Harris on DeSantis's Black history curriculum proposal: "There were no redeeming qualities of slavery"

Speaking to crowds at the Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention in Orlando, Fla., Vice President Kamala Harris rebuked plans by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to institute a new curriculum that would teach public school students "that enslaved people benefited from slavery." Harris, who was invited by DeSantis to discuss the state's Black history standards, said, "There is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities of slavery."

Video Transcript

KAMALA HARRIS: Right here in Florida, they plan to teach students that enslaved people benefited from slavery.

[SHOUTING]

They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, in an attempt to divide and distract our nation with unnecessary debates. And now, they attempt to legitimize these unnecessary debates with a proposal that most recently came in of a politically motivated round table. Well, I'm here in Florida.

[CHEERING]

And I will tell you, there is no round table, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact. There were no redeeming qualities of slavery.

[CHEERING]

And as I said last week when I was again here in Florida, we will not stop calling out and fighting back against extremist so-called leaders who try to prevent our children from learning our true and full history.

- All right.

[CHEERING]