When the far-right DeSantis-appointed goons at the Florida Department of Education issued guidance to whitewash black history earlier this week, Vice President Kamala Harris said she’d visit the state to call them out. She showed up yesterday. (NPR)
Vice President Harris delivered an impassioned speech on Friday condemning Florida for its new framework for how Black history will be taught in K-12 schools, including guidelines that slavery was beneficial to enslaved people.
“It is not only misleading, it is false and pushing propaganda,” she said Friday in Jacksonville, Fla. “Pushing propaganda on our children.”
Harris also criticized Florida’s new standards for requiring high schools to teach that African Americans were perpetrators in some racially motivated massacres. She described these lessons as efforts by “extremists” to replace “history with lies.”
We discussed the crappy new social studies standards in a post yesterday, and someone in comments asked where are the Floridians who oppose this right-wing attack on public education. One of them is a school board member who introduced VP Harris in Jacksonville yesterday:
One of the 14 local school board members who Gov. Ron DeSantis has targeted for removal in next year’s election is Jennifer Jenkins, a 36-year-old elementary school speech pathologist who achieved a miracle in 2020 by defeating a far-right incumbent in a deep red Florida county by nine points.
Jenkins is also a mom and she was at her Brevard County home on Friday morning with her seven-year-old daughter Olive, who was having a playdate with a best buddy. Jenkins then got a call that necessitated a sudden change in plans.
“I told [Olive] I was going to meet the vice president,” Jenkins told The Daily Beast. “She thought I was joking and she laughed at me. And then she said, ‘Will you be home before bedtime?’”
The far-right incumbent Jenkins defeated for the school board seat is Tina Descovich, a Repub operative who then co-founded the right-wing Moms for Liberty group, along with another defeated far-right school board candidate and the wife of the FL GOP chairman. They claim to be nonpartisan, but that’s a lie.
Group members and their associates chanted and brandished guns at Jenkins’ residence. They called in phony child abuse allegations against her, subjecting her child to a physical examination by a state official. The Southern Poverty Law Center tagged them as extremists for good reason.
Randy Fine,* a Florida state senator who represents the area where Jenkins lives and serves as the local attack dog for DeSantis, publicly called Jenkins a whore several times. People who oppose DeSantis and his political apparatus face very real personal consequences. I wonder sometimes if folks outside the state comprehend the Stasi-like network of intimidation and oppression the FL GOP has cultivated here.
Anyhoo, Jenkins was on her way to Jacksonville to meet VP Harris when someone from the advance team called and asked if she would introduce Harris. Jenkins said she was “terrified” but felt energized “to be in a space where like-minded people are together and supportive and willing to fight alongside of you.” Here’s how Jenkins introduced Harris:
“I would say to our visitors today, welcome, welcome to Florida. But one thing our Republican leadership has made very clear is that Florida isn’t welcoming at all. And I can tell you as a Democratic school board member on the front lines of this educational war, it’s not welcoming to our students, our teachers, and our parents either…”
“They may want to make us relive the darkest parts of that history,” she said. “But today we get to witness history as our vice president gets to school the Florida Department of Education.”
She paused for an exultant instant.
“And I am so here for it,” she said. “So, it is my absolute honor to introduce the vice President of the United States of America.”
Jenkins has the courage to oppose these clowns. In deep red Hernando County, parents and teachers showed up to oppose another Moms for Liberty bully who was wrecking their schools. It won’t be easy, and it most likely won’t get a lot of news coverage when it happens, but Floridians can take our state back from these fascist pricks, one county at a time. We’ve just got to show up.
If you’re interested in showing up, whether you’re a Florida resident or not, stay tuned. In a future post, I’ll link to a list the 14 school board candidates DeSantis and Moms for Liberty are targeting in 2024 and provide information on where people can donate if they want to. I’ll also look into how folks can help via volunteer work like phone banking or writing postcards.
Open thread.
