Ron DeSantis Proposes Banning Teaching of Critical Race Theory in Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) asked the Florida State legislature Wednesday to exclude “unsanctioned narratives like critical race theory” by allocating $106 million towards civic education.

DeSantis’s proposal utilizes available funds given to Florida from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and additional federal appropriations.

“Florida civics curriculum will incorporate foundational concepts with the best materials, and it will expressly exclude unsanctioned narratives like critical race theory and other unsubstantiated theories,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Naples, Florida, adding:

Let me be clear, there is not room in our classrooms for things like critical race theory, teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other — is not worth one cent on taxpayers’ money. So we will invest in actual solid true curriculum, and we will be a leader in development and implementation of a world class civics education.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) says initiative to expand civics education in schools will “expressly exclude unsanctioned narratives like critical race theory.”

He says: “Teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money.” pic.twitter.com/gU2d33MHLN

— The Recount (@therecount) March 17, 2021

The Heritage Foundation summarizes critical race theory as the “main philosophical school in the identity politics of today” and an “unremitting attack on all of America’s norms and traditions… that will introduce a more leftist model of governing.”

The philosophy has come to light in the modern day with the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which Peter Kirsanow, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, called “one of the most significant attempts to propagandize history.”

Critical race theory originates from 1937, when Marxist academics from Germany’s Frankfurt School issued a manifesto, “Traditional and Critical Theory,” which assets there are no universal truths. Instead, truths are “competing narratives,” providing a basis for the “Left to impose its own” values.