Florida tries to defend its revisionist history on slavery

Florida is trying to defend new Black history standards that have drawn sharp criticism, including from Vice President Kamala Harris. “Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” Harris said Thursday evening, speaking at Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.’s national convention. “They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it.”

Harris will speak in Florida on Friday afternoon, where she will return to the subject. Meanwhile, Florida continues to attempt to gaslight us on this subject.

The Florida Board of Education released a statement from Dr. William Allen and Dr. Frances Presley Rice essentially accusing critics of disrespecting enslaved people. A provision of the curriculum standard is, “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Here’s the defense: “The intent of this particular benchmark clarification is to show that some slaves developed highly specialized trades from which they benefitted. [sic] This is factual and well documented.”