Legislation taking aim at ‘woke’ instruction receives Senate committee nod

Manny Diaz. Image via Colin Hackley.

A bill regarded as among the first of those rooting out what’s being called critical race theory — prohibiting certain kinds of instruction and training — cleared its first hurdle Tuesday, passing the Senate Education Committee.

Miami Republican Sen. Manny Diaz Jr.’s bill (SB 148) is called “Individual Freedom.” And it passed along party lines but not before bringing grave warnings from Senate Democrats about the way it prohibits any training or instruction that causes an individual to “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex or national origin.”

Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky of Boca Raton called it “the most unfair authoritarian bill” and warned it could subject businesses to new causes of action never imagined before.

“Imagine a man sitting in a sexual harassment training, and he doesn’t like the way it’s portrayed,” Polsky said. “And then, two days later, he is terminated for something. He’s going to sue under this law.”

Diaz said he’s not trying to stop conversations about historical wrongs or whitewash history or pretend that discrimination doesn’t happen — as some have said his legislation does.

“The aim of this is to clearly have those tough conversations and have it done in a matter where there’s an open dialogue,” Diaz said.

Diaz said he’s trying to stop instruction that comes from a particular perspective.

“If the teacher’s perspective or their teaching is actually imposing on a student that just because they’re white, they’re anti-immigrant and that view is being imposed on them … that would be a violation of this,” he said. “Having a discussion of the fact that we have had that occur in our country is valid. Having it imposed on an individual just because of their background is not OK.”

Miami Republican Rep. Bryan Avila has filed a similar bill (HB 7) in the House.

Diaz said it would be up to the Florida Commission on Human Relations, and possibly the Attorney General, to decide if violations have occurred when a complaint arises.

Critical race theory has burst on the political scene, with conservatives aiming at instruction and training that they say imposes the idea that much of American history is one long struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed. Florida educators say it’s not taught in Florida schools, however. Still, Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed giving parents the right to sue over the same kind of complaint; Sen. Marco Rubio also filed legislation entitled Protecting Students From Racial Hostility Act,

Karen Mazzola, legislation committee chair for the Florida PTA, said this bill is a solution in search of a problem.

“There’s really no issue that’s been identified that this bill fixes,” she said. “In fact, it’s just the opposite.”

Still, Keith Flaugh, CEO and co-founder of the Florida Citizens Alliance, said he’s glad Diaz’s legislation is following the model of Oklahoma and Iowa’s state laws on this, but he recommends adding a bit more.

“We’d like to see some specific enforcement,” he said.

Miami Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones said the bill represents censorship and urged his colleagues to turn away from the appeal to national politics it presents.

“We must talk about (how) Blacks were oppressed, Blacks were beaten, Blacks were lynched, Blacks were called inhumane names,” he said. “If we could also talk about our transgender community. We could talk about gays; we can talk about all of this … Censoring what’s inside our educational institutions is not the way that we as a body should be moving … We are much better than this.”