Dear Editor:
Recent policies and controversies over the teaching of the College Board AP course in African American Studies, the new African American History Standards, Gender Identity, Woke, Multicultural Education, Diversity and Inclusion, and Critical Race Theory (CRT), demand immediate attention and action.
A central issue in the controversies is the assertion by blindly ambitious politicians and ill-informed academics that “slavery provided beneficial skills to the enslaved and how mob violence against Black people included acts of violence perpetuated against and by African Americans.”
Such revisionist attempts by self-proclaimed historians in American History is not only silly but irresponsible. If what appears to be a trend is allowed to remain unchecked, it will create irreparable damage to our educational system.
We must avoid the miseducation of our youth and the American people; and indeed the global community. Thus, the Alachua County African American History Task Force strongly condemns the new Florida Department of Education policies and the apparent attempts to hijack our educational system for political gains.
We, the People must not allow this assault on our educational institutions. We urge all Floridians and all Americans of “good will” to stay woke to prevent the repetition of the mistakes in our past. We can do it again!
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Jacob U. Gordon, Chair
Alachua County African American History Task Force