A CNN Republican commentator slammed Kamala Harris for speaking out against Florida’s new school curriculum.
Harris was in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday denouncing the new curriculum, which was unveiled on July 19.
Florida Board of Education new state academic standards for social studies argues that students should be taught “how slaves developed skills, which in some cases could be applied for their personal benefit.”
Harris said it was abhorrent to teach students that slaves benefited from slavery.
But Scott Jennings, a political commentator, Harvard lecturer, and public relations expert who worked in George W. Bush’s White House, said Harris was wrong, accusing her of “literally making something out of nothing.”
Scott Jennings, a CNN commentator, slammed Kamala Harris for her criticism of Florida’s new curriculum on Sunday
“People walking around wanting to be hailed as leaders, they want to be talked about as American leaders, enforcing propaganda on our children,” Vice President Kamala Harris said.
‘What strikes me [is] that how little Kamala Harris apparently has to do that she can read something on Twitter one day and be on a plane the next day literally making something out of nothing,” he told CNN.
“This is a completely fabricated deal.”
Jennings claimed that the outcry over the curriculum, approved by Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, was unfounded.
“I looked at the standards, I even looked at an analysis of the standards, in every instance where the word slavery or slave was used, I even read the statement of the African American scholars who wrote the standards — not Ron DeSantis, but the scholars,” he said.
“Everyone involved in this is saying this is completely a fabricated issue, but look how quickly Kamala Harris jumped on it.
“So the fact that this is her best moment, a made-up thing, is pretty ridiculous.”
Page six of the 216-page document reads: “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills that could in some cases be applied for their personal benefit.”
It also says on page 17 that teachers discussing race riots, such as the Tulsa massacre, should talk about black-on-black violence, and take note of “acts of violence committed against and by African Americans.”
Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis attacked Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their focus on his Florida policies
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 are unacceptable.
“These standards are a disservice to Florida students and are a major setback for a state that has been required to teach African American history since 1994,” the union said.
The NAACP called the curriculum “sanitized and unfair.”
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO, said, “The actions of the Florida state government are an attempt to return our country 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 human rights violation and represent the darkest period in American history. We refuse to go back.
“The NAACP has been fighting malicious actors, such as those within the DeSantis administration, for more than a century, and we stand ready to continue that battle by any means necessary.
“Our children deserve nothing less than truth, justice and fairness for which our ancestors shed blood, sweat and tears.”
Ashley Allison, a member of Sunday’s CNN panel, said Jennings was wrong.
“I think we can all agree on this panel that slaves don’t profit from slavery,” she said.
“Even if the quote said, ‘Well, maybe they had…’ 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 blacksmiths. Not if they didn’t have the choice to become blacksmiths.
“So that’s what Kamala Harris said.”
Allison said the curriculum should be seen as part of DeSantis’ war on wake and his presidential campaign.
“And I hope that in this moment in which we have such a controversial political environment, we can all agree that slavery was not a good thing and that slaves did not benefit from it. And then we could move on,’ she said.
“But the problem is that the governor who’s second in the polls for the Republican nomination won’t.”