Dr. William Allen, co-author of Florida’s Black History Curriculum, appeared on Fox News to challenge claims that the state is trying to cover up the legacy of slavery.
Allen appeared on “Jesse Watters Primetime” Monday, arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris’ criticism of Florida’s Black History Guidance Guidelines was disingenuous. (Related: DeSantis slams MSNBC after anchor falsely claims it’s banning kids from learning about slavery)
“Please forgive me for not revealing Kamala Harris’ motives. They are invisible. I don’t know them. We can all suspect that there is a dishonest purpose at play. But more important than that dishonest purpose is the truth, and this curriculum is dedicated to telling the truth. If you repeat a falsehood, it becomes a lie,” Allen said.
Allen repeated the biography of Frederick Douglass, in which he said that he was taught how to read by his master’s mistress, and that he used the skill for his own good for the rest of his life.
“There are many such examples,” Allen says.
Allen defended the curriculum, saying it focuses on enslaved black voices and allows them to “tell their own stories.” Allen said critics of the curriculum are trying to project modern sensibilities and frustrations onto people from earlier eras. In doing so, they are erasing their stories and legacies, Allen argued.
“Because what’s being done here is an attempt to create a story for our time and impose it on the people who told their story during that time, thereby erasing their story,” Allen said.
He noted the “wonderful irony” that critics of the curriculum accuse it of whitewashing black history. Rather, Allen argued, the past is obscured by those who argue that America’s founding was “nothing but slavery.”
“It’s easy to point out that in 1893 Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells, amidst thousands of lynchings, protested against the exclusion of blacks from the 1893 World’s Fair, showing that the achievements of post-slavery blacks were not solely the achievement of black Americans, but of American principles,” Allen said.
The Florida legislature came under fire last week when national media reported that the state would begin teaching black slaves to learn techniques they could use to their advantage. Mr. Harris skewered the DeSantis administration over the supposed curriculum change, assembly Protests in Jacksonville.
