‘Slavery Was Not A Jobs Program!’ Black GOP Candidate Torches DeSantis Defending Black History Revision To CNN’s Kaitlan Collins

Former congressman and Republican candidate for president Will Hurd torched Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis for defending controversial new Black History standards, saying “Slavery was not a jobs program!”

The Florida Board of Education voted Wednesday to approve a curriculum on Black history that includes teaching that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit” and requires teaching “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”

Vice President Kamala Harris torched the new curriculum in two speeches on consecutive days, and The Tampa Bay Times published numerous examples debunking the claims of the board’s working group. But DeSantis defended the curriculum at a press conference, even as he disavowed responsibility for it.

On Monday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins played the Florida governor’s remarks, and asked Hurd for his thoughts — Hurd did not hold back:

COLLINS: The closest challenger to Trump, right now, and it’s not even really that close, depending on which poll you’re looking at, and which state, is Governor Ron DeSantis.

He is defending a new benchmark that was included, in this overhaul, to Florida’s African American history standards. And the benchmark says middle-schoolers should be instructed, and I’m quoting from it now, “Slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

This is DeSantis defending it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think what they’re doing is I think that they’re probably going to show some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith, into doing things, later in life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: What do you make of that defense?

HURD: Look, it is shocking to me, Kaitlan, that in 2023, I have to say this. There is no — there was no upside to slavery. Slavery was not a jobs program.

And also, Ron DeSantis showed his lack of leadership, by acting like it was somebody else’s fault and not something that was done, on his watch.

Here is the reality. If you’re going to talk about how African Americans, despite being treated, like property, despite having zero freedoms, or zero rights, that they still had a tremendous impact on our country, if you want to talk about that? That’s great. But to imply that there was an upside? It is unacceptable.

And what he should have done is say, “Listen? That was worded wrong. We’re going to fix that. There is no upside to slavery. We’re going to make sure that we talk about this, and that our kids in schools, get a proper understanding, of our history.” That’s how a real leader would have solved this problem. Not letting this continue to fester.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.

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