Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is running for president in 2024.
BY FRANK DROUZAS | Opinion
Gov. Ron DeSantis had his chance. And he blew it — probably for good.
At the second GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, he looked as uncomfortable as ever on stage. So far, his entire campaign for the presidency has fit him poorly, like a second-hand suit a couple sizes too big. Gone is the bluster and narcissistic aplomb when railing against the “woke mob” here in Florida; on the national stage or campaign trail, the man seems ill at ease. Yet when the debate moderators tossed him a softball question, he whiffed at it.
DeSantis was asked about the Florida State Board of Education’s new standards for teaching kids about slavery, which states, “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Here, our state’s chief executive had the perfect chance to show that he really does have a proper understanding of slavery’s horrors and compassion for the descendants of the enslaved.
Yet what was his gut reaction? He immediately called it a hoax pushed by Vice President Kamala Harris, referencing her visit to the Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church convention in Orlando over the summer.
“Right here in Florida, they plan to teach students that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” Harris had said. “They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates.”
Perhaps I’m being dimwitted here, but boiled down, isn’t that what the new standards convey? How, then, can it be a “hoax?” If DeSantis is trying to hide behind literal meaning and semantics, then it’s about as good a hiding place as the middle of an empty football field.
The fact that these ridiculous standards have elicited such an uproar from African Americans around the state and the country should have been his own guide to admitting that they are offensive to generations of Black people, not to mention inaccurate.
Furthermore, regarding the Ocoee Massacre in 1920 — when a number of African Americans in a small Florida town attempted to exercise their right to vote and were attacked and killed by whites — the new educational standards encourage teachers to instruct students about acts of violence “against and by African Americans” at this massacre.
Some estimates put the total at more than 50 Black people dead. If these standards call African Americans fighting back against the murderous white mob “violence by African Americans,” then it is like spitting in the face of an entire race.
Yet this whitewashing and horrendous manipulation of fact infest curriculums across the state with the governor’s blessing, as he claims historians and scholars put together these standards. We should point out that the same standards were ripped to shreds by a statewide teachers’ union, which called them a “step backward.”
Black churches have condemned those same standards — so much so that some houses of worship have since offered historical instruction to teach children accurate history, not a grotesque version that blames the victims or maintains that they somehow reaped benefits.
You would think this agenda would be political poison to a man with his sights set on the White House, but this has hardly stopped DeSantis from sticking his nose in the educational system. He has blocked AP African American Studies courses from being taught in Florida. He has attacked Critical Race Theory as if it might corrupt the minds of kindergarteners when, in fact, it is taught at the graduate level, if taught at all.
He is aiming to completely transform New College in Sarasota from a liberal arts institution to a conservative-leaning school, as he has installed his own trustees who were confirmed by Republican state senators to lead it. All this to the dismay of New College’s students and the detriment of its reputation, as it plummeted in the latest national rankings by “U.S. News and World Report,” dipping 24 spots to land at 100. The University of Florida, University of South Florida and Florida State University all dropped in the rankings as well.
Does this seem like state schools are headed in the right direction under this governor’s leadership? And is it truly beneficial to antagonize an entire race by defending guidelines that not only attempt to belie the brutality of slavery but seek to make white kids (and Black kids) believe that it came, after all, with a nifty silver lining?
Is it prudent to twist historical fact into a pretzel until it seems more palatable to an ignorant base whose votes you’re after? Does it make sense to thumb your nose at educators, clergy members and parents the whole state over who loudly object to this gnarled misrepresentation of an entire people’s horrific plight?
When asked to clarify where he stands on this during the debate, DeSantis had the golden chance to once and for all proclaim to a national audience: “Yes, slavery was an abominable institution, and no one should ever sugarcoat that.” Or at least this: “Yes, I understand how it can be misleading to teach that any perceived ‘benefits’ to it couldn’t possibly offset the horrors of being human chattel.”
It didn’t take a barrel of courage to admit these obvious truths, and for any man who strives to be a uniting president for all Americans, it was quite literally the least he could’ve done. But given the opportunity to say anything even close to this, he merely cried, “Hoax!” and passed the blame before swatting the question away like an annoying mosquito.
Just like that, DeSantis made it painfully clear where he stands. And voters should realize there is no point in giving him another chance.
