The law also says officials who review instructional material may not recommend any materials that reflect “unfairly upon persons because of their race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion,” or other characteristics.Īnd it prohibits lessons or trainings in schools and workplaces that teach that individuals “should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion,” an apparent reference to affirmative action policies, which traditionally benefit Black and Latino students or employees in an effort to offset centuries of racial discrimination. The law allows teachers to address “how the individual freedoms of persons have been infringed by slavery, racial oppression, racial segregation, and racial discrimination” and how laws enforced racial discrimination, but also says the lessons may include “how recognition of individual freedoms overturned these unjust laws” and “may not be used to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.” “It will infringe on teachers’ and employers’ First Amendment rights and chill their ability to use concepts like systemic racism and gender discrimination to teach about and discuss important American history.”
“This dangerous law is part of a nationwide trend to whitewash history and chill free speech in classrooms and workplaces,” Amy Turkel, interim executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement.
Read More: ‘Critical Race Theory Is Simply the Latest Bogeyman.’ Inside the Fight Over What Kids Learn About America’s Historyįlorida’s new law has been criticized by civil rights groups and free-speech advocates, who warn that it will have a chilling effect on educators. But the topic has become a catch-all target of conservative critics, who argue that lessons or trainings addressing systemic racism will divide children and make white students uncomfortable. School districts across the country have emphasized that it is not being taught at the K-12 level. “We won’t allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other,” he said at the time, while calling critical race theory “state-sanctioned racism.”Ĭritical race theory is a graduate-level academic framework that explores how institutions perpetuate racism. There is no place for indoctrination or discrimination in Florida.”ĭeSantis, a Republican, proposed the legislation in December under the name Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act, saying he aimed to “take on both corporate wokeness and critical race theory.” “In Florida, we will not let the far-left woke agenda take over our schools and workplaces. “No one should be instructed to feel as if they are not equal or shamed because of their race,” DeSantis said in a statement on Friday. The Republican-led legislation passed the Florida House in February by a vote of 74-41 and the Florida Senate in March by a vote of 24-15, along partisan lines.