Sen. Tim Scott stands by criticism of FL's Black history curriculum
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, S.C., spoke with Fox News Digital at the site of the first GOP debate of the 2024 election cycle.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, S.C., doubled down on his criticism of Florida's Black history curriculum, suggesting his GOP rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris are actually aligned on the issue in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Last month, Vice President Kamala Harris spearheaded attacks against the Sunshine State's new education guidance, saying it replaces "history with lies" and that students would be "told that enslaved people benefited from slavery."
In reality, the thorough curriculum, which was co-authored by a Black professor, details harsh conditions slaves endured and also explains that "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit" both while enslaved and when they became free.
At the time, Scott spoke out against the curriculum, saying "There is no silver lining in slavery" which sparked some criticism on the right accusing the 2024 hopeful of siding with Harris on the issue.
2024 hopeful Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., doubled down on his criticism of Florida's Black history curriculum in an interview with Fox News Digital. (Joseph A. Wulfsohn/Fox News Digital)
Speaking with Fox News Digital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the sight of the first Republican presidential debate, the senator stood by his criticism, saying DeSantis and Harris "both signed off" on the "same curriculum."
"All I've suggested is take the sentence out," Scott said. "Anyone who suggests that the nation founded on freedom, talking about the one industry slavery that deprives African Americans of their freedom is somehow going to defend any aspect of it whatsoever, it's just wrong."
He continued, "There was not a redeeming quality in slavery. For us to have that conversation at all in 2023 is the wrong direction for this nation, and it's just an immoral, undeniably unethical industry that devastated Black families, mutilated Black people and raped Black women."
Vice President Kamala Harris spearheaded attacks towards Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his state's Black history curriculum. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
When asked to clarify what he meant when he said DeSantis and Harris "both signed off" on the "same curriculum," Scott's campaign pointed to Harris' past defense of the AP African American Studies course that the DeSantis administration rejected in January for its "woke" content.
The course, which has since been revised, offered similar language that read, "In addition to agricultural work, enslaved people learned specialized trades and worked as painters, carpenters, tailors, musicians, and healers in the North and South. Once free, African Americans used these skills to provide for themselves and others."
Fox News Digital reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment.
DeSantis previously knocked Scott as a "D.C. Republican" for accepting "false narratives" and "lies that are perpetrated by the left."
Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis previously fired back at Sen. Tim Scott, S.C., as a "DC Republican" after the lawmaker slammed Florida's Black history curriculum. ((Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))
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Dr. William Allen, a descendent of slavery who helped craft the curriculum in question, said Harris’ "lie" was quickly parroted by an agenda-driven media.
"I wish I could answer for the motives of the media or for the vice president. I'm not able to do that. But I can tell you this contextually -- it is obviously part of a larger effort driven by an agenda," Allen told Fox News Digital.
"The reason I call the vice president's statements categorically false is because it is obvious to anyone of basic literacy that the mere grammar of the sentence in the curriculum standards to which she referred refutes her charge," Allen said.
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