Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns torches Ron DeSantis' new 'Soviet system' education bill

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns torches Ron DeSantis' new 'Soviet system' education bill
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 28: Filmmaker Ken Burns attends the "The Vietnam War" screening during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival at SVA Theatre on April 28, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage)
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Acclaimed documentary maker Ken Burns on Tuesday torched Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' new education proposals, which he said would severely restrict what teachers could tell their students about American history.

During an appearance on CNN, Burns didn't hold back when laying into DeSantis' proposals.

"They are narrowing the focus of what is and isn't American history," he told host Don Lemon. "It's terrifying. It feels like a Soviet system."

Burns accused DeSantis of trying to essentially shut down open inquiry into American history, which he said was completely contrary to the Enlightenment-based ideals espoused by America's founders.

"I am doing... a film right now, working on a major series on the history of the American Revolution and I can tell you that Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Payne and George Washington and John Adams and James Madison and Alexander Hamilton are rolling over if their graves if they think this person is carrying the mantle of what it is to be American," he said.

Burns then elaborated that he believed DeSantis was trying to dictate the teaching of a "neat, tidy, white picket fence, Morning-in-America kind of view of things" when the reality is that "this is a complicated world."

Watch the video below or at this link

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