Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) has recently criticized a line in the new Florida Education curriculum suggesting slaves "developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit." Pro-DeSantis social media influencers retaliated by comparing him to Vice President Kamala Harris, who also criticized the curriculum. Rep. Donalds appeared on Fox Business defending himself, saying "I've always stood with Florida."
"Let me tell you this for anyone who questions my loyalty to Florida. I've always stood with Florida. I did it when I was in the state legislature. I stand for Florida now as a member of Congress. I'm fighting hard against this radical agenda from the Biden-Harris admin," Rep. Donalds tweeted.
Let me tell you this for anyone who questions my loyalty to Florida.
I've always stood with Florida. I did it when I was in the state legislature. I stand for Florida now as a member of Congress. I'm fighting hard against this radical agenda from the Biden-Harris admin. pic.twitter.com/91bKLKWFJQ
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) July 28, 2023
As mentioned, the Florida Education curriculum suggested African-American slaves learned skills that allowed them to work after emancipation. Rep. Donalds said of this line, "To me, yes, that section needs some adjustments."
At the same time, however, he criticized the "talking point narrative surrounding it" and otherwise said the curriculum did "a very good job in covering all aspects of Black history in the United States," suggesting this line in the program was, at most, poorly worded.
Vice President Harris, on the other hand, loudly proclaimed Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) wanted "to replace history with lies."
Gov. DeSantis' Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern called Donalds "a supposed conservative" who was "laundering a lie from the White House." When Donalds tweeted about how the curriculum was "good, robust, and accurate," he also said that "the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted."
Christina Pushaw sarcastically asked, "Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?"
In the clip posted by Donalds above, host David Asman asked him how his criticism differed from VP Harris's.
"Let us be very clear. I do not even have a criticism. This is a dumb story, and this is brought to us by the DeSantis campaign. They are the ones who made this an issue. I have been very clear that the standards are robust. They are accurate, and they are good. Students in Florida will learn Black history. But my issue is with one sentence of the entire thing, one sentence of 200 pages, and the DeSantis team wants to make a big issue out of it," said Donalds.
Additionally, he addressed anyone who questioned his loyalty to Florida, saying, "I have always stood with Florida, did it when I was with the state legislature, I stand for Florida now as a member of Congress. I am one of the members up here [in Washington] fighting hard against this radical agenda from the Biden-Harris Administration. So my stance and where I am politically is very, very clear. But if I have an issue with one sentence, I am allowed to have that. The fact that they made this a story is dumb in my view," Donalds concluded.
