A Message From The Publisher
By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.
It seems as if the world wants to know how the Black Community of Florida is managing the continuous onslaught of attacks and distortion of Black history. The straw that “broke the camel’s back” is the insinuation that Blacks benefited from slavery by learning a skill as though we were incapable of such a feat without slavery. What is even more insidious about this whole debacle is that they are using Black Republicans and the Secretary of the Department of Education, Manny Diaz, Jr., whose family escaped from communist Cuba, to make such a stupid argument.
How could Blacks on the Board be that tone death, claiming the statement was misinterpreted? There was NO benefit to being a slave, even many of our saw and denounced such a ludicrous assertion immediately. Most of the slaves they identified as examples were not slaves at all.
The Governor tried to distance himself, while trying to peddle what they could have meant. It is falling apart!
We can no longer act in silos and thank you to Vice President Harris for weighing in. Her passion is inciting our Black organizations to move beyond talk to action. Dr Chavis and I attended a statewide call to action on Monday including Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump, a number of Black Churches, and organizations involved in this fight.
“The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) – Black Press of America — denounces the ludicrous assertion that Blacks benefitted from slavery. Benefit and slavery cannot coexist in the same sentence and expect there can be any misinterpretation as to its intent. The Black Press will encourage any educator to refrain from ever teaching something so obviously insulting.
The Black Press will encourage any organization of consciousness to back and promote an educator resistance effort; participate in court actions that challenge the guidelines in the courts, school boards in Florida, and wherever it surfaces.
Recognizing that these initiatives quickly move to other states to be emulated, we support any effort to move beyond talk to action to eradicate its expansion in our country “ Bobby R. Henry, Sr., Chairman, NNPA
Below are remarks from others on a Call to Action:
“This effort to teach revisionist history to our children will cause African American children to suffer a psychological trauma and will eventually damage this country if this bigoted agenda becomes the status quo. This irresponsible and disgraceful so-called Black history curriculum is an insult to our ancestors and all people who believe in teaching true history.” Attorney Benjamin Crump
“Missing so much information and personalities that were key to the development of Florida. And it’s counter factual, and it’s demeaning to imply somehow that we had to be enslaved to get any kind of skills; this is just so counter factual. And it’s evil. I say that’s like spitting on the graves of all of those who were massacred to tell us some kind of bothsidesism, that somehow they were violent because they defended their lives.” Barbara Arnwine, President of the Transformative Justice Coalition
“This country was built by us, and we have to tell our own story. Therefore the Black Press stands, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand with our leaders, who believe that no longer should anyone speak for us, try to misrepresent our history or write our narrative. We have told our history for over 196 years through the pages of Black newspapers. And now today you can rest assured we join forces with the Black churches and others in this cause.” Bobby R. Henry, Sr. Chairman NNPA
“If more of our people would vote in Florida, you wouldn’t have a governor DeSantis. If more of our people would vote in Florida, you wouldn’t have a State legislature that’s holding or taking away our rights. So we got work to do, and you can count on us to be supportive of you. I’m so pleased to see the Black Church step forward. We will not have a civilized movement without the Black church. The Black Church has always been at the forefront, thank you Pastor Holmes for summoning everybody back to the front line of our struggle for freedom, justice, equality, and equity. God bless you.” Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. President /CEO NNPA
“God has not called me to be judge nor jury. When one tree is not bearing fruit, it is pruning time and it is time that this governor is pruned. I believe that our history, your history, the history of all marginalized communities, is part of that power that we possess collectively as a human race, as the Commissioner said, and I think that is the message that we have to consistently put in front of Governor Ron DeSantis.” Rev. Dr. Joe Pa
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