*Ron DeSantis and Christopher Rufo are trying to force Florida Atlantic University into accepting Randy Fine as the college president — yep, the same wholly unqualified, dimwit fascist clown who enjoys calling women whores. The university search committee resisted, submitting the names of three qualified people as finalists instead. Then state called off the search, so there’s currently a standoff.
hells littlest angel
And I wonder sometimes why you stay there. Things there are unlikely to get better in any way. You’ll have an easier time selling your house now than you will at any time in the future.
Sorry, I am sure you are sick of hearing this. (But if you leave you won’t have to!)
MattF
Early lesson in Politics 101: if you let the thugs in, they will take over, or try to. And DeSantis truly is a thug. People see this right away.
Roberto el oso
@hells littlest angel: Same reason as a lot of progressives refuse to get chased out of Texas by Abbott and his fascist goons. If, as many folks seem to think, we’re slow-motion rolling into a civil war then the fighting back has to start somewhere.
I’m sure the situation in Florida re the recruitment and encouragement of Stasi-like busybodies is similar to the one here. And, just like with the original Stasi, for every ‘true believer’ there are probably 10 who are just opportunists, truly the scum of the earth. And someone has to fight them and make their lives a misery, so I’m sticking around.
HumboldtBlue
If you haven’t seen the video, it’s a must-watch. Harris is forceful and strident in her speech in a way we have never seen. In other words, the woman was pissed off and let everyone know it.
dave319
She stays to fight. A person of integrity and honor, taking a big risk.
Let a thousand Jennifer Jenkins bloom!
japa21
A message for all Democrats everywhere and nominated for a rotating tag.
hells littlest angel
@Roberto el oso: I wish you the best, but the Stasi weren’t busybodies, and like another monstrous German police organization, the people they oppressed under color of law didn’t fight back by speaking up or organizing, and the fighting back they did was negligibly effective. I mean, this is one of the milder oppressions Florida’s government is inflicting on its people:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/democrats-scramble-reach-voters-florida-cancels-mail-ballot-requests-rcna91294
Another reason to get out of Florida is that it will probably suffer economic and climate catastrophe within a few years.
BeautifulPlumage
“Group members and their associates chanted and brandished guns at Jenkins’ residence.”
Is that a smart thing to do in a state with stand your ground laws?
kalakal
@hells littlest angel:
I hate what the Repugs are doing to Florida .
Why do I stay?
A mix of reasons, I like the climate, the wildlife, the Gulf of Mexico, the sunsets etc, parts of it are very beautiful. I live in a part ( Pinellas County – roughly half way down on the left hand side) that isn’t that MAGA and know a lot of very nice people. And part of me is damned if I’ll let those bastards win by walking away.
Also I’m a couple of years from retirement so I’m working that out
On the other hand I hate what it’s becoming, more crowded, more built up, more right wing. I’m sick of hurricanes and lightning. I’d like to see real grass and mountains/hills occasionally. I really miss bluebell woods.
We probably will leave when I retire, if nothing else the way things are going we won’t be able to afford the house insurance, it’s just insane, as in I can see it reaching 5 figures before too long.
Really can’t think where to move to. A Blue state, that isn’t insanely expensive would be the first criteria
patrick II
Kamala Harris’ speech reminded me of a chart I saw at Kevin Drum’s place last Saturday, it was about Teenage Mental Health Index
The reason Kamal’s speech made me think of this is because she is justifiably angry, and I thought if we generalize that idea, there is a lot of fighting between parents, the mental health of their children will be affected. What if all of the parents were angry and arguing all of the time?
The discord in our country cannot be healthy for our children. And the fight is sometimes delegated to our children. Children of conservatives seem to be having their kids on the lookout for transgenders so they can be reported to the morals police at school And the poor sexually ambiguous kids, not just transgender kids, but perhaps a young boy who is a little smaller and sweeter and likes the violin, get thrown in and get humiliated and vilified also. Black and white kids are being set against each other — was slavery really good for those black kids great grandparents? Of course not, let’s fight about it. Not to mention climate change, which they will see the worst of while their short-sighted elders won’t be around.
