In a fiery retort, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed Vice President Kamala Harris for propagating a misleading narrative about the state’s curriculum on slavery.
During a media briefing on Friday, DeSantis lashed out at Harris’s claims, calling them “absolutely ridiculous” and “totally outrageous.”
Harris, in opposition to Florida’s new Black history courses, claimed that DeSantis had introduced new standards that portrayed slaves as beneficiaries of slavery. She called the curriculum “unnecessary.”
The governor, however, defended the state’s education standards on teaching Black history, pointing out that they were meticulously crafted by a group of scholars to be the most comprehensive in African-American history, not just in Florida but anywhere in the country.
“You guys can look on the website at the Florida Department of Education,” DeSantis urged, “They got a lot of scholars together to do a lot of standards, and a lot of different things, but these are the most robust standards in African-American history, probably anywhere in the country.”
“Anyone who reads that will see that it’s very thorough, factual, and for them to try to demagogue it, look, that may have worked in the past, nobody’s buying their nonsense anymore,” he added.
DeSantis also took to social media to further express his views, stating, “Democrats like Kamala Harris have to lie about Florida’s educational standards to cover for their agenda of indoctrinating students and pushing sexual topics onto children. Florida stands in their way, and we will continue to expose their agenda and their lies.”
Democrats like Kamala Harris have to lie about Florida's educational standards to cover for their agenda of indoctrinating students and pushing sexual topics onto children.
Florida stands in their way and we will continue to expose their agenda and their lies.
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) July 21, 2023
He didn’t stop there. The Republican presidential candidate went on to highlight how the Harris-Biden administration seemed fixated on Florida while ignoring pressing national issues like border chaos, crime-infested cities, economic struggles, and a military recruitment crisis.
“Maybe if Biden’s granddaughter moved to Florida he’d actually visit her,” he added, referencing Biden’s estranged daughter, Hunter Biden.
Supporting the governor’s argument is an article in the National Review in which Charles C.W. Cooke revealed the extensive standards on slavery and exposed the deceptive nature of Harris’s characterization.
“There is simply no way of perusing this course and concluding that it ‘gaslights’ people or whitewashes slavery,” the article reads.
Rep. Bernie Jacques (R-FL) also attempted to defend the state’s moves, stating, “No one is sugarcoating the idea of slavery. We’re committed to teaching all of the history. The good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between.”
