Tangle - Florida's new African American studies curriculum.

Starting point is 00:00:00 Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu, a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight.

Starting point is 00:00:19 Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle Podcast, a place where you get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul, and on today's episode, we're going to be talking about Florida's African American Studies curriculum,

Starting point is 00:01:00 which has caused quite a bit of national controversy. Before we jump in, though, as always, we'll start off with some quick hits. First up, in a surprising development, the judge overseeing Hunter Biden's plea agreement upended what was expected to be a routine hearing by raising questions about the deal. Biden ultimately changed his plea to not guilty to the charges, and the two sides will now meet to discuss the agreement. Number two, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican from Kentucky, froze for about 20 seconds mid-sentence during a news conference yesterday, appearing unable to

Starting point is 00:01:41 speak before being escorted away. The apparent health episode has raised questions about his fitness for office. Number three, the Fed raised its target interest rate another 0.25 percentage points, bringing it to the highest level in 22 years. With inflation receding, the Fed is expected to raise rates one more time before pausing. Number four, the Israeli Supreme Court set a September preliminary hearing date for a case challenging the constitutionality of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul bill. Number five, seven major automakers unveiled a plan to build an electric vehicle charging network that would rival Tesla's in nearly double the number of fast

Starting point is 00:02:22 charging stations in the United States. And finally, a little bonus here. Yesterday, former U.S. Air Force intelligence official David Grush testified before Congress that federal officials are concealing the existence of UFOs and have been for decades. We previously covered Grush's claims in a YouTube video, but tomorrow we're going to dedicate an entire Friday edition to covering his testimony under oath, along with two other witnesses who joined him. A reminder, Friday editions are for Tangle members only. If you want to get tomorrow's piece in your inbox, you can subscribe by going to readtangle.com forward slash membership. Florida schools must now teach students about the, quote, benefit of slavery when teaching black history. The controversial new education standard passed by the State Board of Education earlier this week. This follows Governor DeSantis's so-called Stomp Woke Act, which forced the

Starting point is 00:03:25 rewriting of education standards there in Florida. The State Board of Education just approved new rules for how to teach black history in public schools. And according to the Washington Post, the new standards say students should learn that enslaved people develop skills that, quote, could be applied for their personal benefit, and that during lessons about mob violence against black residents, teachers should include acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans. Turning now to Florida and the growing debate over new standards for teaching black history. Tonight, Governor Ron DeSantis and others behind the guidelines responding to the criticism.

Starting point is 00:04:06 Vice President Kamala Harris accusing the state of replacing history with lies. That's over the suggestion that some enslaved people benefited from skills they acquired. Last week, the Florida Board of Education approved a new curriculum to teach African-American history that ignited controversy. The 216-page document is part of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, commonly called the Stop Woke Act, which was passed in 2022, and regulates the way classes on race and gender can be taught in the classroom. Among other things, the law prohibits classroom teachings from making people feel guilt over past actions

Starting point is 00:04:45 by members of their racial group. Following the bill's passage, Florida's Board of Education revisited the state's social studies curriculum to be sure it was compliant with the new law. It leaned on the expertise of a 13-person work group of educators, which included six African-American members, and held public meetings while developing the social studies standards. Specific to the controversy was one section in the lessons for sixth to eighth graders in the African-American studies section of the social studies curriculum. That section tells instructors to examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves, e.g. agriculture work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic violence, blacksmithing, and transportation.

Starting point is 00:05:30 In a benchmark clarification, the instruction adds that this should include how slaves develop skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit. On the whole, the curriculum mentions slaves or slavery around 200 times. It encompasses a few other issues that have drawn attention, like framing slavery as a long-standing global practice that preceded European colonization of the Americas, and directing teachers to instruct how slave trading was developed in Africa, how slavery was used in Asian and indigenous American cultures, and how Europeans were also kidnapped by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in Muslim countries. When the curriculum was released, it was immediately and forcefully panned by teachers groups, the NAACP, and Vice President Kamala Harris. Just yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery. She said, there is a national agenda afoot, but there are many aspects

Starting point is 00:06:20 of our history that some would like to overlook, erase, or at least deny. This is unnecessary to debate whether enslaved people benefited from slavery. Are you kidding me? She asked. Some of the scholars and board members behind the curriculum have since defended it. Florida is focused on teaching true and accurate African-American history. If you actually read our standards, you'd know that, Manny Diaz Jr., Florida's education commissioner said in response to criticism. Governor DeSantis, meanwhile, defended the curriculum while also telling a reporter he wasn't personally involved in the change and directing questions to the state board of

