‘I am deeply concerned’: Vice President pushes back against Florida’s education changes

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Vice President Kamala Harris spoke in Jacksonville Friday in response to controversial changes approved this week by the Florida Board of Education.

Air Force Two landed at the Jacksonville International Airport around 2:15 p.m.

When Harris arrived in Jacksonville, she was greeted by Mayor Donna Deegan, who exchanged a warm welcome before the vice president headed to her next destination.

Deegan said Harris congratulated her on her win and thanked the city for being so gracious during the quick visit.

“You cannot ignore the past or pretend it didn’t happen or revise it and make it go away,” Deegan said about the changes. “We have to face it and then we have to see each other’s humanity.”

Deegan said she doesn’t know the next steps in this situation but believes the vice president’s visit is a step in the right direction.

“I think the first thing you have to do is shine a light on it, and I believe that’s what the vice president is doing today,” Deegan said.

Harris called for changes to African American history education in her speech to a crowd at the Ritz Theatre and Museum in the LaVilla area, which is rich in Jacksonville’s Black history.

The neighborhood became a part of Jacksonville in 1887 and was known as the “Harlem of the South.” The Ritz stores and presents material, art and history of African American life in this part of Northeast Florida.

“When I think about what is happening then here in Florida, I am deeply concerned,” Harris said.

The standards approved Wednesday by the Florida BOE would teach middle school students that some Black people benefited from slavery as the lesson plan says slavery provided them with useful skills.

Harris mentioned the book bans across the state and the passing of the “Don’t Say Gay” law in her address.

“I do believe this is not only about the state of Florida. There’s a national agenda afoot. And what is happening here in Florida, extremist so-called leaders for months have dared to ban books ... passing the law ‘don’t say gay,’ trying to instill fear in our teachers that they should not live their full life and love who they love,” Harris said. “Now on top of all of that, they want to replace history with lies. Middle school students in Florida to be told that enslaved people benefited from slavery. High schoolers may be taught that victims of violence, of massacres, were also perpetrators. I said it yesterday, they insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not have it.”

“We’re fighting back against attempts to gaslight us, cover up our history, and rewrite the horrors of slavery,” Harris said in a Tweet. “POTUS and I will always stand up or fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to learn and teach America’s full history.”

According to the new education guidelines, middle school teachers must now teach students about “the various duties and trades performed by slaves” that includes a note that teachers should also instruct that enslaved people developed skills in some instances for their personal benefit.

At the high school level, teachers would instruct high schoolers about “acts of violence perpetuated against and by African Americans.”

Amber Powell attended the event and said she is motivated to rally for change.

“She sent a clear message that we are not tolerating the Republicans’ whitewashing of history in our state and we are not going to take what, the revision to our history,” Powell said.

Harris was in Indianapolis yesterday, speaking at the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated’s National Convention.

That is the second oldest historically Black sorority in America.

Harris is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, which is the oldest.

“Being clear-eyed about the moment we are in and the challenges we face. We can see right now in our country so many of our hard-won freedoms are under full-on attack,” Harris said.

The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, calls the standards “a step backward.”

It released a statement saying:

“How can our students ever be equipped for the future if they don’t have a full, honest picture of where we’ve come from? They deserve the full truth of American history, the good and the bad.”

The approval of the new standards comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected a new Advanced Placement course on African American history in January, saying it “lacks educational value and is contrary to Florida law.”

The governor also backed the “Stop WOKE Act,” which prohibited teaching certain concepts related to race.

DeSantis responded to Harris’ arrival in Florida, tweeting, “The Harris-Biden administration is obsessed with Florida…yet they ignore the chaos at the border, crime-infested cities, economic malaise, and the military recruitment crisis.”

The Florida GOP released the following statement:

“Instead of visiting the border and stopping the millions of illegal aliens and fentanyl pouring across our border, The Border Czar has hopped on the first flight down to Florida in order to lecture Floridian parents that their children belong to the government and the government has a right to indoctrinate and sexualize our children. The government overreach on parental rights has already been overwhelmingly rejected in Florida, and we hope the other 49 states will join with us by telling the Biden Administration to go pound sand,” - said Christian Ziegler, FloridaGOP chairman.

To watch the vice president’s entire speech, click below: