Ron DeSantis says Florida history standards aren’t ‘shilling for slavery’

Ron DeSantis is speaking out yet again in defense of controversial Florida Black history standards that contend slavery benefited the enslaved.

During an interview on the “Faulkner Focus” with host Harris Faulkner, the Florida Governor told Fox News viewers that criticisms of the standards were made in “bad faith” and that the people who decided the standards weren’t “shilling for slavery.”

“First of all, those are criticisms in bad faith, Harris, because as you suggest, you know, there’s hundreds of pages of painstaking detail,” DeSantis said.

“This was done by Black history scholars, most of whom were Black themselves. They are not shilling for slavery. They are showing the injustice of slavery. But that particular passage wasn’t saying that slavery was a benefit. They were saying there was resourcefulness and people acquired skills in spite of slavery, not because of it. And then they used those when they achieved their freedom.”

The Florida State Board of Education’s new standards state that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,” in what is by far the most controversial assertion in the 216-page document formulated last month.

DeSantis’ comments follow in the wake of Vice President Kamala Harris’ strong words in Orlando Tuesday at the AME 20th Women’s Missionary Society Quadrennial Convention.

As she did during her previous trip to Florida, the Vice President was unrelenting in her condemnation of the language backed by DeSantis, adding that no debate was possible regarding the “redeeming qualities” of slavery that she claimed DeSantis believes exists.

“And on top of all of this, in this moment, we even see extremists ban books and attempt to erase and even rewrite the ugly parts of our history right here in Florida, right here in Florida. They plan to teach students that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” Harris said. “They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates.”

“And now they attempt to legitimize these unnecessary debates with a proposal that most recently came in of a politically motivated roundtable,” Harris continued, referring to DeSantis’ challenge to debate her about the slavery language in the curriculum.

“Well, I’m here in Florida. I tell you there is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact. There were no redeeming qualities of slavery, right? And as I said last week, when I was again here in Florida, we will not stop calling out and fighting back against extremist so-called leaders who try to prevent our children from learning our true and full history.”

The Governor has charged Harris with having made a decision to “parachute” in and “chirp” and “demagogue” about Florida’s standards. He also has taken criticism from various Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds and presidential candidates Chris Christie, Will Hurd, Mike Pence and Tim Scott. But he continues to stand by the language.