Students at Florida public schools will now learn that Black people benefitted from slavery because it taught them skills. This change is part of the African American history standards the State Board of Education approved at a Wednesday meeting.
The description of slavery as beneficial is not t.....
I checked the source document and it looks like an extremely comprehensive and fair overview of slavery.
Check it out for yourselves, the African American part is right at the beginning: https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/20653/urlt/6-4.pdf
The offending part is on page 6
Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural
work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing,
transportation). Clarification 1: Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be
applied for their personal benefit.
Maybe looks bad on its own but looking at the whole document you can see how the framing in OP is ridiculous.
So I read the document, and I think it's actually worse than what OP wrote. Looking through the curriculum, there's a steady emphasis on African Americans as "patriots"
Identify African Americans who demonstrated heroism and patriotism (e.g.,Booker T. Washington, Jesse Owens, Tuskegee Airmen, Martin Luther King
Jr., Rosa Parks, President....
And conveniently there's no mention of how systemic racism and white supremacy still exist and oppress African Americans today. Garvey, etc. Are mentioned but conveniently in the past.
Which is what they want. Emphasize the model people and show that they can be patriots. Downplay what you don't like. Maybe your definition of education is different but I don't think it should be about saying we should all be good little flag salutors.
I agree that it's rage bait, but you can't trust Florida on this.
Btw the fact that America makes kids pledge an oath to a flag every morning is fucked up, just saying.