TALLAHASSEE, FLA. (WSVN) - A civil rights leader plans to head to the state’s Capitol Wednesday prepared to deliver a major message to Governor Ron DeSantis.
Reverend Al Sharpton, who has been in the news for decades and is considered a controversial figure, said that DeSantis has been putting pressure on groups like the College Board, who came up with an Advance Placement African American Studies course.
Now, the reverend is heading to Tallahassee to talk about that.
“A disgrace to this country,” Sharpton said.
Sharpton has called DeSantis’ objections to the course an attempt to erase Black history.
“Our Department of Education looked at that and said, ‘In Florida, we do education, not indoctrination,’ and so that runs a foul on our standards,” DeSantis said.
The non-profit, College Board, which administers both the college entrance exams, the ACT and SAT, created the course.
Now, the College Board is fighting back against the governor.
“We are very glad to see that the College Board is speaking up and pushing back because Black history is American history, and right now, the road that Florida’s leadership is taking us down, is on the wrong side of history,” said Democratic State Rep. Fentrice Driskell.
The original course was a pilot program, and the College Board made some changes in early February. Changes that the administration took partial credit for, thanking the College Board for recognizing that the coursework was problematic, but the College Board refuted that.
Controversy has already invited protests and potential lawsuits, with the governor hinting that more changes could happen.
That same course is also being used in one school in New Jersey, but the state has decided to expand the course to 26 other schools.
Sharpton joined State Sen. Shevrin Jones, Rev. Al Sharpton, Bishop Rudolph W. McKissack, Senior Pastor of the Bethel Church and Bishop Frank Reid at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee for a ceremony before the march to the Capitol.
On Wednesday, the pastor of the church, Reverend Dr. R.B. Holmes, expressed his support for the cause.
“Our history does not make anyone feel uncomfortable are guilty,” he said as people clapped in agreement. “Sometimes the Bible may be uncomfortable, but I’m not gonna ban the Bible. When my mother disciplined me, it was uncomfortable, but I still loved my mother. History lifts us, inspires us, and encourages us to become one nation under one God. Serve Him!”
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