Bill Proctor, a black Democratic commissioner in Leon County, Fla., is on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ side over his decision to bar a woke AP African American Studies course from being taught in state universities that was developed by the College Board.
“I think it’s trash,” Proctor said about the course, according to Fox News. “There is grave concern about the tone and the tenor of leadership’s voice from the highest spaces in our state being hostile to teaching of African American history.
“Well frankly I’m against the College Board’s curriculum. I think it’s trash. It’s not African American history. It is ideology,” he continued. “I’ve taught African American history, I’ve structured syllabuses for African American history. I am African American history. And talking about ‘queer’ and ‘feminism’ and all of that for the struggle for freedom and equality and justice has not been no tension with queerness and feminist thought at all.”
Fox News added:
Critics of critical race theory argue that it is embedded in Marxism, demoralizes black students by making them feel as though success is unattainable, and villainize White students as inherently racist and the beneficiaries of an oppressive system.
DeSantis has been a frequent opponent of CRT and has utilized the power of his office to expunge it from school curriculums, colleges, and government agencies throughout his tenure.
Recently, the Florida Department of Education informed the College Board that the content in the course is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” while also noting that the Sunshine State will reconsider the curriculum once the material becomes “lawful” and “historically accurate.” The course, which is currently being taught in five dozen high schools around the country as a pilot program, is rife with left-wing ideology and activism rather than any meaningful study of black history in America.
DeSantis signed a bill last year that prevents the state’s government-sponsored schools from teaching discriminatory curricula on the basis of race, color, or sex. In comments earlier this week, he laid out several of his concerns with the now-banned course.
“They’re advocating things like abolishing prisons,” DeSantis said. “Now that’s a radical political position. … It’s not fair to say that somehow abolishing prisons is linked to black experiences, that that’s what black people want.
“I think they want law and order, just like anybody else wants law and order. So that is more ideology being used under the guise of history, and we want to do history,” he added.
In November, HBO’s “Real Time” host and old-school liberal Bill Maher defended the Republican governor against attacks by leftists during his program and said that the popular Sunshine State leader should run now for president.
“The reason why I think DeSantis is so strong is because he can do both things,” Maher said during a discussion featuring guests Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and CBS News correspondent Robert Costa. “He can do the performance art that seems to have you so exercised to the base, most of which I don’t really know if it’s that damaging.
“He picks a fight with Disney,” Maher continued. “Does it really affect anybody? I mean, I read that ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ which is not the name of the law.
“They called it the Don’t Say Gay law. It could have been called the ‘let’s do things in schools the way we did five years ago’ law. It really could’ve,” he added, to audience applause.
“So what I’m saying is he can do both that — But he, yes, he, he knows how to rile up the base. I agree. He’s a politician — but he also can be a normal governor,” Maher said. “In other words, after the storm, he can stand with President Biden like a normal governor does and work with them and then send some migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. You know, and that’s a very powerful thing to have both those elements.”
