Florida Schools Will Teach How Slavery Brought ‘Personal Benefit’ to Black People

Odusei@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 1013 points –
Florida Schools to Tell Kids Slavery Benefited Black People
thedailybeast.com
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There aren’t really any good examples provided of what the article alleges, but I 100% believe this. I am dumbfounded that the people flinging “snowflake” as an insult has done all this to make sure their kids never feel bad for actions perpetrated by white US citizens. Of course, like anything else, it has nothing to do with their kids and everything to do with their own discomfort at facing reality or blatant racism. Frustrating stuff.

If you follow the links in the article, you can get to the actual curriculum itself. Scroll for a while and you'll find this...

SS.68.AA.2.3 - Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation).

Benchmark Clarifications:

Clarification 1: Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.

And frankly, it's not inaccurate. Slaves who worked as artisans were sometimes able to make money independently and even buy their own freedom from masters who allowed it. The absolute atrocity of the triangle trade and chattel slavery is not diminished by a lucky few, of course. The benefit of the skilled craftsmanship of enslaved people overwhelmingly went to their masters.

Thanks! Poor reading by myself. I appreciate it. Really based stuff. Thanks, Florida.

🤷‍♂️ It all depends on how the individual district & teacher implement it, of course. I'm not sure I trust Florida public schools to discuss that in a balanced way...