A CNN Republican commentator slammed Kamala Harris for speaking out against Florida’s new curriculum. She said her anger at the course, which discussed how slaves were “favored,” was misguided, calling the scandal “made up.”
Harris was in Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday and condemned the new curriculum, which was unveiled on July 19.
The Florida Board of Education’s new state academic standards for the social sciences state that students should be taught “how slaves developed skills that could, in some cases, be used to their personal advantage.”
Harris said it was abhorrent to teach students that slaves benefited from enslavement.
But Scott Jennings, a political commentator, Harvard lecturer, and public relations expert who served in the George W. Bush White House, said Harris was wrong, accusing her of “making something literally out of nothing.”
Scott Jennings, a CNN commentator, condemned Kamala Harris on Sunday for her criticism of Florida’s new curriculum
“People who go around wanting to be lauded as leaders want to be labeled as American leaders who are forcing propaganda on our children,” said Vice President Kamala Harris
“Which is amazing to me.” [is] So little does Kamala Harris seem to need to be able to read something on Twitter one day and be on a plane the next, literally making something out of nothing,” he told CNN.
“This is a completely made-up deal.”
Jennings claimed the outrage over the curriculum approved by Florida Gov. and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis was unwarranted.
“I looked at the standards, I even looked at an analysis of the standards. In every case where the word slavery or slave was used, I even read the testimony of the African American scholars who wrote the standards — not Ron DeSantis, but the scholars,” he said.
“Everyone involved says this is a completely fabricated matter, and yet look at how quickly Kamala Harris acted on it.”
“The fact that this is her best moment, a made up affair, is pretty ridiculous.”
On page six of the 216-page document, it says, “The lessons include how slaves developed skills that could, in some cases, be used to their personal advantage.”
Page 17 also states that teachers discussing racial riots like the Tulsa massacre should talk about black-to-black violence and be aware of “acts of violence against and by African Americans.”
Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis attacked Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for focusing on his Florida politics
Ashley Allison, Harvard professor and CNN commentator (right), disagreed with Jennings
The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, said in a statement that the new standards were unacceptable.
“These standards are a disservice to Florida’s students and a major step backwards for a state that has mandated African American history classes since 1994,” the union said.
The NAACP called the curriculum “sanitary and dishonest.”
Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, said, “Today’s action by the Florida state government is an attempt to take our country back to a 19th-century America where black lives were not valued and our rights were not protected.”
“It is imperative that we understand that the horrors of slavery and Jim Crow were a violation of human rights and represent the darkest time in American history.” We refuse to return.
“The NAACP has fought malicious actors like those within the DeSantis administration for over a century, and we stand ready to continue this fight by any means necessary.”
“Our children deserve nothing less than truth, justice, and the justice for which our ancestors shed blood, sweat, and tears.”
Ashley Allison, a member of CNN’s Sunday panel, said Jennings was wrong.
“I think at that panel we could all agree that slaves did not benefit from slavery,” she said.
“Even if the certificate said, ‘Well, they might have…’ they didn’t have a choice, so that’s not an advantage. Slaves didn’t have the freedom to choose, as Ron DeSantis said, maybe they could have become a blacksmith. Not if they didn’t have the choice to become a blacksmith.
“And that’s what Kamala Harris said.”
Allison said the curriculum needed to be seen as part of DeSantis’ “war on the guards” and his presidential campaign.
“And I hope that at this moment, when we have such a contentious political environment, that we can all agree that slavery is not a good thing and there is no benefit in slavery.” And then we could move on,” she said.
“But the problem is that the governor, who ranks second in the polls for the Republican nomination, won’t do that.”