I would like to think that we would take pretty good care of the physical needs of our children, but we are, regretfully and perhaps necessarily, creating an atmosphere of constant stress for too many of the children. It seems to be a time of great change and it is necessarily stressful for all of us, but we are passing on too big a share of that stress to our children.
hells littlest angel
@kalakal: I worry about good people in Florida being unable to leave because they have houses they can’t sell because they can’t be insured or they’ve turned into flotsam. But two years is a gamble I’d be willing to take, I guess.
Rural New York and rural Pennsylvania, for example, are affordable if you’re willing to live simply.
Basilisc
Biden’s narrowest state losing margin in 2020 was NC, less than 0.5%. After that it’s … FL, a little less than 3.5%. And remember that Obama won FL twice.
If Kamala’s visit is a sign that Dems plan to make a serious play for FL next year, that would be smart strategy, and great news.
West of the Rockies
@kalakal:
Santa Carla in California is nice… except for all the damn vampires.
Baud
Jenkins is a fighter and a hero.
Almost Retired
It seems like these right wing/fundamentalist school board takeovers pop up regularly every few years like cicada. There was such an attempt in the early 90’s in my LA area school board, but it quickly fizzled once people started paying attention. As a child in the rural Midwest, I remember a local busybody starting a similar group before it was stomped out by the teachers and sane parents.
But this time around feels different. It’s nastier, it’s more personal, their goals are more far-reaching and frightening and, of course, they all fucking have guns.
HumboldtBlue
Keep an eye on Baghdad, there’s been trouble in the Green Zone and US personnel may be evacuating.
Baud
Can Kamala be growing on me if I’ve always liked her?
Josie
I’ll be watching closely to see the details on donating and writing post cards next year, BC. We should all do our best to beat back these evil pricks.
FelonyGovt
Sometimes I think we’ve all gone crazy and are living in an MC Escher hell scape or something. Here’s an article describing how a Trump-appointed judge confirmed that yes, the jury in the Carroll case did in fact find he raped her, and wondering where the outrage is and how insane it is that Repukes continue to defend him.
Cameron
@kalakal: Have you considered Pennsylvania? I loved it in the 50 years I lived there. You can check some of it out from a distance at this site:https://uncoveringpa.com/
Baud
@Cameron:
Google gives me some best places to retire all the time and PA always has many cities on the list.
Baud
@FelonyGovt:
They have no culture or society left that’s separate from the cult.
trollhattan
Holy crap, if Taylor Swift doesn’t have Koch money today she will by the time her tour is over.
https://seatgeek.com/taylor-swift-with-haim-and-gracie-abrams-tickets/santa-clara-california-levi-s-stadium-2023-07-29-6-30-pm/concert/5858574
A good thing she’s not evil, and actually promotes voting and such.
Yarrow
@Baud: Cooties?
Baud
@Yarrow:
Fixed. I think spell check is on summer holiday.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: When she forms an alliance with Beyonce, they will crush everyone before them.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
I hope they start with Kanye.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: It would not surprise me.
Freemark
@Baud: to be fair to your original unedited post, we do have Scott Perry here. He certainly qualifies as a ‘cootie’.
Yarrow
@Baud: Lucky spell check!
Cameron
@Baud: A lot of the smaller cities (I lived in Philadelphia) are really great. I especially like Lancaster and Carlisle, but that’s not to run down any of the others.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
Nah, start with this Aldean asshole. Then go after Kanye’s crazy ass.
Mike in NC
We had good friends in NoVA years ago. We’d hang out with them in Baltimore and other places we all enjoyed. Then my wife retired and we ended up in North Carolina. Our friends relocated to Florida (first Naples, then Tampa) purely for the money they could make. Now they’re semi-retired and just had a new house built on top of a mountain in the Asheville area. They couldn’t wait to bug out of the Gunshine State and return to the place where they grew up and met in college.
HumboldtBlue
Some Biden Judge numbers:
—140 Article III judicial confirmations
—1 SCOTUS
— first Black woman confirmed
—36 circuit judges
—103 district court judges
—66% are women
—66% are people of color.
