Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reaffirmed his support for new history standards in his state’s public schools instructing students that enslaved people developed useful “skills” in the course of their enslavement. Speaking to NBC News, the 2024 GOP nomination hopeful first said he “wasn’t involved” in the development of the new standards, but then went on to defend them. He said the standards are “probably going to show some of the folks,” referring to enslaved people, “that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.” DeSantis added that those people “developed skills in spite of slavery, not because of slavery.” When confronted with his 2024 rival Sen. Tim Scott’s criticism of the new standards, DeSantis answered: “Don’t take that side of Kamala Harris against the state of Florida. Don’t indulge those lies.” Vice President Harris declined DeSantis’ invitation to debate the new standards last week, saying it is an “undeniable fact” that “there were no redeeming qualities of slavery.”
