White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre attacked Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued a travel warning to black Americans.
The travel warning claimed Florida “devalues and marginalizes” black Americans after the state’s Department of Education rejected an Advanced Placement (AP) African American history course that contained components of critical race theory and queer theory.
“I’m not going to comment on travel advisories specifically, but I’ll say this more broadly and where we have been as an administration, as a White House. We’ve been outspoken about the impact of misguided policies advanced by Florida lawmakers,” Jean-Pierre said. “Republicans in Florida have attacked diversity, attacked inclusion efforts. They’ve limited the teaching of black history and they’ve launched attacks on the LGBTQ youth, immigrants, educators and women’s reproductive freedom.”
She vowed the Biden administration will oppose policies that prohibit classroom discussion of sexuality and gender identity to children, sex-reassignment surgeries and puberty blockers for minors and teaching CRT to students, which she called “discriminatory policies.” (RELATED: Jean-Pierre Says DeSantis’ Ban Of CRT-Related Curriculum ‘Incomprehensible’)
“We’ve seen them across the country by Republicans, extreme Republicans, putting forth these policies, these legislations that hurt Americans and take away their freedom,” she said.
The African American history class in question included a lesson called, “Black Queer Studies” in Unit 4. The section taught about “the concept of the queer of color critique, grounded in Black feminism and intersectionality, as a Black studies lens that shifts sexuality studies toward racial analysis.” It also consisted of a required reading by Eduardo Bonilla Silva which “examines in detail how Whites talk, think, and account for the existence of racial inequality and makes clear that color-blind racism is as insidious now as ever.”
DeSantis signed the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” in April 2022 which banned faculty from teaching about race in a way that leads students to feel “guilt, anguish or other psychological stress.” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker blocked the law in November, calling the law “positively dystopian.”
Democrats have taken aim at the state over DeSantis’ anti-woke policies. Strategist Aisha Mills called it a “terrorist state,” despite recently vacationing there for spring break.