Ron DeSantis just can’t help himself
That is the name of the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for best work of non-fiction. This book was coauthored by Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnoopa. The complete name of this book is “His Name is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice.”
The book is a tribute to Floyd, a look at his life and the early forces that shaped it. I have yet to have the pleasure of reading this book, but I plan to. However, in the state of Florida, some people, namely students, may not even be aware of the book’s existence. They may not even be aware of who Floyd is.
That is because, under the tyrannical rule of Ron DeSantis, some topics have been eliminated from social studies books. George Floyd and his fatal encounter with murderer Derek Chauvin is one of them.
Teachers are reportedly very angry about this and claim that children’s critical thinking skills are being yanked away from them. The Miami Herald spoke to many of these teachers, and they were not happy. “They (children) are going to know only one side of an issue, and that’s not reality,” said one teacher.
Indeed it isn’t reality, but it is for DeSantis. He wants reality wrapped in cotton padding, eliminating anything that asks tough questions. It’s Ron’s dumbing down of Florida and his deepest, pure desire — perhaps his only desire: MAKE FLORIDA STUPID.
This seems to be what DeSantis craves; how else do you explain the extreme disservice being done to the children of Florida?
Racial justice, racial equality, and social justice are topics that can’t be allowed to die. They’re simply too important. Again and again, DeSantis bans that which makes him uncomfortable. Perhaps this is because DeSantis is himself a racist, sympathizing not with the victims but with their tormentors.