Don Lemon Makes A Pathetic Attempt To Attack Ron DeSantis
Recently, the Left has been trying to impose their hard-left values on schools and indoctrinate students in their own ideology. Unsurprisingly, parents are up in arms over what their children are being taught, leading to more school board activism.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently upheld the Florida State Department of Education's decision to deny the College Board permission to run a pilot AP (Advanced Placement) course on African American Studies pushing themes like "Intersectionality and Activism".
Don Lemon, always eager to act as the Left's mouthpiece, accused DeSantis of trying to make it "illegal to teach slavery" in schools. But, of course, that's a load of bullsh*t. All DeSantis objected to was a hard-left perspective on teaching African American history and not just teaching facts about slavery without an ideological bent.
It's understandable that people would be concerned about politicians being involved in determining what will be taught in schools, but if left unchecked, teachers' unions could continue with their one-sided approach as they have for decades now. After all, what our kids learn really helps shape us as a society which is why control over that information is so important and high stakes—regardless of political ideology.
It's clear that Don Lemon doesn't understand this nuance and instead chose to mischaracterize DeSantis' decision with his claim that he was making it illegal to teach slavery in schools—which is simply untrue.
What's really going on here is that DeSantis is trying to prevent the Left from pushing Critical Race Theory (CRT) on our students. CRT is a way of looking at the world that focuses on the role of racism and power. But it's nothing more than a form of indoctrination and should have no place in our schools.
The Left's attempt to further their own agenda in schools is dangerous. It's imperative that we, as parents, stand up to the Left and make sure that our children are being taught the facts, not their ideology. We must also call out people like Don Lemon who spread misinformation and lies about what's really going on. Our kids' future is at stake.
Transcript Below:
DON LEMON: So, live pictures you're looking at now of Miami, Florida, as the governor of that state, Ron DeSantis, defends his decision to block a new advanced placement course on African American studies in his state. He says some of the lessons in the course go too far and are a violation of state law.
RON DESANTIS: We want education, not indoctrination. This course on black history, what are, what's one of the lessons about? Queer theory. Now, who would say that an important part of black history is queer theory? That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids. And so, when you look to see they have stuff about intersectionality, abolishing prisons, that's a political agenda. And so, we're on, that's the wrong side of the line for Florida standards.
LEMON: The objections from the DeSantis administration center around the writings in the coursework associated with a number of topics, including black queer studies, as you heard there, heard from him in that sound bite right there. The movement for black lives, and reparations as well. Now, Florida under DeSantis banned instruction at schools that suggest anyone is privileged or oppressed based on their race or skin color. College Board is currently plotting -- piloting, I should say, excuse me, the AP course at 60 schools across the country and plans to make it available nationwide.
Let's discuss now. CNN anchor and correspondent and host of the CNN podcast "The Assignment with Audie Cornish." Audie Cornish is here. Good morning to you.
AUDIE CORNISH:Good morning.
LEMON: So, the CRT, now, what is, what's going on here?
CORNISH: Well, already I'm seeing some activists call this, "Don't say black." The idea that he's going to -- like the "Don't say gay" bill. That you can somehow draw lines in the classroom.
And I think that's one of the most important things he said. The idea it's on our side, our standards, our side of the line. What is that line? Who's going to draw it?
And if Ron DeSantis runs for president, does he plan on drawing those lines nationwide? In classrooms nationwide? And I think that is a question for every voter, every person who's kind of watching what's going on in Florida. What does it mean when politicians think you can reach all the way into the classroom and tell people what is and what is not okay.
. . .
And I don't know where he wants to draw the line. Slavery was political at one point. Martin Luther King obviously, as Republicans love to talk about, you know, every January. This was a political movement. And no one wanted to learn about that then either. If that's the kind of lineage he wants to join, you know, people who are saying, don't talk about the political thinking of marginalized groups, he's welcome to do it.
LEMON: So, slavery became illegal. Now, it's going to be illegal to teach slavery in schools. It seems really odd.
CORNISH: I mean, where's he going to draw the line? Somewhere between abolition and now? I don't know where Ron DeSantis considers the history versus the now.
LEMON: Isn't education all about critical thinking? I mean, you just verbalized what I was thinking. Look, there's going to come a point we are going to teach kids about the MAGA movement. That wasn't comfortable for a lot of people. We're going to teach kids about the Oath Keepers. We're going to teach kids about what happened on January 6th.
All of these things, that's going to be part of our history. And so, are you going to ban that because it's not happy, because you don't like it, because it makes the MAGA movement look bad? Do you understand what I'm saying?
CORNISH: When I was studying, kind of the school board activism movement of which DeSantis is very much the face of, these are the exact conversations that happen decade after decade. Which is that people of the moment say we shouldn't be talking about x because it's too political. Get it out of the classroom. And then a big fight ensues. Because, what our kids learn really helps shape us as a society. So control over that is very high stakes. More high stakes than people give it credit for.