JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local Pastor, community activist, and educator has announced resigning from his teaching job at Ribault Middle School.
His reason: Florida’s new standards for teaching African American history.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
Pastor Reginald Gundy said he began his teaching career decades ago after retiring from the military.
He decided to return to the profession last year.
Gundy said the state’s new African American history standards, which have faced criticism for the incorporation of instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,” sealed his decision to leave.
“This last piece, it’s not worth it,” he said,” I’d rather be out here to stand up and fight back against it.”
In his resignation letter, Gundy argued, “The Black History of slavery in America is no less than a Holocaust.”
“How do you benefit from being whipped, harmed, cut, killed, burned?” he said.
Read: Here’s who is behind Florida’s new Black history education standards
Dr. William Allen, one of the crafters of the state’s new standards, has pushed back on criticisms, arguing the suggestion Florida plans to teach students slavery benefited African Americans is a lie.
“It is an absolute falsehood,” Allen said.” If anybody is presenting the positive good school of slavery, it’s the heirs of people like Calhoun and Taney and Woodrow Wilson who continue to propagate the false picture that the birth of the nation was nothing but slavery.”
But, Gundy argues the mounting pressure for teachers to stay in line with the state’s preferred narrative has reached a boiling point.
“You really don’t know what you should be properly teaching that’s safe to keep you from losing your job, losing your home, losing your car, unable to feed yourself,” Gundy said.
Just last week, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Jacksonville to denounce the state’s new standards, calling them ‘propaganda.’
Governor Ron DeSantis responded by accusing Harris of lying to cover for her ‘agenda of indoctrinating students.’
Read: Florida Board of Education approves new African American history standards despite opposition
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.