‘Manny Diaz is a coward’: Black parents upset over education commissioner not at town hall
After the school year ended, Christine Olivo pulled her kids ages 5 and 7 from their Christian school and enrolled them at Driftwood Elementary, a Broward County public school in Hollywood.
“We’re big on faith so we first put them in Christian school, but this year we said, ‘OK I think we got the faith covered at home. Let’s take a leap of faith with a public school,’” said Olivo, 39.
But then she saw how the Florida Board of Education adopted new standards last month for teaching Black history in Florida public schools, and she immediately changed her mind.
“I said, ‘Hell no!,’” she said. “My kids are half-Haitian and half-Puerto Rican, so they already struggle with who they are. I don’t want them to get the wrong information.”
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Olivo, who will now home-school her two children, attended a town hall Thursday evening at Antioch Baptist Church, one of the largest churches in Miami Gardens, to discuss the state board’s move. She was among a few hundred who attended.
Among those who participated in the panel discussion: Florida state senators Shevrin Jones and Rosalind Osgood, both Democrats; Miami-Dade School Board member Steve Gallon III; State Rep. Felicia Robinson, a Democrat who represents Northwest Miami-Dade and Southwest Broward; Fedrick Ingram, the secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers; and Karla Hernandez-Mats, president of United Teachers of Dade.
Notably missing on the panel was Florida Education Commissioner Manny Díaz, whom Jones said had confirmed he would attend but then pulled out Wednesday night. Diaz posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that he needed to visit schools ahead of the new school year.
READ MORE: Florida education commissioner pulls out of Black history town hall in Miami Gardens
Ingram called him out immediately.
“First, let me address the elephant in the room,” he said, “Manny Diaz is a coward.”
“Ron DeSantis knew that this was going on. Manny Diaz knew that this was going on, and they both know how important this is for the Black community. They know they should’ve been here tonight to face you.”
The crowd burst into applause and cheers.
What do the new Black history standards say?
The state Board of Education approved the new social studies standards in late July. Teachers rely on those guidelines to design and guide social studies lessons from kindergarten to high school.
Gallon warned the audience to not “flush out” all of the standards, as some parts work, but to realize other parts are inaccurate.
READ MORE: Harris rejects DeSantis’ offer to discuss Black history education during Florida visit
Among the controversial changes:
▪ As part of the middle school curriculum, a standard that reads: “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills, which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” Critics say that attempts to paint slavery, a brutal act of oppression, in a positive light.
▪ As part of the high school curriculum, a standard that reads: “Instruction includes acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans but is not limited to 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, 1919 Washington, D.C. Race Riot, 1920 Ocoee Massacre, 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the 1923 Rosewood Massacre.” Up until now teachers have taught that those massacres and riots mostly involved white mobs against African Americans, so critics of the new standards question the “by African Americans” part of it.
▪ That the 216-page document that outlines the new standards only mentions lynchings twice.
▪ That the document encourages the comparison between slavery in the United States and slavery in other parts of the world. Critics say American slavery was the only system of slavery in the world in which the people who were enslaved were defined as property that could be bought and sold, making it uniquely brutal.
Solutions offered over Black history standards
The town hall Thursday was initially designed for the Black community to speak to Díaz, but because he didn’t show up, they instead pivoted to brainstorm solutions.
An audience member suggested creating a ballot initiative to edit the social studies guidelines, while another questioned whether they should protest at Díaz’s home in Miami Lakes. Díaz had been a teacher and assistant principal at Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High before pivoting to politics.
Virtually everyone urged others to vote.
Jones vowed to create a group to study the standards and send their own feedback to the Department of Education. He asked the audience to sign up for the task force..
FROM LATE JULY: Town hall to discuss Florida’s new Black history standards coming to Miami Gardens
Gallon told audience members to teach their own children at home about the horrors of slavery. He said he hoped the state’s move would spark action.
“My prayer is this becomes a catalyst for a movement,” he said.
Osgood pushed the audience to post about Black history on social media, and advised whites and people of other races to explain the problem to people who look like them.
Both Gallon and Osgood encouraged people to attend School Board meetings to voice their discontent.
Hernandez-Mats told parents specifically to walk up to their children’s teachers on the first day of class and ask them to teach Black history accurately.
“Thank them and let them know how you feel,” she said. “Because some of them are scared. They don’t know what they can and can’t say.”
