If there are Holocaust deniers, despite overwhelming evidence, why shouldn't the same be true of slavery, the original sin at the founding of America?
Some time ago, when Donald Trump resided in the White House, with recognized friendships among white supremacists, the African-American rapper Kanye West was received in audience. Disseminator of anti-Semitic ideas, he also gave voice to one of the blasphemies that racists spread. The rapper claimed that slavery had been a black choice.
That an African-American said it endorsed the extremist conservatives. The occurrence caused stupor in general, not only among those affected, but many thought that the musician's neurons were slipping.
His tale sounded similar to that of the protagonist in the film Life of Brian, when the Romans ask him “crucifixion or not?” and he answers "crucifixion", to immediately laugh and clarify, "no, that's a joke".
Another thing of much greater depth, without joking, is what has occurred this week in the state board of Education (education?) of Florida, the state governed by the ultra Ron DeSantis, candidate for the presidency in 2024 and with claims to rewrite a past that is still very present.
If this continues, over time, when you ask a child about slavery, they'll say it didn't exist, that it was an opportunity for people kidnapped in Africa, herded like cattle on boats, sold like horses, physically exploited on plantations, raped, humiliated, imprisoned, or lynched if they tried to flee what Florida is trying to explain was really a place to learn a trade.
The public schools of this state will teach their students that many black people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful skills, just as if it had been a machine shop, a forge, or a university.
This doctrine is part of the new standards of African-American history approved under the slogans anti woke (against the awareness) of DeSantis, a theory despised by the teachers' union, as it is a step backwards, and by numerous critics, including many historians, who claimed that "only half the story and half the truth are explained."
This instruction seeks to “whitewash” slavery and omits key factors of the black experience in the US The new guidelines include controversial language about how “slaves developed skills, in some cases, that they were able to apply to their advantage,” according to the 216-page document dedicated to patterns in social studies.
The vice president, Kamala Harris, so questioned by her public absence, ordered a radical change in her agenda and in less than 24 hours she improvised a trip this Friday, something that usually takes days, to make a fiery speech.
"The extremists of this state are inoculating propaganda in our children," he denounced in Jacksonville.
“Let's not allow these politicians, who try to divide, to create unnecessary debates. That the slaves benefited from slavery, you are kidding me, ”he said. “We all know what slavery entails. It involves torture, taking a mother's child, it involves some of the worst examples of depriving people of humanity in our world. How can anyone suggest, in the midst of these atrocities, that benefits were achieved by being subjected to this level of dehumanization?” he stressed.
DeSantis countered that his theory is based on facts. African-American Will Hurd, a former Republican congressman, replied: "Unfortunately, slavery was not a work program, it turned people into property with no rights and no freedom."
