Black academic behind Fla. curriculum responds to Kamala Harris

One of the academics behind Florida’s new social studies curriculum denounced Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim that the material teaches students that blacks benefited from slavery. 

William Allen is the former chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and professor emeritus of political science at Michigan State University, and he is currently a member of Florida’s African American History Standards Workgroup. 

During an interview with Fox News Host Jesse Waters last Monday, Allen declined to speculate on the motive behind Harris’ statements, admitting that he does not know them. 

“We can all have suspicions that there’s a dishonest purpose afoot,” he said. “But what’s more important than that dishonest purpose is the truth. And this curriculum is devoted to telling the truth, whereas Kamala Harris has retold a lie. Now, it may only have been a falsehood the first time she stated it, but when you repeat a falsehood, it becomes a lie.”

Allen clarified that the curriculum allows people who lived through slavery to “tell their stories,” giving the example of social reformer and former slave Frederick Douglass.

Allen cited the moment in Douglass’ autobiography describing how the mistress of a slave owner began teaching him how to read. 

“She pulled back the curtain through which a glimmer of light shone before the master forced her to close it,” Allen said. “But that glimmer of light was enough for Frederick Douglass to illumine a bright flame that he exploited to his benefit and his country’s benefit thereafter.”

“Such examples are numerous, and they are retelling the stories of people who suffered the indignity of slavery time and again.”

On July 19, the Florida Board of Education approved new social studies standards following the passage of a law known as the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, which prohibits teaching that anyone must feel guilt due to their race. 

The 216-page document includes topics related to black history, with different standards for elementary, middle and high school students. One section of the curriculum that has attracted controversy is the standards for grades six through eight call for examining “the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation).”

“Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,” the document reads.

Vice President Harris commented on the curriculum remarks on July 20 at a national convention of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. During her speech, Harris alleged that Florida “decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery.”

“They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it — we who share a collective experience in knowing we must honor history and our duty in the context of legacy,” she said. 

The vice president made similar remarks the following day in Jacksonville, Florida, claiming that “they want to replace history with lies.” 

According to Watters, the controversy surrounding the curriculum appeared to generate more attention following Allen’s interview with WPLG Local 10 News, which is affiliated with ABC News. 

Watters said that Allen had stated that Harris’ assessment was “categorically false” and that the curriculum never states that African Americans benefit from slavery, a point that did not make it into the final broadcast. 

However, WPLG included a clip in which Allen stated that it was “the case that Africans proved resourceful, resilient and adaptive. And were able to develop skills and aptitudes which serve to their benefit, both while enslaved and after enslavement. ” 

For his part, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent a letter to Harris inviting her to discuss the African American studies curriculum with him and Allen. 

“I am prepared to meet as early as Wednesday of this week, but of course want to be deferential to your busy schedule should you already have a trip to the southern border planned for that day,” wrote DeSantis, as quoted by ABC News.

“Please let me know as soon as possible. What an example we could set for the nation – a serious conversation on the substance of an important issue! I hope you’re feeling up to it.”

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