According to a Washington Post piece, accusing him of “harassing Black voters,”… “playing to White grievance,” and “engaging in extreme gerrymandering to reduce the voting power of minorities”, Gov. Ron DeSantis (FL-R) is a “full-blown white supremacist” for banning from Florida’s schools, an African American studies AP course allegedly containing radical content.
On Monday, Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, wrote in an opinion essay that “In blocking an AP Black studies course, DeSantis tells us who he is,” opens by accusing DeSantis of a series of offenses. She wrote-
“Florida’s Republican governor and presidential aspirant Ron DeSantis has made a name for himself by harassing Black voters, setting up a system to sue teachers for teaching race in ways that might offend Whites, singling out LGBTQ youth (while gagging teachers) and engaging in extreme gerrymandering to reduce the voting power of minorities.” [and even further] “Now he’s gone full-blown white supremacist, banning the College Board’s Advanced Placement for African American studies course from Florida’s schools,”
-Jennifer Rubin, Post Columnist
She was referring to the fact that, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) recently rejected an AP African American Studies course, due to its content on “Black Queer Studies”, as well as cultural appropriation and reparations and the “global influence” of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Apparently, the department deemed the content “inexplicably contrary to Florida law” and significantly lacking in “educational value.” The hardline came from the DeSantis administration long having emphasized it will not allow schools to “twist history.”
Like all other well-regarded universities, the University of Florida, claims to have an “esteemed” African American Studies program. In her essay, Rubin detailed the history of admissions of minorities, within institutions in the South, while accusing Florida of not explaining “how the AP course supposedly contravened state law.” She continued in her opinion piece-
“If it is referencing last year’s Stop WOKE Act, which blocks the teaching of material that could make students feel guilt or responsibility for historical racism, then one has to wonder whether something as simple and straightforward as the state’s own history of segregated education can be studied.” [Claiming the actions of the DeSantis administration] “put to lie the notion that the attack on ‘critical race theory’ is aimed at ‘socialist ideas’ or educationally suspect pedagogy.” And…
“This is about rewriting history to wipe out a critical part of our American experience, to deny the wrongs done to millions of Americans and to exempt institutions from the obligation to take a hard look at remedying past injustice,” she alleged. Continuing…
[The]“denial of Blacks’ own suffering” a “key aspect of white supremacy” historically, Rubin deemed it the “ultimate expression of contempt for certain Americans as unworthy and peripheral to the story of ‘real’ — read ‘White’ America.”…“The goal here is unmistakable: eradication of African American historical experience.”
-Jennifer Rubin, Post Columnist
Rubin then suggested African American studies be included in “every K-12 curriculum for every student.” after accusing DeSantis of “playing to White grievance,”
Rubin has long attacked Republicans. A potential 2024 candidate for the Republican party, her piece comes as another political attack by Democrats to target DeSantis. Apparently, no stranger to name calling, Democrat candidate for governor Nikki Fried, last year compared DeSantis to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
In June, Rubin called on media outlets to stop treating Republicans as “normal politicians” and recognize the Republican Party for the threat it poses to American democracy. In that same article she charged that the GOP “systematically undermines democracy,” That followed a prior piece, in which she accused the GOP of being obsessed with “toxic” and “grotesque” masculinity, likening Republicans to “little boys playing at war” ignoring “real-world consequences.”
It would seem Ms. Rubin has much to say regarding how Ron DeSantis and his administration is running the DOE in Florida. The fact that she literally demonstrates her own brand of racism in reverse, without any civil discourse on the subject is also very telling. Loud name calling, without a factual basis for her complaints further illustrates that her point is more emotionally based rather than historically founded. The fact that DeSantis has instructed his administration to eliminate twaddle from their ranks, shows how serious he is regarding the education of his constituents. Columnists such as Ms. Rubin will always drone on, when irritated by that which they cannot comprehend or agree with.
“Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.”
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau