DeSantis attacks AP African American studies

Sydney Paolercio
Staff Writer
Sydney Paolercio is a staff writer for the FSView and a student at Florida State University.

In a very vague decision, Gov. Ron DeSantis blocked the new Advanced Placement course on African American studies for high school students. He claimed that it lacks "educational value" and is trying to push a certain political agenda. In a statement expanding on this belief, DeSantis said, “If you fall on the side of indoctrination, we’re going to decline. If it’s education, then we will do it.” He continued to further challenge the course by raising concerns about the inclusion of queer theory, Black feminist literature, and other concepts in the curriculum. Coming off the heels of the book-banning debates among K-12 public schools in which conservative groups called for books about race and LGBTQ topics to be pulled from the school libraries, this decision is quite telling.

The purpose of AP African American studies is to teach about the experiences of African Americans through various lenses. Although the tentative syllabus is not accessible, the College Board, who has been developing the course, claims this will be done by reaching into various fields, such as political science, arts and humanities, and literature to unpack the contributions and experiences of African American people. Christopher Tinson, the chair of the African American Studies department at Saint Louis University, said the course will explore “the origins of the African diaspora to Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, the civil rights movement, and then some.”

However, the Florida Department of Education seems to believe otherwise. They did not like the inclusion of intersectionality due to the belief that this framework “ranks people based on their race, wealth, gender and sexual orientation.” They did not like the inclusion of Angela Davis due to her being a “self-avowed Communist and Marxist.” They did not like the inclusion of bell hooks due to her language usage like “white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy.” The direct naming of leading African American thinkers and frameworks as dangers is a targeted attempt to silence African American people's experiences, theories, and contributions.

Manny Diaz Jr, Florida's education commissioner, said on Twitter, “We proudly require the teaching of African American history. We do not accept woke indoctrination masquerading as education.” Through this obtuse statement, he fails to acknowledge the lack of dedication to Black history in American history courses. Despite these claims of prioritizing African American history, it was found in a study by the National Museum of African American History and Culture that only 1 to 2 lessons or 8 to 9 percent of class time is dedicated to Black history in U.S. classrooms thus proving Diaz’s statement to be a lie.

The pilot AP African American studies course will center on the migration of people of African descent, then progress through enslavement, the abolition movement, eventual freedom, and Black people’s continued battles for civil rights and equality.

To make matters worse, the College Board has caved to false and baseless accusations and taken to revising the initial course material. Topics such as Black Lives Matter, slave reparations, and queer theory are no longer going to be offered as course material. By framing crucial aspects of African American studies as a form of indoctrination that needs to be combated, DeSantis and the state of Florida are fundamentally failing the students of this state. The lives, experiences, and contributions of Black Americans should not be diminished or erased to appease the feelings of those that wish to whitewash them.

This targeted attack on African American studies points to this anti-Black bias that DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education seem to be harboring. Through DeSantis’ attacks, he makes it clear that his priority is white supremacy, not teaching students the truth. White supremacy thrives on white power structures threatening those who use their voice to promote Black progress and liberation. Through all of this, the College Board caving to the whims and threats of DeSantis and other Florida politicians is a crucial lesson on the power of this sort of dangerous ideology.

His proposition that AP African American studies lack educational value fundamentally demeans the culture, contributions, and history of Black Americans. The course, which is now under review due to DeSantis’ racist and baseless attacks, is not exclusive to Florida—it is meant to be offered nationwide. DeSantis now bears the burden of failing the public school students of not only this state but the nation.