DeSantis doubles down on bid to ban African American studies trends now
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday doubled down on his decision to ban a course on African American studies, saying the class in question contained 'queer theory' and imposed a 'political agenda' on the state's children.
He defended his new policy during a press conference in Jacksonville in his first public comments on the controversy, which brought heavy criticism on the Republican governor and was seen as the latest attempt by his conservative administration to criticize and even outlaw some educational efforts about racism and slavery.
'When you try to use black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes,' DeSantis said. 'We want education, not indoctrination.'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican doubled down on his decision to ban an African American studies course
'We want to do history. That's what our standards for Black History are. It's just cut and dried history. You learn all the basics, you learn about the great figures, and you know, I view it as American history. I don't view it as separate history,' DeSantis noted.
He argued schools should be 'focusing on math and reading and all the things that are really, really important.'
Florida, last week, in a letter to the College Board Florida Partnership, which runs its Advanced Placement (AP) program, said it would not allow high school students to take a new AP class in African American Studies, because it was 'inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks education value.'
The state does offer AP history courses in European History, Art History, Japanese Language and Culture, German Language and Culture, Italian Language and Culture, and Spanish Language and Culture.
White House officials and civil rights leaders slammed DeSantis for the decision.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and African American to hold that role, spoke with Florida's House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell (D) and state Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D) on Sunday during her visit to the state marking the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.
She criticized the move.
'Every student in our nation should be able to learn about
