classrooms
around
the
country,
the
board
has been
soliciting
feedback
from
teachers
for
modifications
to the
curriculum.
It is
unknown
how many
schools
in
Florida
are
involved
in the
pilot
program.
When
the
state
sent its
letter
of
objection
to the
College
Board
last
week, it
gave no
reasons
for
rejecting
the
class,
except
to
broadly
claim
that the
class
“lacks
educational
value.”
It
suggested
that if
the
College
Board
revised
the
course
to
appease
the
state,
it would
reconsider
allowing
it to be
offered
for
college
credit
in
Florida
high
schools.
Two
days
later,
after
the
announcement
drew
rebukes
from the
NAACP,
the
American
Civil
Liberties
Union
and
other
critics
accusing
the
administration
of
whitewashing
history
and a
“march
backward,’’
Department
of
Education
Commissioner
Manny
Diaz
issued a
clarification.
He
posted a
chart on
Twitter
that
suggested
the
course
was
rejected
because
it
included
topics
such as
the
Movement
for
Black
Lives,
Black
feminism,
reparations
and
authors
whose
writings
touch on
critical
race
theory,
Black
communism
and
“queer
theory.”
“We
proudly
require
the
teaching
of
African-American
history,”
Diaz
wrote,
referring
to a
1994 law
that
requires
that
classes
include
Black
history
studies.
But, he
added,
not if
it’s
“woke
indoctrination
masquerading
as
education.”
DeSantis
said
topics
were
attempts
at
‘indoctrination’
On
Monday,
DeSantis
explained
that the
administration
rejected
the
course
because
some of
the
topics
were
deemed
to be an
attempt
at
“indoctrination”
by using
Black
history
to push
a
political
agenda.
Crump,
who has
represented
the
families
of
George
Floyd,
who was
killed
in 2020
when
Minneapolis
Police
Officer
Derek
Chauvin
kneeled
on his
neck,
and
Trayvon
Martin,
who was
killed
in 2012
by a
neighborhood
watch
volunteer
in
Sanford,
said he
will not
pursue a
lawsuit
if the
College
Board
proposes
a
curriculum
that the
state
approves.
If
DOE
continues
to
reject
the
course,
however,
the
lawsuit
would be
joined
by
lawyers
for the
NAACP,
the
Lawyers
Committee
for
Civil
Rights
and
Pinellas
Park
attorney
Craig
Whisenhunt.
Crump
said the
plaintiffs,
three
Leon
County
high
school
students,
will
make the
same
argument
made by
university
professors
when a
federal
judge
stopped
the
DeSantis
administration
from
enforcing
the
“Stop
Wrongs
To Our
Kids and
Employees
Act,”
(Stop
WOKE
Act).
They
argued
the law
had a
chilling
effect
on
speech
inside
classrooms
and was
an
unconstitutional
infringement
of
professors’
First
Amendment
rights.
“It
is not
for the
state of
Florida
to
declare
which
viewpoints
will be
deemed
orthodox,
and
which
will be
forbidden
from its
university
classroom,’’
Crump
said.
DOE
Communications
Director
Alex
Lanfranconi
called
Crump’s
threat
“nothing
more
than a
meritless
publicity
stunt.”
He
commended
the
College
Board
for
modifying
its
curriculum
in the
class
and
suggested,
without
evidence,
that the
changes
were in
response
to
Florida’s
protest.
“AP
courses
are
standardized
nationwide,
and as a
result
of
Florida’s
strong
stance
against
identity
politics
and
indoctrination,
students
across
the
country
will
consequently
have
access
to an
historically
accurate,
unbiased
course,’’
he said.
Black
leaders
urge
College
Board
not to
‘cave’
to
pressure
Whisenhunt
cited a
case in
Arizona
when a
Republican-led
government
passed a
law
restricting
Mexican-American
studies
in that
state
and a
federal
court
struck
it down.
“Government
doesn’t
get to
entangle
itself
in the
education
of
students
when it
comes to
a point
of
view,’’
Whisenhunt
said.
“There
are
equal
protections
under
the law,
and this
effort
by the
governor
disproportionately
affects
only
some
[people]”
and
“only
intends
to limit
some
content.”
Whisenhunt
echoed
the
comments
of
several
Black
leaders
who said
they
hoped
the
College
Board
does not
“cave”
to the
governor’s
requests.
“It’s a
90-page
long
document,
outlining
the
origin
story
until
today,
and he
picked
on four
or five
things
that he
took
exception
to and,
truthfully,
there’s
a
discussion
worth
having
on those
issues,’’
he said.
Rep.
Fentrice
Driskell,
a Tampa
Democrat,
said she
also had
reservations
about
changes
if they
are made
to
address
the
governor’s
complaints.
“We’ve
been
told
that
this AP
African-American
history
course
will be
altered
and
resubmitted,
and most
likely
they’ll
make
enough
changes
for the
governor
to
approve
it, but
at what
cost?”
she
asked.
“And are
we
really
OK with
Ron
DeSantis
deciding
what’s
acceptable
for
America’s
students
across
the
country
about
Black
history?”
The
three
students
spoke
about
their
desire
to take
the AP
course
if it is
offered.
“Gov.
DeSantis
decided
to deny
the
potentially
life-changing
class
and
effectively
censor
the
freedom
of our
education
and
shield
us from
the
truths
of our
ancestors,”
said
Elijah
Edwards,
a SAIL
High
School
sophomore.
“I
thought
here in
this
country,
we
believe
in the
free
exchange
of
ideas,
not the
suppression
of it.”
“There
are many
gaps in
American
history
regarding
the
African-American
population,”
said
Victoria
McQueen,
a junior
at Leon
High
School.
“The
implementation
of an AP
African-American
history
class
will
fill in
those
gaps.”
Mary
Ellen
Klas can
be
reached
at
meklas@miamiherald.com
and
@MaryEllenKlas
This
story
was
originally
published
January
25, 2023
6:40 PM.
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