Kamala Harris slammed Florida Republicans for the state Board of Educations newly approved set of standards for teaching Black history. She accused socalled leaders of pushing propaganda and willfully misleading children. On her eighth trip to Florida since taking office Harris criticized the states governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis though not by name. The vice president has spent the summer months traveling the country to speak out in support of freedoms she and Democrats believe are under attack by Republicans including abortion and the right to learn. On Friday Harris described the atrocities of slavery in detail reciting how children were ripped from their mothers arms and were treated as less than human. The former California attorney general adopted a prosecutorial cadence to shine light on the Biden administrations efforts to stand as a safeguard against what she called a national agenda by extremists to claw back rights. It is the latest development in the states ongoing debate over African American history including the education departments rejection of a preliminary pilot version of an Advanced Placement African American Studies course for high school students which it claimed lacked educational value. The White House has spoken out forcefully against book bans and other steps to remove elements of American history from school curricula and the issue was included in Bidens reelection announcement video in April. The presidents advisers view the issue as one that can galvanize Democrats in next years elections and Harris presence in the state at the epicenter of boiling culture wars seeks to present Harris and Biden as the safeguards against extremist steps that could limit freedoms and speech. It was only scheduled on Thursday night marks the second time this year shes delivered highprofile remarks in the Sunshine State meant to condemn Republican attacks on rights. That strategy has been bolstered by polling and research showing Americans opposed to banning books that include information on slavery and other issues. You are not alone Harris said. The administration was listening and quickly responding to their concerns. On the standards themselves Harris said that she was concerned Republicans want to replace history with lies. She highlighted new standards which according to a document posted to the states Department of Education website require instruction for middle schoolers to include how slaves developed skills which in some instances could be applied for their personal benefit. So in the context of that how is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization Harris questioned. Thats building in a handicap for our children that they are going to be the ones in the room who dont know their own history with the rest of the world she said. This is the United States of America. Were not supposed to do that she said in her fiery highprofile speech. They are creating these unnecessary debates. And let us not let these politicians who are trying to divide our country win Harris said in a speech in Jacksonvilles historic LaVille neighborhood on Friday night. The speech was the second in a series of high profile appearances in Florida in the past few weeks. The first was a speech to a group of African-American women and young people.
Harris accuses ‘so-called leaders’ of pushing propaganda and waging culture wars in fiery Florida speech. Harris: ‘So-called leader’ pushing propaganda, waging culture war in speech.
