This past week, Vice President Kamala Harris made an unscheduled visit to Jacksonville, Florida to protest the Florida Department of Education’s new policy outlining how slavery should be taught in the Florida School System. This comes after the Governor pushed to have a complete “whitewashing” of Black History taught in Florida’s School System and to punish colleges that are “woke” because they dare to teach the negative impacts that slavery and white supremacy have had on Black people including the government policies and practices that continue them.
They say it makes white children feel bad when they learn their ancestors had barbecues and laughed as human beings were hung and burned to the stake. No “@#$%!”, what kind of human beings were they? Now, because of our tepid response, they want to tell us that Blacks benefitted from slavery because they “learned skills”. What an insult? Black people had skills that white people won’t dare acknowledge because it challenges the myth of white supremacy. We know and they know- these are facts that can’t be erased or whitewashed. Further, adding insult to injury, they want the history “rewrite” to emphasize there were Black mobs, too; conveniently leaving out the fact the so-called Black mobs arose as a resistance to the heinous actions of white racists. Shame on you Manny Diaz, Jr.! If this isn’t a communistic move, what is?
“Enough is enough” says Reverend R. B. Holmes, Jr., Pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church of Tallahassee, Florida and Chairman of the Tallahassee Chapter of the National Action Network. Reverend Holmes convened leaders in the state to take actions against these racist policies. “The Florida Department of Education’s so-called Black history curriculum is a sham, a shame and a disgrace to all Black Americans and authentic historians…” he said. Reverend Dr. Carl Johnson, President of the Florida General Baptist Convention, Inc. and Pastor of the 93rd Street Baptist Church of Miami, Florida says “We are appalled, upset and extremely disgusted in this Governor’s consistent attack on Black culture, heritage and history”. Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump says “This irresponsible and disgraceful, so-called Black history curriculum is an insult to our ancestors and all who believe in teaching true history! This curriculum is about ideology and indoctrination!”
Honorable Tallahassee Mayor Pro-Tem/City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox says, “While I am not surprise, I am extremely disappointed that an Ivy League educated History Major and Veteran would allow history to be distorted for political reasons. Manny Diaz, Jr. would never allow their history to be mistaught and should not allow it for anyone else’s history.”
The questions this Publisher has are “What are we going to do and how will we respond in Broward County? Our readers are awaiting statements from our educational systems and institutions. What about the Broward School Board and its Superintendent, and employee advocacy groups such as the Broward Teachers Union, and Broward Alliance of Black School Educators. Are you going to comply with these overtly racist guidelines?
Concurrently, what about our politicians? Our readers want to hear from more of our politicians than just Senator Shevrin D. Jones (D) District 34 (and thank you Shevrin by the way for boldly carrying the flag). We want to hear from our institutions such as the Broward NAACP, Broward Urban League, and Broward Ministerial Alliances and Broward clergy period. Will you all be there to back these educators if they resist? Kudos to those organizations and individuals who speak truth to power when the cameras are not around.
I am happy to publish any that I receive. We want to know.
– Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
