Now that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has banned Critical Race Theory from public schools, his critics are on notice that Florida’s students will learn “historical fact,” not “non-empirical ideology.”
“Gov. DeSantis’ critics often claim that his initiative would stop students from learning about racial discrimination in our state’s history,” Executive Office of the Governor Press Secretary Christina Pushaw told The Epoch Times. “Their claim is false. For illustration, last year, Gov. DeSantis signed legislation to include the 1920 Ocoee Election Day Riots in required instruction on African American history in Florida schools.”
The bill, signed into law by DeSantis nearly a year ago, directs “the Commissioner of Education’s African American History Task Force to determine ways in which the 1920 Ocoee Election Day Riots will be included in required instruction on African-American history” and encourages “district school boards to assess naming opportunities for naming school facilities in recognition of victims of the 1920 Ocoee Election Day Riots.”
The Ocoee Massacre, which took place in Ocoee, Florida, on Nov. 2-3, 1920, was the largest election-related massacre, resulting in over 50 deaths.
“The Ocoee Election Day Riots are historical fact,” Pushaw said, “worthy of inclusion in the curriculum. By contrast, CRT is an unsubstantiated and non-empirical ideology–the opposite of factual.”
“Civic education can acknowledge dark moments in our nation’s history, while rejecting the premise of CRT, that America is a fundamentally evil, racist country,” Pushaw emphasized. “CRT advocates relentlessly focus on the negative aspects of American society and history but ignore any positive aspects.”
Pushaw noted that DeSantis has made it clear that “teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money.”
“The Florida Board of Education guides the implementation of policy around public K-12, community college and state college education in our state,” Pushaw explained. “The Department of Education will release more detailed information about plans to ensure that Florida schools are not indoctrinating children with destructive ideologies like CRT.”