—46 are Black
—27 are Hispanic
—23 are AANHPI
Source
dmsilev
Alexandra Petri: The Barbie movie, according to conservative criticism
Betsy
@patrick II: who’s this “we” / “us” you speak of? You think the fighting is bad for them? Let’s be clear:. One side is attacking the kids, and the other side is defending the kids. The ones fighting FOR the kids are not creating the mental health issues and stress.
The way you’ve phrased things, this doesn’t seem clear and as far as I can tell would fit with the “concerns” of a No Labels troll.
kalakal
Thanks for all the “where to retire to” suggestions. We hadn’t thought about Pennsylvania, have to check that out. New York is gorgeous. North Carolina we had brief look at, I liked it. I see a lot of travelling in the not too distant future
Dorothy A. Winsor
Do they have any idea how crazy they sound? WE SEE THIS MOVIE. Just like we saw Jan 6. They’re both on tape (or whatever media).
Cameron
@HumboldtBlue: Aldean’s the Try That In A Ball Gown guy, right?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F1hfC1ZacAA2UJq.png:large
HumboldtBlue
@Cameron:
Yes.
Elsewhere: The GOP is not going to like more good news for Bidenomics, no sirree.
trollhattan
@dmsilev: Heh. Guest Opinion: ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ tell the same terrifying story
H.E.Wolf
PostcardsToVoters.org has been very active in GOTV efforts in Florida. Among other things that I like about that group: they make a point of reaching Democratic voters in red-governed locations, to make sure those voters know they aren’t being ignored or forgotten.
Anyone who’s inclined to write a few postcards in 2024… consider buying some postcard stamps now! The price goes up a few pennies every 6 months, so it will be a bargain if you stash some away in 2023. :-)
Also, cheap postcards can be had via print-your-own online places like Vistaprint which let you upload your own choice of image. Postcards To Voters has a good FAQ page on its website, covering this and lots of other topics.
We can help the many good folk of Florida, of whom our FL jackals lead the pack! :-)
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
It’s like right wing pollsters who correct their methodology just before the election to make themselves seem accurate and legitimate.
Bidenomics wasn’t some surprise event. Just shows how low quality Wall Street bankers are at their jobs.
dmsilev
@trollhattan: ‘I am become pink, destroyer of worlds’
MattF
@dmsilev:
Love that soooo much.
dirge
@kalakal:
Surprised nobody’s mentioned the People’s Republic of Vermont. I’ve family there, and it seems an excellent place for a modest retirement, with a lot of supportive government programs. Assuming you can take the winters.
I know a bit of southeastern PA. It’s a a patchwork of nice and not so nice, cheap and expensive. Great if you can find the right spot. Surprisingly short drives between big cities, cute little towns, and the middle of nowhere, so an excellent home base for low key day trips and weekend travel. Does not tax retirement distributions, I believe.
patrick II
@Betsy:
Fair point. We must fight. I just had not thought much before about how much it affects the kids. My deficit I suppose, but the statistics shocked. But unhappy kids or an overheated world does not leave much of a choice, does it?
Ken
@HumboldtBlue: Clearly the “trickle-down” effect of Reaganomics has finally kicked in, 40 years later. As Jamie Dimon warned us, now is not the time to change course.
HumboldtBlue
@dirge:
Surprised no one has mentioned Delaware. No state income tax, plenty of charming small towns and a lot of beach.
kalakal
@dirge:
@HumboldtBlue:
2 more for the list. I’d been looking at Delaware, hadn’t thought of Vermont.
I don’t really know the US outside of FL, OH, NJ, and NYC.
I can take the winters if forced, Mrs kalakal is not keen. At the moment we’re stalled at Georgia 😀
rikyrah
Rosewood…both sides 😡
Phuck Outta Here 😡
rikyrah
@HumboldtBlue:
I know that she knew she would be labeled the
Angry Black Woman
But, if you don’t get angry about muthaphuckas trying to whitewash AMERICAN CHATTEL SLAVERY
Then, don’t get angry about anything.
Ken
@HumboldtBlue: If you’re worried about climate change, Delaware’s highest elevation isn’t much higher than Florida’s, and its mean elevation is lower.
Baud
@Ken:
Yeah, but it’s higher on the map and water flows downhill.
