Florida Republicans keep trying to argue that slavery wasn't all that bad

A controversial education The bill passed in a vote in the Florida House on Friday. A Republican lawmaker used the opportunity to question why educators aren't talking about how some slaves were paid for their work.

The bill, known as CS/HB 1291, would ban teacher preparation programs and similar courses that teach “identity politics… or [are] is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.”

During the debate on the bill, state Rep. Alex Andrade (R) strongly argued that some slaves were paid. “There's only one way to teach about slavery in Florida, and that's that it was bad,” Andrade said. “But if we can't have an honest conversation and say that some slaves were paid for their work and were able to actually receive a portion of the payment that slave owners received for their labor, then we are afraid to teach accurate history. “

“If you didn't know that some slaves received payment—not payment that was good, not payment that was valid, not payment that was moral—but if we can't even have this discussion in this room, what hope do we have that they teach and agree really into facts? What hope do we have?' Andrade continued.

The vast majority of slaves, of course, were not paid for their work. Furthermore, slaves were treated as property, without basic rights.

“Florida Republicans want to teach our children that slavery was not bad,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said in a statement released on Rolling rock. He added that “Rep. Andrade's comments today are just the latest example of the GOP's obsession with whitewashing history,” citing the Florida Board of Education requires schools to teach that some Blacks benefited from slavery because they learned certain skills as slaves.

“Slavery was a horrible evil,” Fried's statement continued. “That shouldn't be a bold statement, and Florida teachers should be able to teach that in the classroom. Florida Republicans' continued efforts to teach our children otherwise is immoral and outrageous, and every Republican elected in Florida should be on the record for a response to Andrade's comments – any response that attempts to justify or gloss over her wrongdoings servitude should be considered a disqualification for office. ”

Florida state Rep. Ashley Gantt (D), who is black, responded on social media. “The atmosphere in the house chamber is so offensive and disrespectful,” he said He wrote on X, formerly Twitter, shortly after Andrade's comments. “White people tell me that I may not know facts about the enslavement of my people. WHO DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE!”.

Andrade said Rolling rock in an email that he made the comments because of “one line in a 200+ page document that was being distorted by Democrats on the floor.” Provided a link to page from the National Humanities Center which describes rare cases of slaves who were able to “buy back” their freedom.

The bill passed Friday by Andrade and his Republican colleagues is the latest iteration of the culture war policy spearheaded by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) that seeks to ban critical race theory and other so-called “woke” ideologies from public schools of Florida. DeSantis himself pushed the idea that blacks benefited from slavery during his ill-fated presidential campaign. “They're probably going to show that some of the people who ended up getting, you know, blacksmithing to do things later in life,” he said. he said last Julyin response to a question about the Florida Board of Education's new standards.

CS/HB 1291 passed the Republican-controlled Florida House by a vote of 81-31 with eight abstentions. It now moves to the Florida state Senate.