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Black lawmakers press justice and education departments to investigate Florida’s race curriculum

Published:Thursday | July 27, 2023 | 9:22 PM
Congressional Black Caucus chair Representative Steven Horsford, centre, talks with reporters following a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, Thursday, February 2, 2023. Horsford is joined by, from left, Representative James Clyburn, Senator Cory Booker, Senator Raphael Warnock, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, and Representative Joe Neguse. The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing the White House, Justice Department and the Department of Education to adopt an “aggressive legal strategy” to scrutinise recent changes to Florida's Black history curriculum. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing the White House, the Justice Department, and the Department of Education to adopt an “aggressive legal strategy” to scrutinise recent changes to Florida's Black history curriculum.

The caucus wants the federal agencies to examine whether Florida school districts are violating federal discrimination law following changes to the curriculum in the state — from banning books covering racial themes to a recent decision to add language about the positive impacts of slavery.

Caucus Chairman, Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford said at a Thursday press conference he met with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona this week to discuss actions that might be taken.

He added that “we have discussed with the White House the need to have a very aggressive legal strategy to want to uphold the law.”

However, lawmakers did not lay out the specifics on how the departments might use their resources.

Florida and its governor, GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, have been in the news much of the past year because of steps taken in addressing what DeSantis calls a “woke” agenda and liberal indoctrination in the classroom.

DeSantis signed legislation last year directing the Florida Board of Education to set new standards, which resulted in the recent curriculum changes that say enslaved people benefited from skills that they learned.

In a tweet Thursday, the governor's press secretary Jeremy Redfern criticised the move, saying: “The federal government wants to prevent teaching our nation's history.” He also questioned the scope of such a move. Redfern also asked in a tweet if other educational reference material already in existence stating similar information as the new curriculum would be examined as well.

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