Black community leaders, including a former Palm Beach County School Board member, sharply denounced Florida’s new education standards Wednesday, packing a school board meeting to plead for teaching “facts, not fiction” about Black history.
More than 30 speakers pinned “Black facts, not history” buttons on their shirts and shared their disgust with the new state standards, which they said attempt to reframe chattel slavery.
“This governor and his cronies are attempting to tie the hands of teachers and imprison the minds of children,” said Debra Robinson, a former school board member and chair of the Coalition for Black Student Achievement. “We are here to announce that we will not let that happen. Not on our watch. Not in our county.”