{"id":131272,"date":"2023-07-25T10:33:50","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T14:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=131272"},"modified":"2023-07-25T10:33:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T14:33:50","slug":"black-professor-debunks-harris-claim-that-florida-promotes-benefit-of-slavery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/black-professor-debunks-harris-claim-that-florida-promotes-benefit-of-slavery\/","title":{"rendered":"Black professor debunks Harris claim that Florida promotes benefit of slavery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Harris is &#8216;categorically false&#8217; and in &#8216;error,&#8217; historian says<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Vice President Kamala Harris is wrong to suggest that Florida\u2019s social studies standards promote the idea that Africans benefited from slavery, according to a black political scientist and former Michigan State University professor.<\/p>\n<p>Professor William Allen, a member of Florida\u2019s African American History Standards Workgroup, told ABC News that the vice president is wrong to suggest that Florida.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery,\u201d the VP <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KamalaHarris\/status\/1683558923205328897\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claimed<\/a>. \u201cThey insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She made similar claims last Thursday in Indianapolis. \u201cJust yesterday in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery,\u201d Harris told the crowd at the annual Delta Sigma Theta sorority, a black organization. \u201cThey insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She made the comments shortly after claiming \u201cextremists\u201d were passing \u201cbook bans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script>!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/embedJS\/ugavb5\"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+\"\/?url=\"+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+\"&args=\"+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, \"script\", \"Rumble\");<\/script><\/p>\n<div id=\"rumble_v2zo5z0\"><\/div>\n<p><script>\nRumble(\"play\", {\"video\":\"v2zo5z0\",\"div\":\"rumble_v2zo5z0\"});<\/script><\/p>\n<p>This is not true, according to Allen (<em>pictured<\/em>). Asked by ABC News about the \u201cbacklash\u201d to the standards, Allen noted that the \u201ccriticism\u201d from Harris, \u201cwas an error\u201d and \u201ccategorically false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was never said that slavery was beneficial to Africans,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is the case that Africans proved resourceful, resilient, and adaptive and were able to develop skills and aptitudes which served to their benefit, both while enslaved and after enslavement,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fldoe.org\/core\/fileparse.php\/20653\/urlt\/6-4.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">standards<\/a> say that students should learn about \u201cthe various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation)\u201d and \u201chow slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Allen, a descendant of slaves, provided further comments to ABC News.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Yesterday, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/abcnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@abcnews<\/a> aired a very small section of their interview with a member of Florida\u2019s African American History Standards Workgroup, Dr. William B. Allen.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s more of the interview, where Dr. Allen debunks <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@VP<\/a>\u2019s narrative and calls her criticism \u201ccategorically false.\u201d\ud83e\uddf5 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hPFbKNZPs1\">pic.twitter.com\/hPFbKNZPs1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JeremyRedfernFL\/status\/1683197194432573440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 23, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople don&#8217;t necessarily simply embrace their oppressors when they&#8217;re oppressed,\u201d he said. \u201cThey also react adaptively and they find ways to make pathways for themselves, even in the presence of oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd that&#8217;s what calls upon their resourcefulness, their resilience, and their adaptability,\u201d Allen said. \u201cAnd from these things, we begin to see how it becomes possible for some people to see that even though people were enslaved, they made great contributions to the growing prosperity of this society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He continued to say that \u201cevery intellect can understand the language written there if people will only take the time to read it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it&#8217;s only those who don&#8217;t take the time to read it, who will misstate it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/nyu-study-debunks-claim-russian-bots-helped-trump-in-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NYU study debunks Trump-Russia hoax<\/a><\/p>\n<p>IMAGES: Michigan State University; White House<\/p>\n            <div class=\"article-truncate-control\">\n                <button class=\"show-complete-article\">\n                    Read More                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harris is &#8216;categorically false&#8217; and in &#8216;error,&#8217; historian says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1171,"featured_media":131279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1361],"tags":[40898,363,12584,2760,47217],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/WilliamAllen.MichiganStateUniversity.WhiteHouse72.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-y9i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131272"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131282,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131272\/revisions\/131282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}