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Kamala Harris Attacks So-Called 'Extremists' After DeSantis Rolls Out New Curriculum On Slavery

Vice President Kamala Harris attacked Florida's so-called Right-wing "extremists" for teaching new standards on Black history. 

On Friday, Harris spoke out against new standards the Florida Board of Education voted for, claiming Republicans are pushing a new learning agenda. However, she was careful not to mention Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla) by name. 

"I do believe this is not only about the state of Florida; there is a national agenda afoot," Harris said. 

Despite not throwing DeSantis under the bus directly, Harris instead referred to it as Florida's "extremist" leaders who are pushing their efforts to target liberal ideas. 

"Extremists, so-called leaders, for months have dared to ban books, book bans in this year of our Lord 2023," Harris said. "Extremists here in Florida pass a law don't say gay, trying to instill fear in our teachers that they should not live their full life and love who they love."

The 2024 GOP hopeful hit back at the vice president following her criticism regarding the state's new curriculum, saying that the "Harris-Biden administration is obsessed with Florida" but ignores "the chaos at the border, crime-infested cities, economic malaise, and the military recruitment crisis."

Harris stressed to attendees not to allow the attempt by Republicans "divide our country" further, despite failing to mention it is the Democratic Party that puts Americans into separate boxes. 

"And now, on top of all of that, they want to replace history with lies, middle school students in Florida to be told that enslaved people benefited from slavery," Harris continued. "High schoolers may be taught that victims of violence, of massacres, were also perpetrators."

Per the new standards, enslaved people developed skills that "could be applied for their personal benefit." The curriculum also pushes early teachings to focus on the accomplishments of African Americans rather than the injustices of slavery— which the Left claims whitewashed the so-called miseries enslaved people endured. 

In 2022, DeSantis signed the Stop WOKE Act into law, which states that all discussions about race must be taught in an "objective manner" that does not "indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view."

Despite criticism, Florida does not teach students that slavery was good. 

According to a Washington Examiner report, "the guidelines do not, by any stretch of the imagination, describe slavery as a positive thing" Instead, the new curriculum emphasizes the brutal "conditions" of slaves, how "an enslaved person" was treated as "property with no rights," and how slavery was at odds with "founding principles of liberty, justice, and equality."