Fighting a bill that would shield white people from feeling "uncomfortable"

Brut America

“Yes, parents should know what their children are being taught, but you cannot distort history.”  Here’s why this Florida state senator is fighting against a bill that would ban teaching American history in a way that makes white people feel “discomfort” ...

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00:00Should parents be concerned? Should parents have a voice? Yes, parents should know what

00:04their children are being taught, but at the same time, you cannot distort history.

00:08As we sit here and have these conversations of what teachers should and should not teach

00:33inside the classroom, we cannot turn from the facts of the things that happen. All this

00:38legislation is going to do is promote ignorance of race-related content and other content that

00:44children should know about and what children should have access to. There is no claim here

00:50within the state of Florida that teachers are teaching children that white people are inherently

00:57racist or that white people should feel shame because of past injustices. If that was the case,

01:03the first contact that I come in contact with a white person, the first thing I will say is

01:08that you're racist, and that's not the case. That's not how I do it, and I'm sure that same

01:12thing goes for others. Isabel Wilkerson says something in her book, and she says that just

01:17because you do not fix an old house does not mean that the things that are going in that house will

01:24not come up later. Yes, we were not born then. Yes, you weren't a part of what happened then,

01:30but that does not preclude us from being able to sit and have the tough conversations of what

01:36happened. No, we must talk about that Blacks were oppressed, Blacks were beaten, Blacks were lynched,

01:44Blacks were called inhumane names. If we could also talk about our transgender community,

01:48we could talk about gays, we could talk about all of this. These are issues that young people,

01:53yes, they might not be taught in the classroom, but by censoring, censoring inside our educational

01:59institutions is not the way that we as a body should be moving, and I get it. This is part one

02:06of what the governor is trying to lay out, but I believe personally as a body we are much better

02:12than this. We are much better than what the national popular politics is taking place,

02:18and all of this is is red meat that's taking place. All this is is going to create more divisive

02:23nature here within our political structure that we have here in the state of Florida.

02:28Not only do I am I voting no, but my ask is that my colleagues who I serve with, that we check

02:35ourselves to ensure that other people on the other side, and I'm talking about when you look at this

02:41as me representing the African-American community, the only Black man here on education, this is a

02:47problem.

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