Amid the pressures of a presidential campaign, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vented some steam on Thursday at Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida for falling short of what DeSantis wanted Donalds to say in terms of Florida’s black history academic standards.
Donalds has endorsed former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race, and DeSantis is the No. 2 competitor, according to most GOP primary polls.
As noted by the Tampa Bay Times, Florida’s new standards call for middle school students to learn about the kinds of work performed by slaves and for teachers to explain how “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
That phrase was cited by Vice President Kamala Harris in the Biden administration’s ongoing conflict with Florida, as she claimed the state decided “middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” according to the Florida Times-Union.
“They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it,” she said.
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On Wednesday, Donalds posted on social media that a change is needed.
“The new African-American standards in FL are good, robust, & accurate. That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted. That obviously wasn’t the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this,” he posted.
The new African-American standards in FL are good, robust, & accurate. That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted. That obviously wasn’t the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this.https://t.co/muq8zi1p85
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) July 26, 2023
DeSantis fired back, according to Fox News, saying, “So at the end of the day you’ve got to choose. Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets? Are you going to side with the state of Florida?”
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“I think it’s very clear that these guys did a good job on those standards. It wasn’t anything that was politically motivated. These are serious scholars,” he said. “So don’t side with Kamala on that, stand up for your state.”
In a comment to WINK-TV, Donalds had framed his concern differently.
“To me, yes, that section needs some adjustments. The talking point narrative around it, yeah, it sounds awful,” Donalds said. “Like nobody should be accepting of that, but when you read through the standards, they actually did a very good job in covering all aspects of black history in the United States.”
Team DeSantis is going after *Byron Donalds* for being too woke. Yikes https://t.co/LDmF5uqIoi
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) July 26, 2023
But as CNN noted in compiling the responses from Team DeSantis, such nuances were unnoticed.
Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for the governor, called Donalds a “supposed conservative.”
Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director of DeSantis’ campaign, wondered, “Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?”
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said the state would not change anything “at the behest of a supposedly conservative congressman.”
Donalds replied with a social media post saying, “What’s crazy to me is I expressed support for the vast majority of the new African American history standards and happened to oppose one sentence that seemed to dignify the skills gained by slaves as a result of their enslavement. Anyone who can’t accurately interpret what I said is disingenuous and is desperately attempting to score political points.”
What’s crazy to me is I expressed support for the vast majority of the new African American history standards and happened to oppose one sentence that seemed to dignify the skills gained by slaves as a result of their enslavement.
Anyone who can’t accurately interpret what I… https://t.co/b6hqaSJtlp
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) July 27, 2023
He later tried to further clarify his stance, saying Friday on Twitter, “I’ve always stood with Florida. I did it when I was in the state legislature. I stand for Florida now as a member of Congress. I’m fighting hard against this radical agenda from the Biden-Harris admin.”
