Former ‘Bachelorette’ blasts DeSantis as racist for rejecting African studies course, calls it Black ‘erasure’

“The View” guest host and former “The Bachelorette” star Rachel Lindsay ripped apart Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., for rejecting a potential AP African Studies course being taught in Florida high schools. 

Lindsay accused DeSantis of committing “cultural erasure” of African people, on the same scale of erasure that the colonial powers committed during the time of slavery in America.

Lindsay made her impassioned criticism of the governor during the Friday episode of ABC’s “The View.”

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Co-host Joy Behar introduced the conversation topic, saying, “Governor DeSantis just put the kibosh on an advanced placement African American studies course in Florida public high schools. The course syllabus isn’t publicly available yet but The College Board that created it called it a history course that also examines the vital contributions, experiences of African Americans in literature, the arts, political science, geography, and science.”

Behar added that the Florida governor found that the course “violates state law and ‘lacks educational value.’” “The View” audience gasped, seemingly outraged over DeSantis’ blunt assessment of it.

“I would like to know, what is he afraid of? That some critical race theory’s gonna sneak in while some kids are reading ‘Native Son’ or James Baldwin?” Behar asked.

Despite reports corroborating Behar’s claims that The College Board’s proposed AP class has yet to publicly unveil a syllabus, and that the DeSantis administration has found that the class has violated state law, Lindsay assumed the worst of the state government’s motives.

She accused DeSantis of trying to erase African history for the sake of it, rather than protect Florida’s children from an ideologically driven curriculum. 

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DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES – 2023/01/18: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seen during a press conference to announce the award of $100 million for beach recovery following Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in Daytona Beach Shores in Florida. The funding will support beach projects within 16 coastal counties, with hard-hit Volusia County receiving the largest grant, over $37 million. 
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After co-host Ana Navarro claimed DeSantis made the move for politics, calling it an “apparent and transparent appeal to the Republican base,” Lindsay took it one step further.

“It’s not a political stunt. I can’t call it that. It’s racism. We have to call it exactly what it is,” she said, prompting applause.

“This is cultural erasure. We’ve seen it happen before. When Black people were brought from Africa over here, forced to be here, they erased our culture from us. They took our religion away. They took our names away. They took our heritage. Everything that related us to Africa, they took it away and replaced it with western culture. That’s what you’re doing right now in education.”

The guest host accused the DeSantis administration of a double standard for letting other ethnic courses into the state’s classrooms, but not the African course. 

“When you look at the AP classes that are taught right now in the state of Florida, you have Chinese language and culture, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin and Spanish, but you can’t have African American studies? I have a huge problem with that!” she said.

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Left unmentioned was that the Florida Department of Education’s (FDOE) rejection letter to The College Board added that “in the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion.”

“If every other culture can be taught except for Black culture, that’s racism,” Lindsay said.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handling of a Cuban immigration surge may serve as a lens into his policy platform should he run for president in 2024.
(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)