Governor Ron DeSantis’s bumbling, fumbling attempts to explain, (or excuse), Florida’s racist rejection of the College Board’s proposed Advance Placement African-American Studies Program for lacking “educational value” led to a pitiful finger-pointing at the LGBTQ community.
Watch the clip below.
DeSantis and his Republican-controlled administration have been accused of whitewashing history on more than one occasion, but this abject cancellation of African American studies has led to a lot more than culture war windmill tilting.
Civil rights leaders plan rally to protest racist Ron DeSantis's decision to reject AP African-American studies classeshttps://t.co/uqE0WtcoYz
— Lesley Abravanel 🪩 (@lesleyabravanel) January 23, 2023
“Governor, on the AP African-American studies course that was rejected by the state, – there’s been a lot of criticism of that move,” a reporter asked during one of DeSantis’s daily, self-aggrandizing press conferences. “People saying, you know, ‘this is exactly what we were fearing with the Individual Freedom bill.'”
“As you know, the State of Florida – our education standards not only don’t prevent – but, they require, teaching Black history. All the important things. That’s part of our core curriculum,” DeSantis stumbled.
The authoritarian-leaning 2024 presidential hopeful took the opening to gaslight and push accusations of indoctrination by the LGBTQ community.
“The course on Black History – what are one of the lessons about? Queer theory. Now, who would say an important part of Black History is Queer theory?,” DeSantis sputtered.
“We want education, not indoctrination,” DeSantis postured. “If you fall on the side of indoctrination, we’re gonna decline. If it’s education – then we will do,” he added.
The College Board oversees the SAT and AP curriculum, and the rejection of the APAAS pilot program is the first time in recent history that a state, or local government, has banned the recommendations of the board.
DeSantis fell back on conservative talking points, accusing the College Board of having an agenda and sticking to the unfounded, blatantly homophobic narrative that the LGBTQ “lifestyle” is being pushed on school children.
“We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don’t believe they should have an agenda imposed on them,” the governor said.
Banning books, restricting diversity in education, and preventing parents of eligible children from receiving the coronavirus vaccine is part of the Florida GOP’s “agenda.”
With DeSantis being touted as a frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, his actions and rhetoric are a preview of what’s to come if he is elected, spreading his brand of Florida fascism across the country to the detriment of us all.
Increased demonization and violence against members of the LGBTQ community due to inflammatory rhetoric, legislation, and false allegations of right-wing pundits and politicians have given those like DeSantis cover to fearmonger the Republican voting base.
Saying the quiet parts out loud.
DeSantis is asked during a news conference about the state's rejection of an AP African American history class. He says "this course on Black history, what's one of the lessons about? Queer theory … that's the wrong side of the line for Florida standards." pic.twitter.com/HzKnWsyUb3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 23, 2023
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