The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on social media that it will not consider any requests for interviews from NBC and MSNBC until Andrea Mitchell corrects a “blatant lie.”
During her Feb. 17 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, Andrea Mitchell, host of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” asked a question that set off a social media firestorm.
“Let me ask you,” Mitchell said, “what does Governor Ron DeSantis not know about black history and the black experience when he says that slavery and the aftermath of slavery should not be taught to Florida’s schoolchildren?”
The Background
In January, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) formally rejected a proposal to include an Advanced Placement (AP) African American History course in the curriculum of any public high school because its content conflicts with state law.Democrat state House Leader Fentrice Driskell accused DeSantis of “undermining the rights of parents and students to make their own decisions,” saying “Black history is American history” and “the truth is the truth.”
Democrat state Sen. Geraldine Thompson said “it’s time out for hypocrisy!”
“We are told by Ron DeSantis that this time of history has no educational value,” Thompson asserted, adding that “if it’s not taught then someone needs to be held accountable.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump—who gained national recognition for representing the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery—threatened legal action on behalf of three black Florida students if the course is not implemented.
- Topic 4.15 Intersectionality and Activism—Diaz said this is foundational to critical race theory, which is banned by Florida by law, and ranks people based on their wealth, gender, and sexual orientation.
- Topic 4.19 Black Queer Studies—Included reading is author Roderick Ferguson, who encourages the development of practices “related to race, class, gender, and sexuality.”
- Topic 4.29 Movements for Black Lives—Diaz said Black Lives Matter advocates for the elimination of prisons and jails and pushes the idea that there is a “war on Black trans, queer, gender non-conforming, and intersex people.”
- Topic 4.16 Black Feminist Literary Thought—Includes books by author Bell Hooks, who advocates for intersectionality and has stated, “I began to use the phrase in my work ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’ because I wanted to have some language that would actually remind us continually of the interlocking systems of domination that define our reality.”
- Topic 4.30 The Reparations Movement—All points and resources in this section advocate for reparations, Diaz said, adding that there is no critical perspective or balancing opinion in this lesson.
- Topic 4.31 Black Study and Black Struggle in the 21st Century—Included reading is author Robin Kelly, who advocates that activism rather than the university system is the catalyst for social transformation.
The Facts
Despite the opinion expressed by Harris during the interview that “parents” were among “the people who know our children best,” and that politicians had no place in “saying what should be taught in our classrooms,” neither Mitchell nor Harris mentioned that liberal politicians, teachers, and even the head of a teacher’s union have long advocated that parents have no business involving themselves in what their children are exposed to in schools.They also failed to address the fact that teaching CRT is prohibited in Florida schools by law, while the teaching of factual African American history, including slavery, is required.
The Boycott
During the Feb. 20 edition of her program, Mitchell failed to issue a correction.Mitchell did not identify the “historians and teachers” referenced in her statement. Nor did she report that Florida law requires the teaching of African American history, including slavery.
On Feb. 22, DeSantis’ press secretary Bryan Griffin responded on Twitter.
“To all of the bookers and producers reaching out to our office @NBCNews and @MSNBC for @GovRonDeSantis to join your shows, this will be the standard response from our office until @mitchellreports apologizes and your track record improves,” Griffin wrote, with an attached screenshot from a written response.
“I think we need to take a step back,” the attached response begins. “There will be no consideration of anything related to NBC Universal or its affiliates until and at least Andrea Mitchell corrects the blatant lie she made about the governor ... and NBC and its affiliates display a consistent track record of truthful reporting. Please feel free to pass this up and around the network.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to MSNBC for comment.