When: August 16th, 2023 @ 10am
Start: Booker T. Washington Senior High School, 1200 NW 6th Avenue
Finish: 1450 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33132, Miami Dade County School Board
Black Miami community leaders call on supporters and allies to defend Black history against the new educational standards developed by Governor DeSantis with a march on the Miami school board.
These standards require teachers to instruct K-12 students that chattel slavery was a “personal benefit” to African prisoners of war and considers Black people’s self defense as violent during genocidal battles like the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. These standards are rooted in the perspectives of slave owners and are an intentional dismissal of the advanced societies African Americans come from and erase the total degradation chattel slavery was.
“Any attempt to frame genocide and enslavement as a benefit, is a justification of genocide and enslavement. As a community we must take our responsibility as stewards of our history very seriously,” said Dr. Marvin Dunn of the Miami Center for Racial Justice.
Governor DeSantis curriculum isn’t new. At the height of slavery, the trade was justified by arguing “Negroes, bettered their condition by being enslaved.” In reality African Amerians descend from African societies that were enslaved in order to steal their great advancements. Africans had already developed the iron and steel production behind the West’s Industrial Revolution and were fine tuning fractal geometry. But most importantly, enslaved Africans’ greatest contribution to humanity was in their humane value systems which included societies that pioneered the abolition of slavery.
Black Americans continue to make great contributions to civilization. In Miami and across Florida the saltwater railroad tied the entire Black diaspora and African continent together in a network designed to not only oppose slavery but build maroon societies that saved this history through vibrant oral cultures.
March leaders call on Black diaspora communities and their allies to oppose these standards and educate students on Black history before, through, and after slavery. Teamsters National Black Caucus Chairman James Curbeam argues, “Florida is ground zero. We understand this is part of a broader effort to undo labor rights, oppress migrants and cut public benefits on all our communities in the middle of a recession. We will not be bullied into silence.”
Under the banner of "Enough is Enough," marchers will call on their neighbors to not only stand against Governor DeSantis' divisive tactics, but also teach Black history and unite across Florida for justice.
