Rhonda Sonnenberg, writing for the Southern Poverty Law Center, takes a look at how teachers are trying to navigate the administration’s anti-diversity edicts.
At Miami Norland Senior High School in Miami Gardens, Florida, Renee O’Connor continues to teach students about Ida B. Wells, James Baldwin and The 1619 Project in her African American history class.
She does this despite the ban on teaching the Pulitzer Prize-winning reexamination of African American enslavement and legacy in the state’s public schools, in a state regulation implementing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2022 “Stop WOKE Act.” The law aims to restrict educating children and others about the U.S. legacy of racism in schools and workplaces.
O’Connor isn’t defiant. She cites an obligation to her students.
“I teach a factual education based on documented proof,” O’Connor said.
Black students make up 92% of the Norland student body in this city, ranked 10th on a list of U.S. cities with the highest percentage of Black residents. O’Connor is Black, and her fellow teachers and the school administration are predominantly Black.
But in Deep South states, the chill over academic freedom has turned to ice at many primary and secondary schools and institutions of higher learning. Emboldened conservative students, parents and state legislators pressure academic leadership to curtail inclusive curricula and classroom discussion.
All five Southern Poverty Law Center focus states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi — now have education censorship laws. Florida has led the nation in the sweeping nature of its anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) education laws since first passing the Stop WOKE Act and the “Don’t Say Gay” laws of 2022. The act’s application to Florida higher education was blocked in late 2022, and an appeal is pending.
“In Florida, teachers are really scared to speak up,” O’Connor said. “I teach based on people who went against the grain. I’d be a hypocrite if I’m teaching Jim Crow, segregation and Reconstruction and I don’t speak up. I’m also lucky I teach at a predominantly Black school. Parents are excited that their kids are learning African American history.
“If I taught [at a public high school] in Sunny Isles Beach (75% Hispanic/Latinx students) or Aventura (57% Black students), this would be a totally different conversation,” she said.
Read the full post here.