Ron DeSantis' meddling in Florida's school curriculum 'a blatant abuse of history'

DeSantis may be behind Donald Trump in the polls now, but Florida's current governor is waiting for his chance if Trump’s legal battles somehow rule him out of a presidential run, writes David O'Mahony

Ron DeSantis (left) lagging behind Donald Trump (right) in the polls, has been trying to position himself as even more conservative than the party favourite. File photo: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Imagine being the descendant of slaves. Imagine having heard, perhaps from family members, accounts of abuse, degradation, lynchings, and other horrors. Now imagine somebody of a different ethnicity, somebody wealthy and powerful, telling you that maybe slavery wasn’t all bad.

This is how Florida’s education system is going under current governor, and presidential wannabe, Ron DeSantis, who has for some time set out his stall as fighting against “wokeness”. Some schools emptied their libraries while trying to work within new legislation to prevent the teaching in schools that somebody can be privileged or oppressed because of their skin colour, and the state has been the frontline in a battle over what books children should or shouldn’t be allowed to read.