Florida’s education commissioner has withdrawn from a town hall meeting focused on the state’s new guidelines for teaching Black History.
Reports indicate that hundreds of people RSVP’d for the event.
The purpose of the education town hall is to gather different perspectives on African American History standards. It is being held in Miami Gardens, a city predominantly inhabited by Black residents.
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz had originally committed to attending, even amid recent controversy surrounding new curriculum guidelines regarding how slavery is taught in Florida classrooms. One specific point of contention is a lesson stating that enslaved people “developed skills from which they could personally benefit.”
