Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) blasted an MSNBC reporter on Thursday and other members of the media partaking in the “hoax” that claims he doesn’t want slavery taught in Florida schools.
“You just had on MSNBC — you had the reporter saying that ‘Gov. DeSantis does not want students to learn about slavery and its aftermath,'” he said during an event in Jacksonville, Florida, titled “Biden’s Border Crisis.”
“Well, if you actually looked at what our standards are, not only is it not prohibited to teach that, it’s required to teach that. It’s required to teach all of those things. It’s required under Florida statutes that teach about racial discrimination,” he explained.
DeSantis was likely referring to MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell, who asked Vice President Kamala Harris in an interview last week, “What does Gov. Ron DeSantis not know about black history and the black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida school children?”
She issued a postscript on Wednesday, telling viewers, “I was imprecise in summarizing Gov. DeSantis’s position about teaching slavery in schools. Gov. DeSantis is not opposed to teaching the fact of slavery.”
WATCH: MSNBC HOST WALKS BACK ‘IMPRECISE’ CLAIM DESANTIS DOESN’T WANT SLAVERY TAUGHT
DeSantis calls out book banning “hoax”
“‘The state doesn’t want any books in the library!’ […] They try to create a narrative […] You had on MSNBC [who said I don’t] want students to learn about slavery and its aftermath […] It’s required under Florida statute!” pic.twitter.com/4KQg6gROCf
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) February 23, 2023
According to the Florida governor, “if you have a book that has hardcore pornography in a library that 10-year-olds can access, a parent objects to that, that does not satisfy Florida standards. It should not be in the library with those young kids.”
“And I think 99% of parents agree with that,” he added.
He further slammed people posting photos of empty school libraries, which they claim resulted from DeSantis’s education laws.
“Then you have lefty media that do it, and then they try to create a narrative,” he said.
“They’re doing that to try to create a narrative. They’re not doing that because Florida has a law or anything like that,” he continued. “They know that’s not in the law, but they’re doing it because they know there’s enough people in corporate media who will just take that and will run with that.”
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DeSantis further claimed that his office has “cataloged” many of the “media lies to try to do the hoax.” He also noted that many of the lies have been “debunked.”
“The Jacksonville person, I think, got fired. There’s a teacher in central Florida who was doing really inappropriate things with the — in terms of what they were putting out online. That’s gone,” he told reporters.
“And so at the end of the day in Florida, you know, if it’s explicit and pornographic, parents have the right to object … and it should be taken off,” he concluded.
