Route Fifty published an article penned by CPE's Vice President of Product Discovery Dr. Nicole Johnson-Ahorlu, CPE Director of Public Health Dr. Tralonda Triplett, and CPE Content Strategist Ajua Kouadio (Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy). The piece examines recent changes to education policy in the State of Florida and the disturbing trend toward complete erasure of Black history in this nation.
The below is an excerpt from the Route Fifty publication:
Black History Month may be over, but Black history continues to feature heavily in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' cynical, mean-spirited political stratagems.
The governor has weaponized Black history for some time in his still unofficial presidential bid. Most notably with the signing into law of the dog-whistle-heavy Stop WOKE Act last year, which forbids teaching A.P. African American studies in Florida classrooms. And more recently with hand-picking New College of Florida trustees, who recently voted to dismantle that institution's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
But we give DeSantis too much credit if we frame the struggle over Black history as his personal hobby horse. The effort to hide the truth of Black people's history is older than the nation itself. The governor has only hitched his wagon to it.
Over several years, lawmakers seeking to reverse decades of progress have moved aggressively to ban, repress, or outlaw the novels, scholarship, and curricula produced by Black, queer, and other marginalized communities. The excuses politicians like DeSantis, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, give range from questioning these materials’ educational value to decrying a perceived “political agenda.”
But how does an incomplete, inaccurate education omitting Black contributions serve society?
Read the full article on the Route Fifty website.
Read further CPE commentary on the state of education in America on our blog post titled, Whose History?