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Have you seen this thread? One of the people they named as someone who “learned a valuable skill” through slavery was George Washington’s white sister. And John Henry (from folklore).
HumboldtBlue
@kalakal:
I was born in Philly but grew up in Dover, Delaware.
Delaware is a jewel, in Dover you’re 1.5 hours from Philly, Baltimore and DC and an hour from the southern beaches.
The winters are cold, but reasonably so, and it only gets very cold in January and February. Summers are hot and humid, and it’s autumn where Delaware shines at her best, fall is glorious.
Dover is the state capital, home to a major airbase in Dover AFB, the major MAC base on the East Coast, the city and surrounding areas are diverse in population, Delaware State University (HBCU) is in Dover and if you want a small farm, or a place near the beach, or a place in town you’re in luck. There are small towns up and down the state, and the southern part of the state has seen some real growth in the past 10 years.
Plus, Delaware is The First State, so there’s that.
@rikyrah:
I kind of wish she had dropped a motherfucker or two in there, but then again, she’s far more sensible than I.
@Ken:
Could you please stop trying to ruin my idyllic childhood memories of growing up in a small city?
Plus, in 1979 the state government had stilts built that were then put in place to be used to raise the landmass in the case of catastrophic weather events. It’s a true story!
frosty
frosty
@Baud: One reason PA is on the retirement list is that it doesn’t tax pensions. If you’re lucky enough to have one.
hells littlest angel
@frosty: The original question was about blue states. Believe me, I know how right-wing rural New York is — but no one here tries to stop me from voting or getting an education or protesting or giving a ride to an undocumented person.
And you’d be surprised at the number of rural college towns here.
Miss Bianca
@dmsilev: LOL!!
trollhattan
@Ken: Well maybe it should think about not being so mean. :-P
dirge
@kalakal:
One thing to bear in mind about DE is that despite the small size, it’s kinda two states in one. New Castle County in the north culturally groups with DC, Philly, NYC and their surrounding areas. The two southern counties (aka Slower Delaware) are more like rural Maryland, Virginia, or further south.
Also, yay for no sales tax.
frosty
@hells littlest angel: I agree, my comment was a bit harsh. Blue at the state level (governor, legislature, courts) does make a difference.
You’re right about colleges in small towns, too. In PA off the top of my head I can think of Dickenson in Carlisle (rhymes with drizzle), F&M in Lancaster, Lehigh, the little Ivies outside of Philly; then the state schools all over the place. Like Indiana and California LOL.
Geminid
@Basilisc: Related: a Politico article put up today titled:
hells littlest angel
@Geminid: Biden is politically astute AF. I’m so happy he’s there.
hells littlest angel
@frosty: Creepy as some of my neighbors can be, I’m so grateful to be here rather than some sub-Mason-Dixon hellhole.
Betty Cracker
@hells littlest angel: It’s okay — lots of folks are useless in a metaphorical foxhole. It’s good to know it up front.
kalakal
Thanks for all the advice.
I’ve spent most of my adult life ( outside the US anyway) in college towns and that definitely tracks with my experience.
Now to wince at property prices
Geminid
@hells littlest angel: Republicans had a head start in fundraising in 2020. The situation has reversed now, and the Biden campaign can go on offensive in North Carolina while defending purple states he won in 2020.
Another difference: Dems are unified, and Republicans are not.
Geminid
@kalakal: Roanoke, Virginia might be worth checking out. I think there are a lot of retirees there. Nice weather.
Elizabelle
@kalakal: Haven’t read the thread, but putting in a plug for Richmond, VA. Charlottesville is also wonderful.
RVA is very hot in the summer, but probably less than Florida. All four seasons, and 3.25 of them are quite comfortable.
And: we are overrestauranted. And becoming a brewpub destination, too.
Can take the train to DC, or NYC. Can get to either the ocean or the mountains in 2 hours.
You could do worse!
Roberto el oso
@rikyrah: The attempt to ‘both sides’ the oppression and violence against African-Americans reminds me of a (possibly apocryphal) sign next to a tiger cage in the Parisian zoo in the 19th century: “A very dangerous creature. When attacked it defends itself.”
