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A section covering the Black Lives Matter movement and the killing of George Floyd was removed from a middle school textbook in Florida following a review by state officials.
Amid Gov. Ron DeSantis' fight against "woke indoctrination," the Florida Department of Education said on Tuesday (May 9) that state officials initially rejected 82 of 101 social studies textbooks submitted for review because their contents included “inaccurate material, errors, and other information that was not aligned with Florida law,” pet the New York Times.
However, state officials worked with publishers to make adjustments that would align with Florida law and ultimately approved 66 textbooks.
The Department of Education released a document detailing updates made to textbooks at the publishers’ request. One passage related to BLM and Floyd's death was removed from a middle school textbook upon review.
In part, the textbook previously stated that while “many Americans sympathized with the Black Lives Matter movement,” others were critical of the movement’s use of violence and looting. According to Florida officials, the passage covered “unsolicited topics.”
Miami-Dade County School Board member Steve Gallon III gave a sharp critique of Florida's move to modify social studies textbooks.
“Social studies has always been the subject area in which students learn present and historical facts, and express their ideas regarding these occurrences,” he told The Miami Herald. “Any efforts that actually alter, eliminate or whitewash history run counter to the fundamentals of education and principles of this country.”
Hillsborough School Board member Jessica Vaughn said, “There’s so many emotions, but I guess immediately it’s fear. I’m afraid of the pattern of erasing or trying to rewrite history because to me this is right out of the playbook of fascism.”
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