Staff Report

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – With 100 #BlackFactsNotFiction buttons worn by the attendees, area residents and education advocates at last week’s meeting put Palm Beach County School Board members on notice regarding how objectionable they view Florida’s new guidelines for teaching African American History.

A “VERY BIG SETBACK” IS HOW GAINES AND OTHER COMMUNITY LEADERS DESCRIBED AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY EDUCATION BEING UNDER ATTACK.

The range of speakers Wednesday at the district’s Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center headquarters included West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James, former West Palm Beach NAACP President Lia Gaines, former county School Board member Debra Robinson, attorney and County Commission candidate Richard Ryles, and Palm Beach Chapter NAACP organizer and former elected official Lynne Hubbard.

Florida has come under increasing scrutiny, including nationwide criticism, for the state Department of Education curriculum championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-dominated Legislature, and adopted in July, with wording that suggests enslaved blacks benefitted from slavery, for example.

A “very big setback” is how Gaines and other community leaders described African American history education being under attack. They vowed to continue to push back, and alerted board members that they expect them to fight just as hard, to defend the right to teach factual rather than revisionist history, regarding chattel slavery and its legacy.