Starting point is 00:06:54 education. While the curriculum is a local issue in Florida, it touches on a national movement to re-examine how students are being taught history in K-12 classes. Governor DeSantis has been at the forefront of this movement since he took office. Today, we're going to take a look at some commentary from the right and the left, and then my take. Today's podcast is sponsored by Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy dedicated to improving the lives Thank you. others. To learn more about their work, go to ArnoldVentures.org. That's ArnoldVentures.org. First up, we'll start with what the left is saying. Many on the left criticize the curriculum, saying it whitewashes African American history. Some seize on the sections about developing skills and mob violence to argue Florida is teaching a revisionist history that downplays the horrors of slavery. Others argue that the

Starting point is 00:08:09 curriculum creates a false equivalence between white supremacy and black resistance to it. In the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson called the curriculum an obscene revision of black history. Florida's decision to teach in schools that slavery in this country was of personal benefit to some enslaved people is obscene revisionism. It is like teaching that though Abraham Lincoln might have been assassinated, at least the performance at Ford's Theater that night was first rate, Robinson said. For those who doubt this obscenity is actually in the curriculum, look no further than page six of Florida's 2023 academic standards for teaching social studies. Quote, instruction includes how slaves develop skills which in some instances could be applied than page six of Florida's 2023 academic standards for teaching social studies, quote,

Starting point is 00:08:50 instruction includes how slaves develop skills, which in some instances could be applied for their personal benefit. On Friday, DeSantis blamed the State Department of Education. I wasn't involved, he claimed, but also defended the abomination. They're probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing other things later in life. Where to begin, Robinson said. I'll start with my own family history. One of my great-great-grandfathers, enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina, was indeed compelled to learn to be a blacksmith. But he had no ability to parlay anything because his time and labor were not his own. They belonged to his enslaver. He belonged to his enslaver. To pretend my ancestor was done some sort of favor by being taught a trade ignores the reality of race-based chattel slavery as

Starting point is 00:09:30 practiced in the United States. In Jacksonville Today, Nikesha Elise Williams said the new standards eschew context. I'll admit that I was ready to write an eviscerating screed in opposition to Florida's state academic standards for social studies for 2023, specifically those regarding the teaching of African-American history, Williams said. However, there's a whole lot of context missing that makes some of these lessons more revisionist history than incontrovertible fact. In the early grades, there was an emphasis on recognizing and identifying African-American artists, investors, innovators, and civil servants and civil rights leaders. But being able to identify these key figures without understanding why is like teaching sight words instead of phonics in early reading courses. Removing such

Starting point is 00:10:15 context and then attempting to equalize the atrocities suffered by enslaved Black people in the American South with the global practice of slavery since Ramses II in ancient Egypt, or compare slavery to indentured servitude in any way, one a choice, the other forced labor, is an abominable attempt to me too, a singular experience whose effects can still be seen and felt around the world, especially in the United States, Williams wrote. And in grades six through eight, slavery in the American South is couched in the rhetoric of economic necessity, pointing to westward expansion, the demand for land and a need for labor, the dehumanization, subjugation, and enslavement of people is justified by capitalism. Do not people matter more than profits? Furthermore, teaching that the skills that enslaved people developed

Starting point is 00:11:00 had personal benefit denies the systemic precision with which the slave trade operated. In MSNBC, Keisha Ann Blaine said the curriculum is a blatant distortion of the past. Under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, a presidential candidate who characterizes himself as being on the nationwide crusade against wokeness, Florida has been at the center of an ongoing effort to erase the perspectives of Black people in the classroom and whitewash American history. In January, the Florida Department of Education rejected a first version of the African American Studies AP course after claiming that it lacked educational value, Blaine said. Florida's new standards also promote a false equivalency between white supremacist violence and Black militant resistance. By claiming that instruction

Starting point is 00:11:44 should include acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans, the Florida white supremacist violence and Black militant resistance. By claiming that instruction should include acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans, the Florida Board of Education is complicit in upholding racism and white supremacy. The 1921 Tulsa Massacre, one of the historical developments highlighted in the new standards, underscores the dangers of conflating white people launching attacks against Black communities with Black people protecting themselves from white people attacking them. The against and by language in the new guidelines implies that the 1921 Tulsa Massacre was the result of African-American violence, but the historical record reveals that it was one of many examples of white supremacist violence. All right, that is it for the leftist saying, which brings us to what the right is saying. Many on the right say the left is lying about the curriculum, which gives a holistic look

