Teaching Civil Rights in Florida

Contrary to MSNBC, Florida’s “Stop Woke Act” didn’t stop a college from teaching civil rights. Just the opposite—the act requires that civil rights be taught.

SOURCES:

On 3/24/24, MSNBC host Alex Wagner reported that Eastern Florida State College is canceled a “U.S. government class after a student cited discomfort during a discussion on civil rights” and that “the class was canceled under the umbrella of Governor Desantis’ Stop Woke Act, which specifically banned the teaching of any lesson— especially those about race and racism—if the lesson makes any student feel discomfort.” https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1640081313855094790

Florida’s Stop Woke Act (Bill 7, 2022: “Individual Freedom”) doesn’t contain the word “discomfort” or any language that vaguely approximates what Wagner stated. Instead, the law prohibits public schools and colleges from teaching students that they are inferior, “superior,” “oppressed,” “privileged,” or guilty “by virtue of his or her race.” https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/7/BillText/er/PDF#page=9

Wagner also reported: “And here’s what that looks like in real life. [Eastern Florida State College student Jacob Dailey is shown claiming], ‘The topic was civil rights, no specific bit of it, just in general, as far as I’m aware. And so the teacher basically had to cancel this class of about 20 students in total because of the student’s discomfort.” Due to ongoing legal challenges, the Stop Woke Act has not been implemented at Florida colleges and universities yet. But confusion and concern are already widespread as teachers from elementary, to high school, to college reevaluate the way that they teach and apparently what they teach.” https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1640081313855094790

The Stop Woke Act doesn’t even prohibit the teaching of the racial tenets of leftism as long as it is done “in an objective manner without objective endorsement of the concepts.” https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/7/BillText/er/PDF#page=11

Wagner also reported, “In the meantime, a college established during the civil rights era has to figure out whether it can even teach students about the civil rights era.” https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1640081313855094790

The Stop Woke Act requires schools to teach the history of African Americans, including the “ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping,” along with “slavery, racial oppression, and “racial discrimination.” https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/7/BillText/er/PDF#page=15

MSNBC footage is reproduced under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law for “purposes such as criticism” and “comment” (17 U.S.C. §107). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107