'White out its slavery': Spike Lee slams Florida’s new Black history curriculum as 'dangerous' revisionism

27 July 2023

Far-right Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies have been drawing widespread criticism from historians and civil rights groups in response the state's new Black history curriculum for public schools, which teaches that slaves acquired valuable job skills during the 19th Century.

The curriculum states that that the "various duties and trades performed by slaves" — including "agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing" and "transportation" — gave them "skills" that "in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

During a late July appearance on CNN, director Spike Lee slammed the curriculum as "dangerous" revisionism.

A frustrated Lee told host Anderson Cooper, "How can it be for your personal benefit when (you were) treated as an enslaved person? It's not like, 'I'm a blacksmith. I'm going to put a shingle out there and be a blacksmith.' You were owned by (your) master."

When Cooper mentioned that DeSantis claimed schools in Florida "were teaching kids to hate America," Lee — famous for films that include 1989's "Do the Right Thing," 1990's "Mo' Better Blues," 1992's "Malcolm X" and 1994's "Crooklyn" — responded, "You learn to love America by learning the truth. The good, indifferent and bad. That's what America is."

The 66-year-old Lee sounded a bit like historian Jon Meachem — who often speaks of the "quest for a more perfect union" — when he added, "We're trying to aspire to a dream… (that Dr. Martin Luther) King talked about."

"You cannot look straight ahead, not see what's happening to your left and right," Lee told Cooper. "If you're talking about the history of this country, the United States of America, how can you just — a pun — white out its slavery? How can you do that?.... I think it's dangerous."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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