Starting point is 00:12:37 at the history of slavery. Some argue the attacks are brazenly dishonest and ignore what the curriculum actually says. Others say the left is simply blowing a single footnote out of proportion. In National Review, the editors wrote that Florida is right to teach slaves were more than just passive victims. Vice President Kamala Harris and others are lying to the public about what is being taught in schools. The new standards were approved so the state could free itself from the dictates of the college board and other national groups pushing left-wing agitprop. They were developed through public meetings and by a diverse 13-member working group with six African American members, including distinguished scholars such as Dr. William B. Allen, professor and dean emeritus at Michigan State, and former chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. There are 191 items in the curriculum about slavery, segregation, and racism on required topics such as how slave codes resulted

Starting point is 00:13:31 in an enslaved person becoming property with no rights and how the demand for slave labor resulted in a large force migration within the United States, the editor said. One of these 191 items instructs the junior high school classrooms to examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves, and an appended clarification adds that this should include considering how slaves develop skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit. That one sentence is the entire basis for the claim that Florida is somehow teaching that slavery benefited slaves. This is a dishonest smear, and it has nothing to do with promoting an accurate education. Based on Charles Yu's award-winning book, Interior Chinatown follows the story of Willis Wu,

Starting point is 00:14:16 a background character trapped in a police procedural who dreams about a world beyond Chinatown. When he inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. In town hall, Guy Benson said Harris' attack was brazenly dishonest. Haven't you heard? Ron DeSantis' Florida is teaching students that slavery actually benefited slaves, an authoritarian and racist whitewash of an evil institution. That's the story many on the left have been indignantly peddling over the last few days,

Starting point is 00:14:56 led by Vice President Kamala Harris. She lobbed allegation on social media, then traveled to Florida to make her point in person. Her point is a repugnant, politically motivated racial lie, Benson said. At National Review, Charles Cook details what he describes as a brazen lie. It's an astonishing lie. It's an evil lie. It is so untrue, so deliberately and cynically misleading that in a sensible political culture, Harris would be obligated to issue an apology. Others have noted that the rigorous, comprehensive curriculum was crafted by scholars, including Black experts, some of whom have pushed back publicly against the sort of criticism being spearheaded by the vice president, Benson said. The point is not that slavery was a beneficial

Starting point is 00:15:39 jobs or skills program for enslaved people. No one is saying that, and no one believes it. The point, made at the margins of a much broader discussion, is that in some cases, slaves exploited their skills for personal benefit, including shedding the shackles of slavery. This minor note shouldn't be overemphasized in the wider context of slavery, of course, and Florida's curriculum doesn't do that. In the dispatch, Nick Cattoggio criticized some of DeSantis' actions, but also called on readers to be fair to him and evaluate this honestly. Is the state of Florida now teaching sixth graders that, actually, slavery was good? It is not, and even a cursory skim of the curriculum proves it, he wrote.

Starting point is 00:16:21 I invite you to scroll through pages 3 through 21 and see for yourself just how unrepresentative the idea of slaves benefiting from slavery is in context. This is no whitewash. Instruction in African American history starts in kindergarten, with an introduction to Black inventors and explorers like George Washington Carver. By high school, there are no less than 55 separate lessons beginning with slavery before 1619 and concluding with present-day statesmen like Barack Obama, Clarence Thomas, and or Kamala Harris. Yes, one can understand why skeptics would assume the worst about the favored candidate of the Orban curious, wanting students to learn that slaves could apply for their personal benefit,

Starting point is 00:17:01 the skills they gain from slavery, he wrote. But in context, amid scores of lessons detailing centuries of persecution of African Americans, it's impossible to believe DeSantis' expert board aimed to whitewash the practice. I suspect the lesson about learning a trade amid horrendous oppression is chiefly a lesson about Black Americans' resilience and a tribute to their indomitability. And, of course, a reminder of how much human potential was exploited by the institution on pain of death. All right, that is it for the left and right are saying, which brings us to my take. So I've been extremely critical of Florida

Starting point is 00:17:45 Governor Ron DeSantis and the role he's tried to take in shaping his state's education. On the whole, I believe DeSantis is attempting to normalize the use of state power to attack his political enemies, is creating broad and unclear laws that govern the classroom, and is promoting the use of state censorship to limit the circulation of books and educational material he does not like. I do not think his tactics of waging a cultural war in the classroom are productive or good for Florida's K-12 students, and I've said so repeatedly. I'm grateful that there are many conservatives speaking out about this as well. So it may surprise you when I say this. I think the right is, well, right, about pretty much everything in this episode. For a moment, let's just put a pin in the single sentence about developing skills that

