Dear Florida: The Conversations We Are Not Having About African American Erasure
“Nobody wins when the family feuds.” —Shawn “ Jay-Z” Carter
As Governor Ron DeSantis leads the conversation against the gravitas of African American history in the classrooms of Florida, the entire country looks on. A recent rejection of the College Board’s introduction of AP African American Studies in Florida high schools speaks volumes to the visceral response to a more complete exploration of American history that includes…Americans. Our Collaborative offers the following reflections as educators are left to assemble the shrapnel left from the family feud.
Dear Beloved Community,
This essay does not aim to defend the College Board, an organization that generated $1.11B of revenue in 2019 and was established in 1900 with a foundation rooted in eugenics and racism. At its essence, the College Board functions as a monopolistic gatekeeping barrier to poor Black and brown students for higher education.
What is most alarming about DeSantis’s unprecedented claim to be the singular subject matter expert on African American Studies and the Black experience is that, by the College Board acquiescing to criticism from conservatives and allowing them to determine how we examine the Black experience in a course that will be taught across the country, not only does it validate their contemptuous lies, but it will undoubtedly encourage more of this behavior.
Educators are stewards of history and truth, we are conservators and curators of curricula. Our natural inclination is to empower our students to discover and explore meaning and application. Now more than at any other time in recent history educators are anxious and confused about how to teach African American Studies or any other subject that political entities or organizations have decided to weaponize, monetize or gaslight.
You know who is not being centered here? Whose perspective is not part of the conversation? Who has the College Board neglected in their buckling and who does DeSantis sacrifice in his quest for the highest office in the land? The students. It is their educational experience that hangs in the balance and they are the collateral damage in all of this posturing.
Capitalism is dependent upon illusory options. While the College Board and DeSantis bicker, how may we, as educators, reimagine how we teach African American Studies with all of its complexity and depth without ascribing the AP prefix to it? It will take preparation: from culturally competent pedagogy, to anti-racist frameworks, scaffolding, mission alignment and community engagement but all of it is achievable, without cost to our students but instead, enrichment of the community as a whole.
My question for colleges and universities is why would you continue to accept AP credits from courses tailored to DeSantis’s autocratic endeavors?
People may be wondering why DeSantis is trying to undermine higher education for the people he represents? Ijeoma Oluo reminds us that “When white men saw that their degrees no longer put them as far ahead of Black people as their degrees once did, they began to question whether a diploma was worth the cost”. These types of attacks on higher education are not new and began during Ronald Reagan’s governorship of California when he launched a full assault on the University of California system– this tirade continued throughout his presidency. Then and now, DeSantis and other Republicans know that people with college degrees are far less likely to vote Republican.
Presently this country finds itself dangerously close to political science fiction, Parable of the Sower type levels. DeSantis’s encroachment on classroom libraries, AP African American Studies and higher education usher us one step closer to despotism. Powerful white men like DeSantis have been led to believe that everything should be built for them, it is a luxury Black people in this country have never had. As an educator, DEI practitioner and Black woman, I reject DeSantis’s racist claim that an AP curriculum in African American Studies “lacks educational value”, his statements and actions degrade Black culture and its impact throughout history. This is erasure.
This type of censorship has generational implications for Black and brown students in Florida and beyond. DeSantis is taking away students’ freedom of choice about what they are able to learn in an unparalleled way. For those of us who remain committed to a democratic society we owe it to the students of Florida and across the country to hold the College Board accountable for the abdication of its review process. And we must not be intimidated by the likes of those in power who cling to white supremacy ideology. Instead let us be relentless when combating mis/disinformation, remain civically engaged, and provide our students with the full breadth of curricula that are grounded in justice and liberation.
Towards liberation,
Dearest LGBTQ+ and white Community (with a word for the College Board),
While in college working on my first degree, I did a survey of the texts available in anthologies of British literature. In that research, I came to understand the immense power of a company that controls the access of knowledge and information available to entire nations and through which entire generations of students will come to understand their world. I look at those same anthologies now and see those who were once erased and invisible available and found worth of academic study–primarily those now included are women, Black, Indigenous, Asian, and, yes, Queer people. Dear College Board, regardless of my personal opinion of the commodification of education, you are the wielder of the power of access. And there is responsibility in that.
