Civil-Rights Attorney Ben Crump Threatens to Sue DeSantis for Rejecting AP African-American Studies Course
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During a rally held in the Florida state Capitol building on Wednesday, civil-rights attorney Ben Crump threatened to sue the DeSantis administration if Governor DeSantis does not reverse course and allow a newly proposed Advanced Placement African-American Studies course to be taught in the state as proposed, without the modifications that Florida Republicans have demanded .
“We’re here to give notice to Gov. DeSantis that if he does not negotiate with the College Board to allow AP African American Studies to be taught in the classrooms across the state of Florida, that these three young people will be the lead plaintiffs,” Crump told the crowd gathered at the “Stop the Black Attack” rally.
Crump’s threat comes just days after DeSantis decided to reject the pilot AP program because it was “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
A draft of the curriculum first obtained by National Review revealed that the draft promoted the idea that color-blindness is a form of covert racism.
News of the DeSantis government withholding approval of the course’s curriculum drew the ire of the Biden administration. Karine Jeanne-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the decision “incomprehensible.”
“Let’s not forget, they didn’t ban–they didn’t block . . . AP European History; they didn’t block our music history; they didn’t block our art history. But the state chooses to block a course that is meant for high achieving high school students to learn about their history of arts and culture,” Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing last week.
A similar sentiment was echoed by Florida representative Fentrice Driskell. “By rejecting the African American history pilot program, Ron DeSantis has clearly demonstrated that he wants to dictate whose history does—and doesn’t—belong,” Driskell said during the press conference.
However, Florida’s commissioner of education, Manny Diaz Jr., dismissed such allegations, stating that the proposed curriculum was “filled with Critical Race Theory and other obvious violations of Florida law.”
“We proudly require the teaching of African American history. We do not accept woke indoctrination masquerading as education,” Diaz tweeted last Friday.
The College Board released a statement earlier this week stating that it would release a revised version of the AP African-American Studies curriculum on February 1.
Despite the lies from the Biden White House, Florida rejected an AP course filled with Critical Race Theory and other obvious violations of Florida law. We proudly require the teaching of African American history. We do not accept woke indoctrination masquerading as education. pic.twitter.com/Anw7Ui2JJv
— Manny Diaz Jr. (@SenMannyDiazJr) January 20, 2023
The move has been in keeping with the DeSantis administration’s handling of educational policy more broadly.
In April 2022, Florida passed the Stop WOKE Act which bars schools and workplaces from promoting one’s “status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, national origin, or sex.”
Crump has established a reputation as a prominent civil-rights attorney by representing mostly black victims and their families in high-profile police shooting cases.
