{"id":7461,"date":"2023-02-09T18:22:08","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T18:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=7461"},"modified":"2023-02-09T18:22:08","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T18:22:08","slug":"african-american-studies-under-attack-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/09\/african-american-studies-under-attack-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"African American Studies Under Attack in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Intrabartola, Senior Public Relations Specialist<\/strong><\/em>
\nRutgers University<\/strong><\/em>
\nSpecial to The Truth<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The College Board has updated an Advanced Placement (A.P.) African American<\/em>
\nStudies course amid criticism from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, with the
\nstate board of education, banned it in state schools saying it violates a
\nlaw he championed.<\/p>\n

Rutgers professor Leslie Kay Jones recently found herself at the center
\nof the controversy. Although her connection to the A.P. curriculum is
\ntangential \u2013 her scholarship and expertise in Black Lives Matter was
\nreferenced as a potential resource for teachers who were reviewing the
\nearly design of the course \u2013 she was singled out in an infographic
\noutlining Florida\u2019s reason for rejecting the course.<\/em><\/p>\n

Leslie Kay Jones, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Rutgers New Brunswick, specializing in social movements. She draws extensively on the fields of race and gender, critical race theory, and online social media in her study of collective mobilization. She teaches qualitative and computer assisted research methods, particularly digital ethnography and content analysis.<\/em>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Lisa Intrabartola<\/strong>: What are the ramifications of the decision to prohibit teaching the course
\nin Florida schools and how does it affect students inside and outside of
\nthe state?<\/p>\n

Leslie Kay Jones<\/strong>: Not only is DeSantis testing out his legal standing for censoring African
\nAmerican studies in K-12 schools, but he is laying the groundwork to
\nmiscast African American scholars generally as unacademic, undemocratic and
\ndivisive sources of ideas about the social world. Floridians and people in
\nother states following DeSantis\u2019s model should be aware that African
\nAmerican studies is the test case for using propaganda against different
\nacademic fields to bar specific groups from participating in the public
\nmarket of ideas. The goal is to define even activism generally as immoral
\nbehavior (see the objection to Robin D.G. Kelley in the Florida Department
\nof Education infographic [5<\/a>]), even though the DeSantis administration is
\nitself engaged in political activism.<\/p>\n

Intrabartola<\/strong>: What does this mean for the future of African American studies across all
\ngrade levels?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: In many ways, DeSantis is using an old playbook. Censorship of African
\nAmerican studies is a tried-and-true political strategy for limiting
\nAmericans\u2019 ability to name and challenge politics of disenfranchisement.
\nJust as the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. has been reduced in most
\neducational programs to the repetition of a single speech that is often
\ntaught piecemeal and misrepresented, DeSantis hopes to dictate the limits
\nof acceptable ideas emerging from political activism like the civil rights
\nmovement. Reducing allowable citations in African American studies will
\nalso have the effect of undercutting the rigor of the discipline, making it
\nincreasingly possible to assert that African American studies has no
\neducational merit. Ultimately, we are looking at an effort to render the
\ngreater population historically ignorant and susceptible to indoctrination
\nwith ideologies of racial inferiority.<\/p>\n

Intrabartola<\/strong>: What do you think are the reasons behind Florida\u2019s rejection of the A.P.
\nCourse?<\/p>\n

Jones:<\/strong> The purpose is to justify an increasing program of censorship targeted at
\nthe language and ideas we use to combat indoctrination into fascism. That
\nis why the focus is on misrepresenting work that explains how social
\nhierarchies work through the analysis of historical events.<\/p>\n

Intrabartola:<\/strong> What was your reaction to being singled out by the Florida Department of
\nEducation?<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: As a graduate of the Florida public education system, I was happy to know
\nthat my work is viewed as useful in teaching students about racial
\ninequality. As a junior scholar, I was flattered to have my work named
\namong great scholars like Robin D.G. Kelley and bell hooks. I was
\ndisappointed that the Florida Department of Education chose to cite an
\n\u201cAbout Me\u201d section from one of my social media pages rather than
\nengaging with my rigorous academic work, but I understand that the purpose
\nof the infographic was precisely to suggest that students would not be
\nengaged in rigorous work when taking the A.P. African American Studies
\ncourse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Courtesy: Andrea Alexander, Rutgers Today<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Intrabartola, Senior Public Relations Specialist Rutgers University Special to The Truth The College Board has updated an Advanced Placement (A.P.) African American Studies course amid criticism from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, with the state board of education, banned it in state schools saying it violates a law he championed. Rutgers professor Leslie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[161],"class_list":["post-7461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7462,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7461\/revisions\/7462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7461"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=7461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}