And so, I would like to offer you a value proposition. Make a choice not to cave to a politician or anti-intellectual sentiment that is barely disguised white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny. A good value proposition tells your customer why they should do business with you. The tides of politics and power ebb and flow–swing as a pendulum to extremes. There are those who will continue to fight for a more just world. You too have a role in that. But at its most base capitalistic expression right now, you have damaged your value. If you can erase and ignore entire swaths of lives and experiences in a history course, you have failed. You are no longer a consistent product for your consumers. Create a process and courses that are consistent with your mission to create “a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success.” Rather than ensure that African American history is palatable to white, cis, straight folks, return to your mission and let those who would judge it find their own place in history.
I will not address Ron DeSantis. He peddles in the politics of fear and because of that, he has given people license to hate.
I will address the hate.
Using the Queer community as a means to reduce and police the history, lives, and contributions of Black and African American peoples in the United States is simply put, racism under the guise of homophobia. In removing/reducing this in your curriculum, you have systematically erased the experience of actual people. They exist and have existed. Your job is to provide inclusive opportunities. You have failed in that. In removing/reducing this in your curriculum, you have systematically erased the experience of actual people. They exist and have existed. Your job is to provide inclusive opportunities. You have failed in that.
As a Queer person and member of the LGBTQ+ community, and as a white person, I am calling you to task for that. I will not accept it. And I call upon my fellow community members to hold you accountable. Particularly my white queer family. Too much of LGBTQ+ history and practices have been whitewashed–despite those queer and trans people of color that have so often led the charge. So, as a white person, I cannot let that happen here. Rainbow family, rise up. Recognize that they are trying to erase our family at the intersections and margins where many are already not known or seen, to keep young people from knowing the long history of our existence and influence.
To the College Board, you have power. Power that allows you to name who and what is worthy to know. The stranglehold that you have on access to learning is not neutral. There is no one to oppose you. As a collective of people you sought out professionals, people who have dedicated their lives and embedded themselves in understanding of and translation of the history of African Americans in the United States. Trust the professionals.
bell hooks wrote, “Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, reveling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community.” (From Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope, 2003)
Perhaps, you could have simply used this edict from bell hooks to respond to those in Florida or those who would question the legitimacy of the course. Follow the lead of these African American scholars and historical figures and let their words speak on behalf of the course.
Do better. Learning need not be palatable to those who refuse to consume it. It need only exist for those who would wade into its waters and immerse themselves in the possibility of holding information at hand.
Together in Accountability,
Dear Florida(and all other places where African American history is devalued),
I hope that you get rear-ended by a hazmat truck at a stop light, only to be saved by a medic in a gas mask, then informed that the inventor of the gas mask (1912) and the traffic light (1923) is Garrett Morgan.
I hope that you have a job interview and find all of your clothes wrinkled, only to discover that the ironing board was invented by Sarah Boone back in 1892.
I hope that your Amazon packages get stolen off your front porch and you purchase a home-security system, only to discover that Mary Van Brittan Brown invented it back in 1966.
I hope that your local grocery store closes and that you have to use a food delivery service only to discover that Frederick McKinley Jones invented the refrigerated truck back in 1940.
The notion that African-American history is somehow superfluous or additive is indeed un-American. Where would our country, if not our entire world be without the innovation and creativity of African-Americans? Rear-ended, unemployed, wrinkled, robbed, and hungry.
Your children, our students, BENEFIT from learning a fuller American history than is currently being taught. We are not asking for additions to the curriculum; we’re asking for a fuller exploration of it.
Education is not indoctrination.
Do better.
Signed,
All of us who know better.
Phillips Collaborative invites schools, leaders and corporations who aren’t distracted by the divisive narratives, are focused on the advancement of their DEIJ work and motivated to teach students the curricula they deserve: a fuller perspective of African American history and the Black experience, to contact us. Let’s get busy getting free, because nobody wins when the family feuds.
