It also prohibits employers from teaching concepts that suggest an individual should feel “guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions committed in the past” by other members of the same race, color, sex or national origin. The bill would prevent companies from subjecting “any individual, as a condition of employment … to training, instruction or any other required activity that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates or compels such individual to believe” a long list of concepts related to race or sexual orientation. The same anti-democratic restrictions also apply to training, workforce education and other diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) programs. A precedent for this was set last summer when DeSantis signed into law several reactionary education bills aimed at vilifying socialism, with the fascistic governor denouncing communist and left-wing beliefs as “evil” ideologies.
#HISTORY OF GAY BARS JACKSONVILLE FL FREE#
Furthermore, an overriding aim of suppressing free speech is to ensure no discussion is held among students and workers which might encourage dissent that challenges the status quo. The purpose of the legislation is to whitewash and erase significant portions of American history that concern the legacy of social inequality and national and racial oppression. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Feb. In January, Florida’s Osceola County school district canceled a workshop for teachers about the civil rights movement “in light of the current conversations across our state and in our community about critical race theory.” The history professor, Michael Butler, who was scheduled to lead the seminar, said his presentation was not about critical race theory, the Associated Press reported.įlorida Gov. Young told Time magazine, “it prohibits the promotion of these ideas by public university faculty, it is almost certainly unconstitutional.” Jeremy Young, senior manager of free expression and education at PEN America, argued that the law has ominous implications for academic freedom of education in K-12 schools and public colleges and universities. The language of the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (Stop W.O.K.E.) act mirrors similar laws that have been passed in at least a dozen other Republican-led states that aim to eliminate teaching on historical struggles against racial and sexual discrimination and for social equality, under the guise of a fight against Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other “divisive concepts.” Florida’s anti-Woke law builds on legislation passed in the summer of last year that banned classroom instruction of Critical Race Theory and the New York Times’ 1619 project in Florida’s schools.Ī goal of the bill is to eviscerate protections for academic freedom and free speech in K-12 schools and universities, as many educators already report refraining from covering topics on civil rights history or other courses related to racial issues out of fear of provoking reprisals and sanctions. The latest bill, otherwise called the “Stop Woke Act,” is the latest in a wave of reactionary laws pushed through the Republican-led legislature as part of brutal attacks against democratic rights.
On Friday, Florida’s far-right Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed repressive legislation for public schools and businesses that bans the introduction of what Republicans call “woke indoctrination” on concepts related to sexism, racism or nationality in classroom teaching and employee training programs.