Gary Langfield 
Florida is quickly becoming the epicenter of miseducation, as they are constantly passing oppressive legislation. Florida has been taking several steps backwards by passing several new teaching standards that make teaching real black history extremely hard. The start of these negative standards was when they banned the teaching of critical race theory, which is basically the study of how our laws and society impact different races in America. This is already serving as a huge disservice to Florida students’ education, but Florida goes a step further. Not only are they not teaching the reality around them, they’re trying to re-shape history in the most insane way ever. In January, Florida banned the AP African American Studies for lacking “educational value and historical accuracy”. Now the latest bombshell is that Florida is now going to teach students that black people actually benefited from slavery, according to NBC News.
Florida banning the teaching of critical race theory is actually doing more than just leaving young people ignorant to the world around them. It’s also the cause of a lot of books written by black authors being taken out of schools. Taking black books out of school hurts the black student body greatly because reading stories with characters that look like you is vital for confidence and a feeling of belonging. Another huge violation of that sense of belonging is the banning of AP African American studies. Not being able to take a deep dive into your history is tragic because people deserve and need the truth about their history so we can progress forward. Taking away that big piece of education because it “lacks educational value” is simply tragic. The Florida government is stripping our history away and trying to change it right before our eyes.
Now after all of that educational oppression, Florida takes it a step further by trying to push a crazy narrative about our history. NBC News says that, “The Florida State Board of Education’s new standards include controversial language about how “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” To put it simply this is very wrong, because any justification of slavery is completely unacceptable. Not only do they want to teach children that slaves benefited from being in bondage, they also want to teach that black people were also perpetrators of violence during race massacres. This type of educational oppression simply can’t stand.
Vice President Kamala Harris has spoken out about it saying that extremists want to “replace history with lies.” It’s now time to see what action is taken against it.
By Gary Langfield Jr. Freshman, Columbia College
Instagram: @ima_menace19
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