DeSantis to ban critical race theory from schools and workplaces
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo shares details on the Stop WOKE Act in Florida on 'Fox News Primetime' December 2021.
An op-ed in the Miami Herald last Thursday slammed Florida's Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act (the Stop W.O.K.E. Act) claiming it will have "damaging effects on the health and well-being of Black families" in the state.
Author Brittney Butler delved into the alleged consequences of removing Critical Race Theory instruction, saying such policies can "gravely create disparate pregnancy outcomes," for example.
"The harmful effects of restricting education on topics like structural racism, racial segregation, redlining, and Jim Crow will be felt for generations to come, not just in maternal mortality rates but for various diseases that cause Black people to lose their lives too soon," Butler wrote.
DESANTIS'S 'STOP W.O.K.E.' LEGISLATION WOULD MAKE TEACHING CRT IN FLORIDA CLASSROOMS ‘ILLEGAL’: RUFO
Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, speaks during a news conference in Pembroke Pines, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Butler, a social epidemiologist who "researches the role of structural racism in increasing the risk for maternal hypertension," went on to say that the "social determinants of health extend far beyond healthcare access and utilization" to also include education and training.
Since Florida's proposed law would not only affect public schools, but also workplaces, the piece's focus shifted to hospitals which the author asserted, under the law's restrictions, would be "limited in the training they can provide to address medical discrimination and accountability within their institutions."
Butler also addressed those aspiring to be doctors, arguing that the legislation "would limit the ability for medical schools in Florida to educate future physicians about the historical injustices in the medical field that created inequitable treatment for black women."
FILE PHOTO: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during the welcome segment of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S. February 26, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
She then slammed Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls for throwing his support behind the law after he pledged a "long-term commitment" to the health of mothers and children – a move she calls a "direct contradiction."
Butler argued that the bill, if signed by Gov. DeSantis, "will inevitably cause Black women in Florida to remain at higher risk of dying because of pregnancy complications for generations."
She concluded:
"So the question I pose to DeSantis as HB 7 sits on your desk is: discomfort or death? Which one is more important to protect Floridian families from? I am sure for the many families who walked into a hospital for what was one of the happiest days of their lives and were left without a mom, the choice would be easy."
LABOR UNION FALSELY CLAIMS FLORIDA ANTI-CRT BILL WOULD BAN TEACHING ON SLAVERY, HOLOCAUST
An even mix of proponents and opponents to teaching Critical Race Theory are in attendance as the Placentia Yorba Linda School Board in Orange County, California, discusses a proposed resolution to ban it from being taught in schools. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The "Stop W.O.K.E. Act" passed Florida's legislature on Mar. 10 and is awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis' signature.
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The bill makes it illegal to subject students or employees to training or instruction compelling them to "believe … an individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the individual played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin."
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