A week after NBC Nightly News dishonestly hyped a pending lawsuit by racial ambulance chaser Ben Crump and a number of left-wing activist students over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Board of Education banning an AP African American studies course that would've taught public school students content steeped in leftist ideology like Critical Race Theory, black queer studies, intersectionality, and other topics that violate state laws, NBC was back on Wednesday night for more complaining. This time correspondent Zinhle Essamuah bemoaned how the College Board was forced to unveil a stripped-down version of its class free of racial and sexual indoctrination.
"Tonight, the College Board unveiling a new framework for advanced placement African American studies after pressure from critics to not include topics like black lives matter and sexual orientation," Essamuah whined at the top of the segment.
Essamuah added that "the College Board's new curriculum will no longer include authors flagged by Florida officials as scholars of concern but it says the revisions were made independently from political pressure adding it consulted with more than 300 professors of African American studies and piloted the course in 60 schools across the country."
Turning to Robert Patterson, a leftist African American Studies professor at Georgetown University, Essamuah asked if these changes will be enough for Florida to lift its ban on the course. Patterson responded that Florida won't lift the ban because "it's never been about this course. The Governor was very clear, African American studies doesn’t have educational value. And I think that the governor has led with that, the government has demonstrated that through policy, through comments, and so forth."
In reality, Florida already allows the teaching of African American studies, just not any courses that include "queer theory", the Marxist theories of the Black Lives Matter organization, or other racial or sexual indoctrination.
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NBC Nightly News
2/1/2023
6:51:28 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: An update now on a story we brought you last week. The College Board today unveilng a stripped-down version of its AP African American studies class. The move comes after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rejected it, claiming it pushed a political agenda. Zinhle Essamuah now on what’s changed.
ZINHLE ESSAMUAH: Tonight, the College Board unveiling a new framework for advanced placement African American studies after pressure from critics to not include topics like black lives matter and sexual orientation. A critique many students in the pilot course resisted.
STUDENT: It really hurt. Like I thought we were moving forward in life.
ESSAMUAH: The College Board saying its new syllabus includes the study of black artists, inventors, and gay Americans pivotal in the civil rights movement.
ROBERT J. PATTERSON (AFRICAN STUDIES PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY): This is the beginning of a process that will more democratize American education.
ESSAMUAH: This latest chapter of U.S. education debates sparking protests and legal pushback in Florida last week.
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis banning the pilot AP course in Florida. His latest move restricting the teaching of race and sexuality in public schools.
GOV. RON DESANTIS: When you try to use black history to shoehorn in queer theory you're clearly trying to use that for political purposes.
ESSAMUAH: The College Board's new curriculum will no longer include authors flagged by Florida officials as scholars of concern but it says the revisions were made independently from political pressure adding it consulted with more than 300 professors of African American studies and piloted the course in 60 schools across the country.
Do you believe this updated course framework will be enough for Florida to lift their current ban?
PATTERSON: I do not believe that Florida is going to lift the ban. Because it's never been about this course. The governor was very clear African American studies doesn’t have educational value. And I think that the governor has led with that, the government has demonstrated that through policy, through comments, and so forth.
ESSAMUAH: The course is set to launch nationwide in the upcoming school year.
