Things heated up in Miami on Wednesday as teachers, students and labor leaders turned out to the School Board of Miami-Dade County to protest Florida’s new Black history teaching standards, which have come under intense criticism for what’s being said about slavery.
Approximately 50 protesters trekked from Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Miami’s historically Black Overtown neighborhood chanting, “What do we want? Truth. When do we want it? Now. What if we don’t get it? Shut it down!”
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By the time they got to the school board, another 50 joined them to object to new curriculum standards that, among other things, require teachers to instruct middle school students that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
Among them was Tennessee Rep. Justin Pearson who was recently reinstated by local officials and then won a special election, who spoke at the rally.
He said, “The true history is that Black people have always fought to make America what it ought to be, and it has always resisted what it could be,” Pearson told the crowd. “We’ve always fought for the America that we know is possible. That is not here yet.”
The new standards put into effect by Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly defended the new language while insisting that his critics are intentionally misinterpreting one line of the sweeping curriculum. He also has passed the “Stop WOKE Act,” a law that limits discussions on race in schools and by corporations, and banned state universities from using state or federal money for diversity programs.
Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Florida last month to condemn the curriculum. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is the chamber’s sole Black Republican and is also seeking the White House, issued a direct rebuke of DeSantis.
Critics said the new school standards are the latest in a series of attacks on Black history by the governor’s administration. In January this year, DeSantis’ administration blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught in high schools, citing contradiction to state law.
