Calling for change
Faith, civil rights leaders slam new African American history standards
“Teaching Our Own History” Task Force.
By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer
Major mobilization against teaching new African American history standards is gaining steam as religious and civil rights leaders ramp up their opposition ahead of the start of school in early August.
The leaders called out Gov. Ron DeSantis for carrying out a racist agenda, including dismantling of African American studies. The call came a week after the State Board of Education approved new academic standards for instruction about African American history in Florida’s schools.
The group led by Rev. RB Holmes issued a seven-point plan of action in response to the governor’s efforts to erase Black history. They also announced formation of the Statewide Task Force, “Teaching Our Own History.” Details of how the task force will work were expected to be announced Wednesday during a press conference at Hilton Orlando in Lake Buena Vista.
Holmes, pastor at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, who also is the local president of the National Action Network, said the task force will create an accurate model for teaching African American history.
“We will not sit idly by and allow the governor’s political ambitions to blemish our history,” Homes said in a statement prior to the press conference. “Our children must be encouraged by the past, engaged with the present and embrace the future.
“The purpose of the Task Force is to prepare, publish and present an authentic, accurate and factual model that teaches African American history, culture, experiences and substantial contributions of African Americans in the state of Florida’s K-12 curriculum.”
Following a virtual press conference last Monday, the group indicated that a suit is possible to bring about change. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump will carry out that suit, according to a seven-point plan of action.
The group also plans to collaborate with the National Action Network and other civil rights organizations for a “massive demonstration” in Florida in the fall.
The State Board of Education’s decision has gotten national attention, including reaction from the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris recently blasted the standards during a visit to Jacksonville.
Push back against the new standards also got support from members of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus.
Democratic state representative Dianne Hart, who is chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus, stressed the LBC’s stance in a statement last Friday.
“Our request is simple; stop playing partisan politics with the futures of Florida’s children. To say that the enslaved Americans of our past somehow benefited from their violent exploiters without acknowledging the millions that never knew the freedom of autonomy over their own bodies, lives, and futures is shameful and disgusting,” the statement said.
DeSantis, who is campaigning for the Republican nomination to run for president, has attempted to distance himself from the Board’s decision. He told a national audience that he didn’t have a say in what was decided. He later said in a social media clip that the injustices of slavery were outlined “in vivid detail” in the standards.
The primary cause for the backlash is the Board’s decision to approve the new standards, which is designed to guide lessons from kindergarten through high school. Most of the criticism comes over the change that says “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
The standards also have a different section for high school students. It is expected to be part of the curriculum this fall.
The standards will be reviewed Aug. 7 during a virtual training that teachers have the option to attend three days before the fall semester begins.
Barbara Arnwine, President of Transformative Justice Coalition, was vehement in her response to the standard during last week’s press conference. She made a point of running down a list of professions that Blacks had prior to being brought from Africa into slavery in America.
“They wanted us so bad,” said Arnwine, who in June led a statewide bus rally to protest the state’s attack on education. “They relied on our skills to build this economic engine that became America. It was the skills of the Africans already developed over centuries that enriched this country. It’s insulting to imply somehow that we had to be enslaved to get any kind of skills.
“Let’s teach the truth.”
The truth about African American history is vital to the wellbeing of young people, said Crump.
“This effort to teach revisionist history to our children will cause African American children to suffer psychological trauma and will eventually damage this country if this bigoted agenda becomes the status quo,” Crump said. “We have to make sure everybody speaks up on this issue. If we don’t bash this racist curriculum in the head like a snake, then I’m worried that it will manifest all across America.”
The attack on Black history has been ongoing since the legislative session. DeSantis had support from the Republican-control legislator when he called for revisions to the College Board’s curriculum for its new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies.
That and other action by the legislature amounts to “legislative totalitarian takeover,” said Rev. Marcus McCoy, Jr., Faith Outreach State Director for Equal Ground Education Action Fund.
McCoy also beseeched the governor to call a special session “to fix the problems that they have created.”
Holmes also issued a compelling warning during last Monday’s press conference.
“Florida will not become the model for this country on how to dismantle or how to attack diversity, equity and inclusion,” he said. “Florida is the place where indoctrination, censorship and racist ideas will die.”
During a press conference last Monday, Rev. RB Holmes issued a seven-point plan of action to counteract the governor’s plan to erase Black history. The plan is as follows:
- We will appoint a “Teach Our History Task Force,” a panel of 12 leading African American teachers, historians, and authors. The task force will be appointed Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at the Florida General Baptist Congress of Christian Education.
- Strongly support the 60th year commemoration and continuation of the March on Washington August 26, 2023.
- Tell our Black history weekly in Black newspapers led by Bobby Henry and Ben Chavis.
- Encourage the renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump and his firm to file a lawsuit against the state of Florida’s anemic Black history curriculum.
- Announce, in conjunction with the National Action Network and other civil rights organizations, a massive demonstration in Florida against DeSantis’ attack on our freedoms, encouraging tens of thousands of people to join us.
- Organize Freedom Schools/Academies in 25 Florida cities by the fall of 2024. We will appoint the superintendent by the end of September, 2023.
- Conduct a 1 Million Voter Registration and Education Plan across the nation led by Equal Ground and other institutions and organizations
