In the past couple years, Conservatives have passed a wide range of racially ignorant, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. These decisions were primarily made in the name of defending our Constitution and patriotism. Now, Florida is leading the pack with its recent change to the state’s social studies curriculum.

The attack on Black history in public education gained traction in 2021 when Florida moved to ban critical race theory from K-12 classrooms. Gov. Ron DeSantis backed the motion, saying it teaches children that America is “rotten” and its institutions are “illegitimate.”

Of course the governor is against teaching children about the country’s atrocities. It contradicts  the widely held belief among Conservatives that America is without flaw and the greatest country in the world.

The Right’s belief in American exceptionalism has been the foundation of policy reform in education, but apparently turning a blind eye to racism wasn’t enough.

Surely you’ve seen the outrage condemning Florida government and education officials for claiming that “some slaves developed highly specialized trades from which they benefited.” However, these headlines only acknowledge the white-washing of history without unpacking the repercussions of it.

When you look into the 216-page document detailing the new social studies standards, you’ll notice the first 21 pages lay out the African American history curriculum by grade level. And at every grade level, you’ll find ignorance of the African American experience.

Not only do the standards try to ignore the full extent of slavery’s brutalities, but they also minimize enslaved peoples’ suffering in order for the white man to save face.

These changes attempt to include the variety of trades and jobs that African Americans held — such as blacksmith, painter, shoemaker, wheelwright and so on — as a way to show that enslaved peoples’ conditions weren’t that bad and that they developed valuable skills they  used later on in life. . Ironically, 98% of enslaved people in Florida did manual labor in agriculture marked by horrific conditions including, but not limited to, excessive work hours and inadequate food.

The officials constructing the new standards clearly didn’t consider two things: Most enslaved people did  not live to see emancipation, and thus, did not use these alleged skills, and they would have developed similar — or even better — skills had they been free agents.

In addition to focusing on the “better” parts of slavery to invalidate the African American experience, the curriculum continues the tradition of demonizing African Americans by focusing on violence “perpetrated against and by African Americans.”

This approach doesn’t consider the fact that any violence committed by African Americans in no way compares to that committed by their oppressors.

While Black history shouldn’t exclusively focus on Black trauma, the struggles of African Americans in our country — both in the past and the present — shouldn’t go ignored.

The new Florida curriculum does acknowledge some of the contributions of Black people to American culture and success, but only select figures are revered. For example, it mentions Crispus Attucks and Frederick Douglas but frames their contributions with narratives that invalidate the enslaved and negates any possible benefit.

Requiring a section of the course material to cover African Americans who exhibited undoubted patriotism negates the — very minimal — sections of the courses that detail brutalities against African Americans. Sections focusing on white abolitionists and defenders of civil rights negate the sections that give African Americans credit for their own success.

Florida’s education reform doesn’t bode well for the future of our schools. Dictating what shouldn’t be taught in schools because you believe it speaks ill of your country is nationalist in a manner reminiscent of Nazi Germany.

It is critical we learn our history in full, acknowledging the good, bad and ugly aspects of it.

Let me be clear that no one is asking white Americans to pay for what their ancestors did. However, it is part of their duty to remedy the consequences. Perhaps this starts in the classroom, where we should learn to hold our nation accountable.

Just like the people who enslaved our ancestors, those who pride themselves in their patriotism will find any way to justify events that are undeniably racist. It’s time we take a different approach.

Not accurately understanding Black history ensures our inability to understand slavery’s legacy. Not understanding slavery’s legacy ensures that Black Americans today will continue to suffer at the hands of institutions they helped build.

We are tired, and we want change.