Parents and Black leaders in Broward County joined forces Thursday to speak out about their concerns in the classroom, primarily the controversial changes to Florida's curriculum on Black history and beyond.
The concerned community gathered Thursday night at First Baptist Piney Grove in Lauderdale Lakes where they addressed the new and controversial African American history standards that were approved by the Florida Board of Education.
As part of the new standards, Florida’s public schools will teach students that some Black people benefited from slavery because it taught them useful skills.
The Florida State Board of Education’s new standards includes controversial language about how “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,” according to a 216-page document about the state’s 2023 standards in social studies, posted by the Florida Department of Education.
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In an education town hall, Black leaders came together to address what students are taught, but they also raised concerns about Black students will be treated.
“There are structural systems that are in place, that promote this ideology, that some are superior or supreme and others are not. So they are treated differently,” said State Sen. Rosalind Osgood.
Broward County Public Defender Gordon Weeks raised the differences the equitable treatment of Black students when facing the same issues as white students.
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“They're the same things that go on in schools that are predominantly of color, but they have a different method to deal with that problem. They pick up the phone. They talk to the parents. They call the principal. They have a little counseling," Weeks said. "But in our communities, handcuffs and a ride in the back of a car down to the jail.”
The Broward County town hall comes after Black leaders in Miami-Dade hosted a similar meeting on the subject, just two weeks ago.