Geminid
@Elizabelle: Richmond is a nice place with a lot to offer. Charlottesville is so wonderful that housing prices have gone through the roof. But further west on I-64 Augusta County is still affordable and the people are nice.
Now that I live in Greene County I often drive over the the Blue Ridge to Harrisonburg, and that seems like a nice place too.
Roanoke has the better weather though. The city declined along with industry and the railroad, but it started coming back a couple decades ago, and is even becoming somewhat of a tech center due to its proximity to Virginia Tech University.
MisterDancer
Oh, FOR FUCKS SAKE.
You know what Lincoln’s solution to slavery was, for a long time? The solution he expressed to no less than Frederick Douglass?
Send all us Black folx back to Africa. Mass exportation, regardless of circumstances, of connections. People who’d been here for generations, who didn’t know any land but America, any language but English, just tossed back to some place in an entire damn Continent with a massive diversity of people and cultures.
That’s what I think of with your proposals – except it’s aligned to that dumb assessment “self deportation” business.
My family bled and died in the American South. My Dad fought for my rights as much as his, and he’s sitting in the fuckin’ hospital right now, fighting for his godsdamned life. Add that to the cost of moving, trying to migrate a guy in a hospital bed.
I’ve lived in the North of America. I have friends from Boston to Seattle who would put real work to move me up there, again.
But Racism and a lot of the other ills are only lessened in America’s North. There are reasons I don’t go to, say the South Side of Boston. Reasons I stay thoughtful about my experiences Up There, about the legacy of Redlining.
You can play nice to people here, insist on moving as the solution. But it’s a sop to the ego, a way to saying I tried to warn them, to be the wise one — look, I pointed out the Holocaust parallels, what more did you want from me?
I support people moving for their safety. I would NEVER demand they do so, because it ain’t my fuckin’ life, and I don’t know their circumstances, their situations. If Betty put up a GoFundMe to get the fuck out, that’s one thing.
But it’s an ugly thing to insist she move without knowing far, far more about her than you seem to do. To insist that people uproot from generations of life and connections without even a hint of supporting such a mass migration with either laws or funds or, hell, offering your own body and sweat to get them out.
If you can’t put up to help, and all you have is these words? I have less than no respect for that stance.
Elizabelle
@Geminid: I love Virginia. I think it’s a good place to be, staring down climate change. And the hiccup of some fools having elected Youngkin.
Elizabelle
@MisterDancer: All the best to your family and your dad.
hells littlest angel
@MisterDancer: Alright. It’s a little weird that you think I did any insisting or demanding of anyone. Hope you feel better.
Roberto el oso
@hells littlest angel: Some of your comments have caused me to react in the same way as @MisterDancer. You may say that you haven’t insisted or demanded that anyone move out of their state but your questioning of why people would choose to stay have come across (to me, at least) as condescending.
There are a lot of progressives, liberals, and leftists living in red states and the idea that they should move to blue states is unthinkable for many of them, for a whole variety of reasons, including the fact that these states are our fucking home, and we’re willing to fight for them. I don’t know what state you live in, but I suspect that if, god forbid, it started to move from blue to purple, your first inclination wouldn’t be to start packing your belongings. I would hope that you would push back when things get tough.
Roberto el oso
@hells littlest angel: I’d like to amend my previous reply somewhat, just for clarity’s sake. I have friends who have moved elsewhere specifically because of the political/social situation in Texas, and I have helped them, and I fully understand their reasons for doing so. I’m not at all judgmental about folks who relocate out of here and know full well that they have damn good reasons to fear for their personal safety, for the legal status of their marriages, the potential harassment/abuse of their children, and so on. Everyone’s circumstances are different and so my personal opinion shouldn’t even be relevant except insofar as it provides some slight insight into a situation that can’t be made as simple as some might like. I very much want and need allies in blue states but it does get discouraging from time to time.
Kayla Rudbek
@HumboldtBlue: what are the stats for the EEOC judges, or are they not political appointees?