TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Faith leaders from the Jacksonville area and members of the Northside Coalition protested alongside thousands at the Capitol on Wednesday against a recent move by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to block a new high school Advanced Placement course on African American studies.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened to ban the course in Florida and his rejection stirred new political debate over how schools teach about race.
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The official curriculum for the course by the College Board downplays some components that had drawn criticism from DeSantis and other conservatives. Topics including Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations and queer life are not part of the exam. Instead, they are included only on a sample list states and school systems can choose from for student projects.
The College Board, which oversees AP exams, said revisions to the course were substantially complete before Gov. DeSantis shared his objections.
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Florida education officials previously wrote in a letter to the College Board, which oversees AP classes, “As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
Gov. DeSantis said Monday that Florida will “look to re-evaluate” its relationship with the College Board.
“This College Board, like, nobody elected them to anything. They’re just kind of there, and they’re providing service. So you can either utilize those services or not. And they’ve provided these AP (Advanced Placement) courses for a long time. But, you know, there are probably some other vendors who may be able to do that job as good, or maybe even a lot better,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Naples.
Those who were at the rally in Tallahassee on Wednesday said they won’t stand for what they believe Gov. DeSantis is trying to do. They said it’s denying people access to history.
Leaders of the rally said it’s important the message doesn’t get confused.
They say they are not saying Gov. DeSantis doesn’t want Black history. But they are saying the governor won’t determine how the story of Black history is told.
News4JAX spoke to retired educators from Fleming Island who said they wanted to come to stand up for Black History.
“We’re just sick and tired of people trying to tell us how to live and what our future should be, and not learn about our history,” Douglas Saulsberry said.
Gov. DeSantis has said that he believes Black history is American history but he does not want it to come with any indoctrination or teaching queer Black history or about abolishing prisons.
One man at the rally said his parents marched back in the 1950s and 60s during the Civil Rights movements and now he believes it is his turn to preserve history by being a part of the rally.
Rev. Al Sharpton was at the front of the march and a lot of chants behind him said, “Black history is not a crime.”
Jacksonville Pastor Bishop Rudolph McKissick and Rev. Sharpton said they won’t allow the governor to have a say in how Black history is taught.
“We will not let you tell our story from your perspective. We will not let you redact our history so your children are comfortable. The reality is your children and other generations can be comfortable now because our ancestors were uncomfortable for years,” McKissick said.
Rev. Sharpton warned this standard will become America’s future if not stopped.
News4JAX spoke with two high school freshmen who take AP courses and would like for African American studies to be one of them.
“We want to know about these subjects and most of us are not uncomfortable,” one said.