Starting point is 00:18:31 has caused so many uproarious claims about DeSantis inviting the Ku Klux Klan into Florida classrooms. Many other writers have cited Charles C.W. Cook's piece about this in the National Review, and with good reason. Cook's piece is so incredibly effective because he helpfully pulls out and lists all 191 references to slavery, slaves, abolitionism, civil rights, and African Americans in the curriculum document in question. And then he bolds the one single reference about slaves developing skills. The effect, if you read the full list in the entire document, is quite obvious. Florida is not downplaying or whitewashing slavery. It is not framing slavery as something that benefits African Americans.

Starting point is 00:19:10 And it is absolutely not ignoring the incredible horrors of slavery, or sending us back to the 19th century, or erasing the voices of the slaves who experienced this horror, or glossing over the Black scholars who have commented on it, or obscuring the more modern civil rights activists who attempted to overthrow the systems that came after slavery. A broad denunciation of slavery is central to the curriculum, plain as day, whether it's the overwhelming death rates of the practice, how Africans resisted slavery, or the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on individual freedoms, or how the South tried to prevent slaves from escaping, or the harsh conditions of plantations, and even, quote, the struggles faced by African

Starting point is 00:19:50 American women in the 19th century as it relates to issues of suffrage, business, and access to education, end quote. The curriculum is thorough and it covers a lot of ground. Of course, it isn't perfect. I'm sure if we took a microscope to every social studies curriculum of every state, we could find similar single sentences that raise some eyebrows. Though, yes, DeSantis has put Florida under this national microscope by making his education wars a key part of his 2024 campaign for president. Still, even the most controversial parts of this curriculum seem to be getting framed by the left in a wholly dishonest way.

Starting point is 00:20:25 Is how slaves develop skills, which in some instances could be applied for their personal benefit, a point worth including in African American studies? Maybe we could debate that, but I actually think it is. Why not? If anything, such details can and should be framed as just another bullet point in the long list of ways African Americans have displayed incredible resilience in the face of the unbelievable horrors our country perpetrated on them for 250 years. Indeed, the unrequited love so many African Americans have for their country is something to be taught, celebrated, and explored. I think it is, as others have put it, a gross lie to take this one line that this

Starting point is 00:21:05 curriculum is somehow broadly teaching that slavery benefits the enslaved. To me, the most offensive part of the curriculum is actually the parts covered by Keisha and Blaine under what the left is saying, which references the quote acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans. Again, it's all in the framing and how a teacher addresses it, but that sentence certainly reads like a curriculum leveling the violence of resistance to slavery to the same playing field as the violence of slavery itself. And I think any curriculum teaching that violence perpetrated by African Americans should be carefully taught to frame it as what it was, the predictable violent resistance that happens when you attempt to rob an entire

Starting point is 00:21:45 race of people from their freedom and humanity. Violence that, however uncomfortable it is to say, was justified. But still, these are tiny details in a giant piece of coursework, 99% of which appears unobjectionable to even its staunchest critics, who don't address anything but two or three sentences in the 216-page document. Ron DeSantis' ill-advised law that attempts to prevent white students from feeling guilt or upset certainly caused this whole fracas, and he deserves criticism for that. But he did not create this lesson plan, and the people who did seem to have put together something I'd be very satisfied if my own child learned. But I also think in defending the curriculum, many conservatives

Starting point is 00:22:25 have undermined their arguments about education in other contexts. For instance, National Review argued, quote, one of the choices to be made in teaching about a large, complex, and traumatic human event such as American slavery is whether to flatten it into a simple just-so story or provide the detail and context necessary to bring it to life. Just-so stories are fine for introducing history to very young children, but a full education goes further, end quote. This is actually very close to the arguments that I've made against the way conservatives are suggesting we teach slavery, gender, or other controversial issues like critical race theory or trans issues. That is to say, I agree with the National Review's

Starting point is 00:23:05 editors that 6th to 8th graders are capable of grappling with nuanced and complex events, and that we should offer them a holistic education by wading right into difficult, complicated, or contentious issues, not by pulling books from public school libraries or limiting what can and can't be said in the classroom. I wish they'd extend this reasoning to other areas beyond the complexities of slavery. Before passing any judgment of your own, I suggest listening to the people who built the curriculum defend themselves against Harris's attacks, or simply going and reading it yourself. If you want to spend a few hours doing that, as I did, I think you'll find that the most outlandish things about it are the claims made against it, not the vast majority of the items listed within it.

