For immediate release:
Monday, July 25, 2023
The Network for Public Education is horrified and disgusted that the children of Florida will be taught that enslaved Blacks received personal benefits from slavery. This ahistorical perspective can only come from a deep well of racist beliefs intended to humiliate the Black citizens of Florida. To teach the “benefits” of slavery is both immoral and inflammatory. To expect the citizens of Florida to support this curriculum with their tax dollars is outrageous.
Network for Public Education Board member Lavelle Jones commented, “This gaslighting move by Florida’s education department is a horrific insult to all enslaved African Americans who suffered and their descendants. The notion that slavery was/is anything other than an abhorrent, cruel, cynical, and immoral practice should be loudly rejected.”
The Network for Public Education calls for an immediate withdrawal of the Florida Black History standards. We urge the Florida Department of Education to request that independent scholars of Black history review the standards and that the Department issue new standards with revisions as recommended.
According to NPE Executive Director Carol Burris, “The thought of any Florida teacher, most especially Florida’s Black teachers, being required to talk to students about a contrived “upside” of slavery is both heartbreaking and infuriating. It is time for Florida’s governor to step down from his sensationalist political soapbox and put the interests of the children of Florida first.”
