Local 108 joined The People’s Organization For Progress (POP)’s press conference to condemn Gov Ron DeSantis’ Florida public school curriculum that says African Americans benefited from slavery. The press conference was held Monday, July 31, 2023, 5:00pm at the Federal Building, 970 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey.
Recently, as a result of Gov Ron DeSantis signing into law The Stop Wrongs To Our Kids And Employees Act (“Stop Woke Act”), the Florida State Board of Education revised its black history curriculum to say that slavery was personally beneficial to enslaved black people because it gave them skills.
“The centuries of enslavement of African people in the United States is one of the most uniquely horrific chapters of human history. It was a crime against humanity,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated. “The assertion by the Florida State Board of Education social studies curriculum that slavery was personally beneficial to the enslaved is just another version of a long-standing racist and white supremacist lie that slavery was good for black people,” Hamm said. “This is a form of racist indoctrination and is yet another example of institutionalized racism in education. It is an affront to human dignity that must be condemned in no uncertain terms,” he said. “I call upon President Biden and the Justice Department to act now to stop this violation of black students human and civil rights,” Hamm said.