Starting point is 00:23:52 All right, that is it for my take. We're skipping our reader question today because this podcast got long, but as always, if you want to write to me, you can do that, isaac at readtangle.com. And also, I will use this moment to remind you that we have an event in Philadelphia on August 3rd coming up. We've sold over 100 tickets, an awesome milestone. We've got a few more to go to sell out. If you want more information, go to readtangle.com slash live. If you are in the Philadelphia area, in Pennsylvania, in Delaware,

Starting point is 00:24:19 in Maryland, in D.C., in New Jersey, in New York, please think about coming out. I just heard from a reader today who is flying in from Tennessee for the event. So I know you can get here, spend a weekend in Philadelphia, enjoy yourself. It's going to be very, very fun, and I'm really looking forward to it. ReadTangle.com forward slash live. All right, next up is our under the radar section. In a court filing, Rudy Giuliani admitted to making false statements about two Georgia election workers in the 2020 election while acting as a lawyer for former President Donald Trump. Giuliani is facing a defamation lawsuit brought by Ruby

Starting point is 00:24:59 Freeman and her daughter, Shea Moss, who he accused of mishandling ballots while counting votes in Atlanta. The suit accuses Giuliani of sharing a video that purported to show Freeman and Moss manipulating ballots in the State Farm Arena in Fulton County, which was central to many theories about the election being stolen. Giuliani conceded that his statements carry meaning that is defamatory per se and were actionable and false. However, he argued that they did not cause Freeman and Moss damage and the accusations were constitutionally protected. Further, he argued that he made those concessions to avoid the continued litigation over unnecessary disputes around litigating fact patterns of the case. The New York Times has the story and there's a link to it in today's

Starting point is 00:25:39 episode description. All right, next up is our numbers section. The percentage of Republicans who say fighting woke ideology in our schools and businesses is more important than protecting entitlement programs is 55%, according to an April poll from the Wall Street Journal. The percentage of registered voters who support Florida's parental rights and education law, which bans classroom instruction through the third grade on gender issues, is 61%, according to a 2022 poll from Public Opinion Strategies. The percentage of Florida voters who say they approve of the way Governor DeSantis is handling his job is 54%, according to a new Florida Atlantic University poll. The percentage of Florida voters who say they disapprove of the way Governor DeSantis is handling his job is 43%, according to a new Florida Atlantic University poll. The percentage

Starting point is 00:26:30 of Black voters in Florida who disapprove of the way Governor DeSantis is handling his job is 72%, according to that same poll. All right, and last but not least, I have a nice day section. Antonio Vento Carvajal is 14 years old and has been legally blind much of his life due to a rare genetic condition called epidermolysis bullosa. The rare condition, which affects just 3,000 people globally, causes blisters all over his body and in his eyes, where it is particularly difficult to treat. However, thanks to an innovative topical gene therapy treatment, he has near-perfect sight today. The treatment, called Vujovec, was adapted by a Pittsburgh-based company, Crystal Biotech, from a topical gel used to treat Antonio's skin

Starting point is 00:27:14 lesions through gene therapy. All Antonio needs to do is take the eye drops once a month, and his vision, which was once so severely impacted that it rendered him legally blind, remains healthy and normal. Dr. Alfonso Sabater, who has been treating Antonio's condition, said the long journey of finding and seeking the necessary approvals for the treatment was worth it. Just for Antonio, it was worth it, but also because it opens the space to treat other patients in the future. ABC News has the story and there's a link to it in today's episode description. All right, everybody, that is it for today's podcast. As always, if you want to support our work, go to readtangle.com forward slash membership. And don't forget, if you want to hear about UFOs tomorrow in our Friday edition, you have to be a Tangle member.

Starting point is 00:27:57 Go subscribe. Check it out. You'll get it in your inbox 12 o'clock Eastern tomorrow. If not, have a good weekend. We'll see you on Monday. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited by John Law. Our script is edited by Ari Weitzman, Bailey Saul, and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was designed by Magdalena Bukova, who's also our social media manager. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. For more on Tangle, please go to readtangle.com and check out our website. We'll be right back. to a crime, Willis begins to unravel a criminal web, his family's buried history, and what it feels like to be in the spotlight. Interior Chinatown is streaming November 19th, only on Disney+.

Tangle - Florida's new African American studies curriculum.

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