Vice Chairwoman Kamala Harris rejected Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ offer to debate “African-American history standards” after the vice president criticized the education system the Republican has implemented.
Harris has recently been very vocal about Florida’s curriculum, complaining about what she believes is a political agenda. But despite making many criticisms in public, she does not seem ready to discuss it with the state governor.
After receiving a letter of invitation from DeSantis to discuss the issue, the vice president commented at a Quadrennial Convention of the Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church that she would not agree to speak on what she considers “an undeniable fact: there were no redeeming qualities of slavery.”
“They attempt to legitimize these unnecessary debates with a proposal that most recently came in of a politically motivated roundtable,” she said.
DeSantis’ invitation
The governor of Florida decided to confront the vice president’s criticism and invited her to speak about the educational system he has implemented, highlighting that his state is now number one in the nation in education.
“We are committed to teaching truth, not partisan narratives. We have rooted out hateful Marxist theories like ‘Critical Race Theory’ from our classrooms. We have eliminated ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ initiatives in school administration and hiring practices. We have, instead, focused on the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, science, civics and history,” he said.
“It’s past time to set the record straight.”@GovRonDeSantis is inviting @VP to Florida to discuss our new African American history standards with him and Dr. Allen.
Read Governor DeSantis’ letter below: pic.twitter.com/o2W69iJ5il
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) August 1, 2023
DeSantis stressed that the Biden Administration is trying to make the state look bad with false narratives but assured that he was willing to have an open and honest conversation about the education system.
The White House has “instead attempted to score cheap political points and label Florida parents’ extremists.’ It’s past time to set the record straight,” he wrote in his invitation to Harris.
