Citing a case that overturned an Arizona law that banned a Mexican American history class saying the law was “motivated by racial animus,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump threatened to sue Republican Florida Governor (and a 70% size replica of Orange Julius with 100% of the hate) Ron DeSantis if he does not reverse a decision to ban an African American History Advanced Placement course from Florida high schools, according to the Washington Post.
DeSantis claims the AP course, a pilot program being developed by The College Board, the company also responsible for the SAT exams, violates his bigoted law to ban discussions about race, gender and sexuality in classrooms because, he believes, it makes straight, white “christian” students uncomfortable to learn that their ancestors–and maybe their contemporaries–did shitty things because they thought they were superior. DeSantis claims the new course would violate the new Florida snowflake law because it does not present America’s history of slavery and bigotry in a positive light.
“If he does not negotiate with the College Board to allow AP African American Studies to be taught in classrooms across the state of Florida, these three young people will be the lead plaintiffs in a historic lawsuit,” Crump said.
DeSantis claims, without evidence, that the AP class will teach Critical Race Theory, a specific course typically taught in law schools–a number of educational levels away from high school–concentrating on historic racial injustice in the legal system and how it impacts society. As with any conservative boogie man, Republicans claim they see CRT everywhere, from candy-coated chocolate pieces to episodes of sitcoms to elementary school text books that mention slavery.
Crump’s case is garnering support in education circles, with critics calling it “Jim Crow 3.0” because it limits educational opportunities for students who would be interested in studying the subject matter, which naturally would primarily be Black students.
The College Board has announced that the material in the African Americans Studies curriculum is being reviewed as part of program development, which conservatives have celebrated as a victory for DeSantis. The company, however, notes that it constantly reviews the material and that the planned subject review was not in response to DeSantis’s racist temper tantrum.