Ron DeSantis removes books on black history

Black history books have been in school for a long time, it has informed students and teachers of the past and how its importance to the United States. But with Ron DeSantis wanting to remove  books from schools it could cause tremendous problems with learning and not having enough information.

Ron DeSantis said, “This course on Black History, what is one of the lessons about? Queer theory. Now, who would say that an important part of Black History Queer theory? That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids. And, when you look to see they have stuff about  intersectionality, abolishing prisons, that’s a political agenda. And so, we are on— that is the wrong side of the line for Florida standards. We believe in teaching kid’s facts and how to think, but we do not believe they should have an agenda imposed on them. When you try to use Black history to shoehorn in Queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes” The Queer theory means, “a field of study that challenges existing traditional ideas about identity, sexuality, and gender – particularly that of heteronormativity, or the belief that heterosexuality is the natural, moral, or “normal” expression of sexuality.” According to Indiana University Bloomington.

Ron DeSantis “STOP WOKE” law is a new law that limits students and teachers from learning and talking about other issues related to race and gender. Ron DeSantis said, “Florida is at the forefront of a nationwide campaign to silence Black voices and erase the full and accurate history and contemporary experiences of Black people.” Many schools do not want the “STOP WOKE”, because it dedicates to what students should learn and it prevents future generations learning on how America was made. “Mr. DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” law relegates the study of the experiences of Black people to a prohibited category.  The canceling of students’ access to accurate, truthful education that reflects their diverse identities and that of their country should chill every American.  These laws offend the First Amendment freedoms of speech and expression; to the extent they harm certain groups based on race, gender, or other protected status. They also violate principles of equal protection. and they are a chilling precursor to state-sponsored dehumanization of an entire race of people.”

Many schools have already removed books, this limits what people can learn about and, most lessons learned in history class are about Black history. “Last week, I was doing a couple of lessons on civil rights, looking at the Albany movement, Birmingham in 1963. And, of course, some of those images of those periods can be quite upsetting: dogs turned on little girls, fire hoses,” Falls said in an interview on ABC News Live Prime. “I am showing them some of these images, in the back of my mind, I was saying, ‘Well, if a student here gets upset about these, have I violated the law?’ But the information to me is too important to deny students. And so, I’m still going to continue to do it.” Even Teachers are second guessing themselves for the education of students, but they still must show it because it is a vital importance in the world to not learn.

“Falls compared the law to McCarthyism, the controversial campaign by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to repress and persecute communists in the U.S. government, how ridiculous this was that in 2023 that we are covering books, that we are looking to ban books, that we are at a point that sounds like McCarthyism in our society,” Falls said. “I guess it’s frustrating as a long-time educator. I have been in the classroom for 38 years and I’ve never seen anything like this where this kind of widespread attempt to silence students, silence teachers to control the information in the classroom.”

Are we pushing our students to not learn about black history or are we aiming for something else? Students do not have a choice in this. Whether or not they should learn this, it is a very vital importance to the history, and removing books about it could prevent future generations on learning on how history of black people changed over time.

Majority of students and teachers at Miami Springs Senior High, all agree that what Ron DeSantis is doing is not right, it prevents students from learning and learning on how the United States are always changing. It could misinterpret the view of others on how Black people are. Aliexis Hernandes, From Miami Springs Senior High said, “I think it’s wrong because the black history books represent basically the history on the civil rights movements in 1964 and how they got their right”.

Another student, Ailin Morales said, “I personally find it dumb because you can still teach it but if you want to teach it when you in a history class or a different class how are you going to buy the books, the kids can buy it, but could call the kids buy the books. Could they and a teacher afford it? It is the problem of cost and money. I am against it since let us look at private schools they could afford all the books if they want to teach it but public schools most of the class will not be able to teach it, sure they can teach it online but what if they want the book, the hard cover, so they can take it home. What if the website they used cost money and they cannot afford that too? Sure, you can still teach it but what about the cost of getting the books, teaching the class and the materials for it? That were the problem lays, not all of us have money.”