On Friday, in a segment first flagged by NewsBusters, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Vice President Harris why Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis does not want the history of slavery taught in schools. On Wednesday, she offered up a half-hearted correction, declaring her previous remarks to be “imprecise.”
Mitchell’s original remarks included the question, “what does Governor Ron DeSantis not know about black history and the black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida schoolchildren?”
DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin called the question “shameful” and told MSNBC and NBC that DeSantis would not be appearing on the networks until Mitchell issued a correction.
That correction came at the very end of Wednesday’s show:
And a postscript, in my interview last Friday with Vice President Harris, I was imprecise in summarizing Governor DeSantis's position about teaching slavery in schools. Governor DeSantis is not opposed to teaching the fact of slavery in schools, but he has opposed the teaching of an African-American studies curriculum as well as the use of some authors and source materials that historians and teachers say makes it all but impossible for students to understand the broader historic and political context behind slavery and its aftermath in the years since.
While it is good that Mitchell corrected the obvious falsehood about not teaching slavery, she still continued this other false idea that honest teaching about “slavery and its aftermath” is whatever left-wing historians, teachers, and activists define as honest even when it objectively isn’t. As for DeSantis's team's response, responding to the segment, Deputy Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern pointed out that some of the material in that AP African-Studies course, like queer theory, has nothing to do slavery or Jim Crow.
This segment was sponsored by Wayfair.
Here is a transcript for the February 22 show:
MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports
2/22/2023
12:56 PM ET
ANDREA MTCHELL: And a postscript, in my interview last Friday with Vice President Harris, I was imprecise in summarizing Governor DeSantis's position about teaching slavery in schools. Governor DeSantis is not opposed to teaching the fact of slavery in schools, but he has opposed the teaching of an African-American studies curriculum as well as the use of some authors and source materials that historians and teachers say makes it all but impossible for students to understand the broader historic and political context behind slavery and its aftermath in the years since.
