DeSantis Holds 'Exposing the Book Ban Hoax' Press Event

Legacy media and Democrats have been hard at work seeking to discredit Governor Ron DeSantis' (R-FL) efforts and actions against inappropriate material in the classroom.

Gov. DeSantis pushes back against the narratives in a press conference named "Exposing the Book Ban Hoax."

Gov. DeSantis began the conference highlighting the Duval County "empty bookshelves" incident and others, saying they are "an attempt to create a political narrative."

"So a lot of that, what's been going on, is an attempt to create a political narrative. And it's a false political narrative; and that's bad enough as it is, but for me, the important thing is that it's a false narrative in service of using our schools for indoctrination rather than education."

Gov. DeSantis said Florida has "drawn a very firm line in the sand" about this distinction, and reaffirms the State's commitment to the rights of parents in their children's education and transparency of curricula therein.

Within the context of Black history, DeSantis described how rather than curtail the teaching of the subject, Florida has expanded upon it, just not through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT).

"What they would say is because this ideologically-driven course was not something that met our standards, that somehow Florida prohibited teaching anything about Black history. And that is not only not true, Florida law does the opposite, we require that. All the aspects, from the colonies all the way to the present. And in fact, since I've been Governor, we've expanded that. We've done the 1920 Election Day riots, we now have that as being something that has to be discussed, as well as the impact of Jim Crow laws."

Additionally, DeSantis notee that schools are required to discuss prejudice and racism throughout American history, adding that "we didn't necessarily have it that strongly in our law prior to this."

One of the most poignant parts of the conference follows shortly after, where DeSantis says that more important than teaching about prejudice in history, is teaching how people overcame it.

"We required teaching stories of inspiration regarding Floridians, but also particularly African-Americans; and I think that's a better way to lift people up. Showcase people that have defied the odds and have made great contributions. Don't tell somebody that you're oppressed and you have no chance in life," said DeSantis.

Why would you work hard if you don't have a chance to be able to do? So it's a positive view, it's showing that people have been able to break down barriers and do great things, and I think that is the way we need to be doing it rather than always trying to say that the country's bad and all that stuff.," added the Governor. "Yeah, you've got to teach that facts are the facts, the history is the history, but I think our entire history regarding not just Black history but everything, there's been a lot of obstacles, been a lot of examples of when those ideals weren't always lived up to. But people fought, and people were able to ultimately win in the end across a wide variety of these issues."