August 11th 2023.
Black Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds recently missed an opportunity to share his views on the controversial elimination of Black history lessons in Florida schools. He was invited to be part of a panel at the 2023 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention which was focused on Black history and featured Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones.
Donalds was expected to answer questions about the attacks from Florida lawmakers on critical race theory and Black history lessons being taught in schools. Despite agreeing with many far-right conservative views, Donalds had previously criticized the decisions of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to restrict certain aspects of the Black American experience from being taught to school-aged children.
The 44-year-old congressman had taken to social media to state that attempts to feature the "personal benefits" of slavery were wrong and needed to be adjusted. However, he himself had helped to write and pass much of the legislation critiqued by Democrats and educators. The adjusted curriculum he had supported often highlighted African enslavers while downplaying the atrocities inflicted upon the enslaved during chattel slavery by white supremacist figures.
NABJ had hoped to have Donalds present to answer for the damaging legislation he and other Republicans had supported. His failure to show indicated that the far-right was not interested in accountability, according to some.
Hannah-Jones, author of The 1619 Project and Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, had expressed her disappointment at Donalds' sudden cancellation. She mentioned that if people in power wanted to make any type of structural change, then they would pass policies that focused on the 400-year system of racism, which has caused Black suffering.
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