Descendant of Florida massacre victim decries curriculum that describes violence by Black people
In July, the Florida State Board of Education enacted regulations that critics claim water down the importance of Black history.
A descendant of a 1920s racial massacre victim in Florida spoke out Saturday against the state’s new African American history standards that teach students about violence “against and by African Americans.”
Pastor Stephen Nunn’s great-grandfather July Perry was lynched in Ocoee on Election Day in 1920 by a white mob after a Black man tried to vote, according to WUSF.
The Ocoee massacre and the Rosewood massacre three years later wiped out Black communities in the state as white mobs set upon the areas wreaking death and destruction, according to published reports.
Nunn, who is from the Tampa area, was among those who voiced their frustration about the both-sides nature of the curriculum change during a town hall at the Dr. James R. Smith Neighborhood Center in Orlando, WUSF reported.
State Sen. Geraldine Thompson organized the meeting, which included comments from a fellow Florida Democrat, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, three Edgewater High School students and others.
“I use the term poisoning instead of watering down because, instead of narrowing the information that we’re getting, it’s instead spreading misinformation. And that’s a huge problem,” Luke Hall, a high school senior, told reporters at the event, according to WUSF.
In July, the Florida State Board of Education enacted new regulations that critics claim water down the importance of Black history, theGrio reported.
The board unanimously approved new policies for public schools requiring students to learn that enslaved people “developed skills” that “could be applied for their personal benefit.”
As part of the updated recommendations, educators should mention “acts of violence perpetrated by and against African Americans” when discussing mob violence against Black communities.
At the town hall, Nunn said, “Not just black students, not just Black people, but all students and all people deserve nothing less than truth, they deserve to understand justice and the equality of our ancestors, of the blood sweat and tears that were shed yesterday and that have brought us to where we are today.”
According to WUSF, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential contender, wrote on July 31 that Florida is “dedicated to teaching truth, not partisan narratives.” DeSantis said the new curriculum requirements remove “woke indoctrination” from the classroom to give parents more control over their children, theGrio reported in July.
However, the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said the updated standards were “a disservice to Florida’s students and are a big step backward for a state that has required teaching African American history since 1994.”
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