Sen. Bobby Powell is adding his voice to the growing chorus condemning the state's new African American history teaching standards which include the assertion that slaves could benefit from their circumstances.
The West Palm Beach Democrat called for an examination into what's driving the "one-sided agenda" that produced this direction for state education curriculum.
One standard the state Board of Education adopted, which created a firestorm of controversy, says, "Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit." It's been met with a chorus of disapproval and outrage from many quarters, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said he wants the full story to be told, saying the standards go into great depth, providing students with the information they need in an age-appropriate fashion.
But Powell says the assertion slavery in any way benefited the enslaved is infuriating — and reflects a deep ignorance on state officials' part.
Powell's sentiment has been spreading. The new curriculum has drawn similar rebukes from teachers' unions, both state and local chapters, and numerous lawmakers, such as Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani and Democratic Sen. Geraldine Thompson, both speakers at this week's meeting of the state Education Board, according to POLITICO.
"Shall we say the same of other people who in the history of mankind, also found themselves enslaved? That it was good for them? That they derived a personal benefit from the captivity?" Powell said in a statement released Friday. "And when the dogs and the water cannons, the police batons and the lynching mobs were let loose on these former African American slaves, was that for their 'personal benefit' as well?"
Diaz, a Hialeah Republican, called the new standards "robust" and inclusive of "the slave trade, Jim Crow laws, civil rights movement (and) everything that occurred throughout our history."
"If anyone takes the time to actually look at the standards, you can see that everything is covered," he said.
The new, 216-page set of guidelines, which the Florida Board of Education adopted Wednesday, do not include a requirement for elementary and middle school students to learn about Black history after the Reconstruction era, a period of marked hostility and discrimination against African Americans.
Students must be able to "identify African Americans who demonstrated heroism and patriotism," including Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and the Tuskegee Airmen, among others.
That's not enough, Powell said.
"The full measure of African American history is not a hand-picked Rosa Parks here and a Martin Luther King Jr. there," Powell said. "It is the sweeping collection of stories spanning several centuries, the lessons of cruelty and inhumanity interwoven in the determination of a people to live and breathe free. It is as much Florida's story as the nation's story and it needs to be fully told."
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Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
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