‘I’m here’: Kamala declines DeSantis’ invitation to debate the ‘redemptive properties of slavery’ in a speech claiming Republicans are trying to erase the ‘ugly parts of our history’

Vice President Kamala Harris turned down Governor Ron DeSantis’ invitation to a debate on Florida’s new black history education policy on Tuesday, saying there were “no redeeming qualities of slavery.”

“I am here in Florida and I tell you there is no round table, no lecture, no invitation that we will accept to discuss an undeniable fact: There were no redemptive properties of slavery,” she declared.

Harris, the nation’s first black vice president, did not name DeSantis, but her intent was clear when she addressed the audience at the African Methodist Episcopal in Orlando, Florida.

She has been the Biden administration’s biggest critic of the state’s new school curriculum enables students to learn that slavery gave Black people “skills” that could be used “for their personal benefit.”

And then she fell against DeSantis, who was campaigning in New Hampshire for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“They are trying to legitimize these unnecessary debates with a proposal that recently came in from a politically motivated round table,” she said of his invitation before firmly declining it.

The more than 3,000 in attendance at the Women’s Missionary Society’s quadrennial conference erupted in applause at her words and gave the vice president a standing ovation.

DeSantis had sent Harris a letter inviting her to Florida to debate the state’s controversial education policy with him.

“You know, now let’s put the money where the mouth is,” he told Harris reporters during a stop in New Hampshire.

“In Florida, we’re not afraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues,” DeSantis wrote in a July 31 letter to Harris.

“And you obviously have no qualms about diving to Florida any time soon. So given your serious concern (which I must assume is genuine) about what you think our standards say, I officially invite you to come back to Florida to discuss our African-American history standards. We look forward to welcoming you here in Tallahassee.”

Harris made a last-minute trip to Florida in late July to give a fiery speech ranting against the state’s new education policies.

While Harris did not name DeSantis in those remarks either, she accused people who “want to be hailed as leaders … foisting propaganda on our children.”

In New Hampshire, DeSantis accused Harris of spreading a false political narrative.

“She came to Florida to attack us. She’s trying to attack me, but she’s actually attacking the people who worked hard on this and, you know, did a lot of men’s work,” DeSantis said. ‘And that’s just wrong.’

He added, “I think it’s wrong to allow lies to perpetuate, it’s wrong to allow false stories to perpetuate — and they’ve been doing this to us from the White House for years, and we’ve fought back every time.”

On Monday evening, he sent her the invitation to meet about her “serious concern” over the matter.

“One would think the White House would applaud such boldness in teaching the unique and important story of African American history,” DeSantis wrote. “But instead you’ve been trying to score cheap political points and label Florida parents as ‘extremists.’ It’s time to set things right,” he wrote.

The letter also criticized the Biden administration’s border policy, saying he can meet Harris as early as Wednesday unless she has “scheduled a trip to the southern border that day.”

“I am willing to meet as early as Wednesday of this week, but of course I want to respect your busy schedule if you already have a major trip to the southern border planned that day,” he wrote.

‘Please let me know as soon as possible. What an example we could be for the nation – a serious conversation about the substance of an important issue! I hope you like it.’

DeSantis, like many Republicans, has criticized President Joe Biden for his handling of the border. Illegal border crossings finally went down in June after months of record highs. DeSantis has vowed to complete Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall on the border.

The letter comes as Florida’s governor trails Trump in polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The former president led DeSantis by 37 points in a New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday.

Trump outranked DeSantis by 54 percent to 17 percent. No other candidate received more than 3 percent support in the poll.

DeSantis told Fox News Monday night that it is “nonsense” for Republican political operatives to label his campaign a failure when the primary is still seven months away.

“Everything you do has to pay off the investment,” DeSantis explained to Fox host Bret Baier in an interview taped during a campaign swing in New Hampshire.

“If there’s no value in it, I get changes and then that’s just the reality of what you have to do,” he added. So I’m not a political agent. I am not a campaign professional. You formulate the vision and execute it. And if it is not executed, you just have to race.’

DeSantis was in New Hampshire on Monday to announce his economic plan. His campaign included a “war on wake” and an emphasis on his family and his service in the military.

But some of his Florida government decisions have come under fire, including the signing of a law banning abortion after six weeks, which is before most women know they’re pregnant, and his state’s new education policy.

Harris, in her remarks in Jacksonville on July 21, accused DeSantis of using his war against Wake to try to raise his national profile as he runs for president.

“When I think about what’s happening here in Florida then, I’m very concerned because, let’s be clear, I really believe this isn’t just about the state of Florida, there’s a national agenda,” she said.

She also said that “as parents, we teach our children to tell the truth.”

“Well, I think we need to model what we say,” she added. “These extreme so-called leaders should model what we know is the right and proper approach, if we are truly invested in the well-being of our children. Instead, they dare to push propaganda to our children. This is the United States of America, we can’t do that,” she said.

DeSantis and his wife Casey have three young children. They talk about it often and put them on the campaign trail.

Harris also denounced the state for rewriting the history of slavery.

“Adults know what slavery really means. It’s about rape. It’s torture,” she said.

“It’s about taking a baby away from their mother. It involved some of the worst examples of depriving people of humanity in our world. So in the context of that, how could anyone suggest that in the midst of these atrocities there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization,” she added.

Let’s reject the idea that we would deny all this in terms of our history. We’ll be better if we remember. We will be stronger if we remember. We waged a war to end the sin of slavery, a civil war, to end slavery.”

And she expressed sympathy for teachers, many of whom objected to the new policy.

“Our teachers who are afraid that if they teach the truth they will lose their jobs. Now we don’t pay them enough,” she said to great applause.

Harris also accused DeSantis of using the issue to try to divide the country.

Let’s not get distracted by what they are trying to do, which is to create unnecessary debates to divide our country. Let’s not fall into that trap,’ she said.