‘We Will Not Stand For It!’ Kamala Harris Torches New Florida ‘Benefits’ of Slavery Guidance To Huge Applause At Black Sorority

Vice President Kamala Harris torched Florida’s new Black history curriculum teaching the “benefits” of slavery to enslaved people, earning huge applause from the audience at a Black sorority convention.

The Florida Board of Education voted Wednesday to approve a curriculum on Black history that includes teaching that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit” and requires teaching “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.”

Harris gave an impassioned speech at the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. National Convention, an event from a more than century-old organization founded by HBCU students.

Toward the end of the speech, the VP tore into the nationwide push to restrict conversations about race in education — and the Florida curriculum in particular —  to huge applause:

And speaking of our children, extremists pass book bans to prevent them from learning our true history — book bans in this year of our Lord 2023. And while they do this, check it out, they push forward revisionist history. Just yesterday, in the State of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery.

They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us, and we will not stand for it — (applause) — we who share a collective experience in knowing we must honor history and our duty in the context of legacy.

There is so much at stake in this moment: our most basic rights and freedoms, fact versus fiction, foundational principles about what it means to be a democracy.

And so, in this moment, our nation again counts on the leaders in this room — those who stand on the great shoulders of the great American leaders like Ida B. Wells, Dorothy Height, and Shirley Chisholm — (applause); who, with courage, determination, and fortitude continue to organize, build coalitions, and activate our communities.

Let us continue to stand together and fight for what is right.

Because we do know: It is right to fight for the freedom of every woman to control her own body — not her government. (Applause.) It is right to fight for a future in which every person can live free from discrimination and hate. It is right to fight for safe communities. It is right to fight for paid leave and clean water and affordable childcare. It is right to fight to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. It is right to fight against book bans and the truth. (Applause.)

So, Delta Sigma Theta, let us fight fueled by the love of our children. Let us fight fueled by the love of our country. And let us fight with the knowledge and the faith that when we fight, we win. (Applause.)

God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. Thank you all. (Applause.)

Watch above via The White House.

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