{"id":131738,"date":"2023-08-03T00:02:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T04:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=131738"},"modified":"2023-08-03T12:01:36","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T16:01:36","slug":"black-fraternity-moves-convention-from-florida-citing-racist-desantis-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/black-fraternity-moves-convention-from-florida-citing-racist-desantis-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Black fraternity moves convention from Florida, citing &#8216;racist&#8217; DeSantis policies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>UPDATED<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Fraternity also decried new curriculum standards<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A historically black fraternity relocated its 2025 national conference from Orlando, Florida, citing state policies it claims are harmful to black Americans.<\/p>\n<p>Alpha Pi Alpha moved the conference, its 99th General Convention and 119th Anniversary Convention, \u201cdue to Governor Ron DeSantis\u2019 harmful, racist, and insensitive policies against the Black community,\u201d according to a July 26 <a href=\"https:\/\/apa1906.net\/fl-convention-moved\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this environment of manufactured division and attacks on the Black community, Alpha Phi Alpha refuses to direct a projected $4.6 million convention economic impact to a place hostile to the communities we serve,\u201d APA General President and biochemist Willis Lonzer stated in the release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEarlier this week, the Florida Board of Education approved a controversial new K-12 curriculum for African American history, which erases Florida\u2019s role in slavery and oppression, blames the victims, and declares that African Americans who endured slavery benefitted from the horrific and torturous\u00a0institution,&#8221; it added.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. moves 2025 General Convention from Orlando, FL due to Governor Desantis&#39; harmful, racist, and insensitive policies against the black community. <\/p>\n<p>Please share. <\/p>\n<p>Read statement: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u3PeDKozQN\">https:\/\/t.co\/u3PeDKozQN<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/APA1906Network?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#APA1906Network<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BreakingNews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreakingNews<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jADgTxrBi0\">pic.twitter.com\/jADgTxrBi0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. \u00ae (@apa1906NETwork) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/apa1906NETwork\/status\/1684247706913456130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 26, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>DeSantis Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern told <em>The College Fix <\/em>on behalf of the governor&#8217;s office that the decision to move the conference amounts to a publicity stunt.<\/p>\n<p>Florida&#8217;s newly published 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fldoe.org\/core\/fileparse.php\/20653\/urlt\/6-4.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">academic standards<\/a> for social studies require state curricula to &#8220;examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The requirement includes a \u201cBenchmark Clarification,\u201d requiring instruction in \u201chow slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The standards also require that curricula \u201cevaluate how conditions for Africans changed in colonial North America from 1619-1776\u201d and \u201cexplain how slave codes were strengthened in response to Africans\u2019 resistance to slavery\u201d among other topics.<\/p>\n<p>Vice President Kamala Harris also criticized the &#8220;personal benefit&#8221; language of the standards, <em>The Fix<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/black-professor-debunks-harris-claim-that-florida-promotes-benefit-of-slavery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n<p>Harris also claimed the standard required teaching that \u201censlaved people benefited from slavery.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery. <\/p>\n<p>They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KamalaHarris\/status\/1683558923205328897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>William Allen, a black political scientist and former Michigan State University professor, described Harris\u2019s claim as \u201ccategorically false.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfricans 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 had said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t necessarily simply embrace their oppressors when they\u2019re oppressed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey also react adaptively and they find ways to make pathways for themselves, even in the presence of oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Fix<\/em> emailed Alpha Phi Alpha on Tuesday to ask what specific provision of the curriculum \u201cerases Florida\u2019s role in slavery and oppression, blames the victims, and declares that African Americans who endured slavery benefitted from the horrific and torturous institution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It has not received a response.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Fraternity joins a broad coalition of organizations protesting Florida\u2019s barrage of harmful and discriminatory policies on protests, voting rights, education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion,\u201d according to its news release, which also referenced a May 20 NAACP <a href=\"https:\/\/naacp.org\/articles\/naacp-issues-travel-advisory-florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel advisory<\/a> \u201ccalling the state \u2018openly hostile\u2019 to African Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The advisory cautions travelers to \u201cunderstand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by[,] African Americans and other communities of color.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> <em>A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the conference was relocated to Dallas.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/desantis-signs-law-to-defund-and-eliminate-colleges-dei-programs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gov. DeSantis signs law to defund, eliminate universities\u2019 DEI programs<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IMAGE: Drake University Fraternity and Sorority Life<\/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>Fraternity also decried new curriculum standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1248,"featured_media":131753,"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":[1085,1077],"tags":[46110,5169,50331,50333,363,50335,50332,12584,760,30305,47217,50334],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/AlphaPiAlpha72-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-ygO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131738"}],"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\/1248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131738"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131809,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131738\/revisions\/131809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}