Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) defended his state’s education guidelines that suggest people benefited from being enslaved in the United States Wednesday.
During an interview on Fox News, host Harris Faulkner gave DeSantis a chance to respond to Democrats who object to the new guidelines which state, “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“Out of 216 pages, one sentence,” Faulkner complained. “See any room to have that discussion with other Blacks across the country as you’re on the ground?”
“This was done by Black history scholars, most of whom were Black themselves,” DeSantis replied. “They are not shilling for slavery. They are showing the injustice of slavery, but that particular passage wasn’t saying that slavery was a benefit.”
“They were saying there was resourcefulness and people acquired skills in spite of slavery, not because of it, and then they use those when they achieve their freedom,” he added.
DeSantis did not say if the Florida education guidelines would be updated to reflect his clarification.
