DeSantis on Florida Black History Standards: ‘People Acquired Skills in Spite of Slavery, Not Because of It’

GOP presidential hopeful and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to sternly defend his state's new Black history standards that suggest slaves gained "personal benefit" from slavery, saying that any skills slaves derived were "in spite of" not "because of" their enslavement.

"This was done by Black history scholars, most of whom were Black themselves. They are not shilling for slavery. They are showing the injustice of slavery," DeSantis said in an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday. "But that particular passage wasn't saying that slavery was was its benefit, they were saying was resourcefulness and people acquired skills in spite of slavery, not because of it. And then they may use those when they when they achieve their freedom."

The standards have garnered stark criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris said the curriculum is an attempt by "extremists" to rewrite the "ugly parts of history."

The Florida governor extended an invitation to Harris earlier this week for her to meet with him in the Sunshine State to "set the record straight" regarding the curriculum. Harris, declined the invite.

"There is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities of slavery," Harris said Tuesday during remarks at the 20th Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention in Orlando, Florida.

DeSantis continued to take aim at the vice president for her condemnation of the standards comparing the situation to Harris' endorsement of an Advanced Placement African American History course proposed in Florida, but was rejected because "they had Marxist studies," DeSantis claimed.

"They had other left wing things in it that had the same exact provision, and you've seen the same basic provision have been in other curricula," DeSantis said. "Nobody ever said anything. And indeed, nobody said anything about this."

The governor said that the workgroup who put the standards together were "praised" because most states don't have any standards for Black history curriculum.

"People lie then say we didn't want to teach about the history of African Americans," DeSantis said. "In reality, that same bill required us to develop even stronger standards, and that's why this working group was created. So they did a good job."

DeSantis continued: "I think it's wrong to demagogue people. And I think that a guy like me, I'm fighting back against false narratives. I do not let people like Harris or the media, take false narratives and run with it. We will stand our ground and we will speak the truth I look for."