The irony of Black history legislation in Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the state legislature have been on a crusade to rewrite education laws, policies and academic standards that forbid teachers from, among other things, restrict what teachers can say about race and racism in the United States.

His administration banned an Advanced Placement class on African American studies, released new social studies standards that require some students to learn that enslaved people enjoyed “personal benefit” from skills they developed, and censored math and social textbooks and other materials. The governor promoted and signed a 2022 law — part of which a federal judge called “positively dystopian” — that forbids teachers from discussing anything that could make students “feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress for actions, in which he or she played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex” — which is a long way of saying that teachers should not talk about subjects including White privilege and institutional racism.