The Black Lives Matter movement has no place in Florida.
WPTV reports students will receive new textbooks with some very noticeable edits—the removal of BLM and content containing George Floyd’s case. Apparently, this is a process the state conducts routinely every few years; however, Florida’s new “Stop WOKE Act” brings on more controversy.
The lessons being removed on the movement and the
rallies seen across the country have civil rights leaders up in arms. Robert Mitchell, founder of Muck City Black Lives Matter, calls the move an “attempt to hide the truth.” “It makes common sense in your textbooks that you would be told, hey, there was a movement called Black Lives Matter,” Mitchell said. “The reason why, there was young men and women being slain and killed unjustifiably.”Education leaders like Hillsborough School Board member Jessica Vaughn feel the move is scary. “There’s so many emotions, but I guess immediately it’s fear,” Vaughn told the Tampa Bay Times. “I’m afraid of the pattern of erasing or trying to rewrite history because to me this is right out of the playbook of fascism.”
Several rejected textbook passages were shared
by Florida Department of Education officials. One passage, headlined “New Calls for Social Justice” in a middle school textbook, discussed the start of the movement in 2013 and the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020. According to the education department, the passage was an “unsolicited topic,” as told by WPTV.Even a mention of people kneeling during the national anthem was struck from an elementary school textbook.
Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, new laws have been restrictive of what his press secretary calls “political indoctrination.” “The political indoctrination of children through the K-12 public education system is a very real and prolific problem in this country,” Bryan Griffin tweeted.
He continued, saying the problematic passages were “All CAUGHT & all FIXED under @GovRonDeSantis’ watch.”