RESPONSE TO THE ENACTMENT OF THE 'STOP WOKE' ACT

On July 1, 2022, Gov. DeSantis’s Stop WOKE (Wrongs against Our Kids and Employees), embodied in FLORIDA HOUSE BILL 7, went into effect in the State of Florida. This unwarranted and unprecedented law weaponized White discomfort with being exposed to the realities of institutional and systemic racism and the plain facts of our nation’s racial history.

This law strikes directly at the work of the South Florida People of Color and our mission to dismantle racism through education and advocacy. Unfortunately, we expect that this unjust law will have some chilling effect on the work of our Unity360 Institute, which conducts diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training for colleges, universities, and corporate entities. 

Nevertheless, we will not be silenced. Our work will continue because it is more critical now than ever. 

As evidenced by this law, we are witnessing the reemergence of White supremacist ideology into our national and local politics, in a way not seen since before the 1960s, even to the point of becoming the modus operandi of a political party. Laws like HB 7 are expressions of this ideology that use policy violence to silence conversations that help to create a foundation for a more inclusive and equitable society. This is a countermovement in direct response to the popularity of the 1619 Project, which complicated the common understanding of America’s history by centering the Black experience in this country over 400 years, and the Racial Reckoning of 2020 in the aftermath of the murders of Ahmed Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. The combined effect of these social and intellectual movements, and the continuing echo for social justice and equity, are threats to those who are not interested in true inclusion or equity. 

There are some people who are only comfortable with a narrative of America’s history that glorifies White triumph and promotes American exceptionalism, even when they were created at the expense of the lives and humanity of systemically marginalized groups like Blacks and Indigenous people.

Even DeSantis’s invocation of the word “our” in the title of this horrendous piece of legislation reveals his singular focus on the feelings of White people. He and the members of the legislature that passed this egregious law stand on the ridiculous belief that exposing “their” children to the facts of this nation’s history and current practices of institutional and systemic racism, as documented by the plain facts of history, is a “wrong” to them. But what of the Black and indigenous children in this state who need to understand the facts of their own history? What about the “wrongs” that are committed to employees of color who have for years suffered microaggressions and other forms of interpersonal and institutional bias, often unwittingly perpetrated by their colleagues, that affect their mental health and career trajectories? 

With the recent release of its updated African American History curriculum, the State of Florida goes out of its way to highlight its assertion that enslaved Black individuals gained skills during slavery that they were able to use for their personal benefit.

This troubling development is just one part of the ongoing assault, particularly accelerated by reactionary Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on the realization of a plural, multiracial, and inclusive democracy that we all rightfully deserve.

Numerous informed and thoughtful commentaries have shed light on the methods and consequences of these efforts, which we highly recommend exploring.

It is crucial to note that the current controversy surrounding Florida's Black History curriculum underscores a series of significant issues that demand equal, if not greater, attention:

• Michael Harriot, "Florida's Black History Standards Are Even Worse Than Reported," The Grio (July 27, 2023),

These distortions of American history are part of a broader ideological project that supports American White Supremacy and White Nationalism, and Ron DeSantis is just one of several rising figures associated with it:

• Janai Nelson, Ron DeSantis Wants to Erase Black History. Why?, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/opinion/ron-desantis-black-history.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article (January 31, 2023)
• Jamelle Bouie, Ron DeSantis and the State Where History Goes to Die, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/28/opinion/desantis-slavery-florida-curriculum-history.html (July 28, 2023)
• Charles M. Blow, Black History Is a Casualty in Ron DeSantis's Christian Nationalist Quest, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/opinion/desantis-slavery.html (July 26, 2023)
• Jamelle Bouie, Ron DeSantis Likes His Culture Wars for a Reason, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/24/opinion/desantis-florida-culture-w.html (January 24, 2023)

The ongoing experiences of Black and other marginalized communities illustrate how the dissemination of racial and economic misinformation, masquerading as academic knowledge through state-approved curricula, can have long-term detrimental consequences. Florida's recent African American history standards are just one example of these dangerous deficiencies, but they shed light on the actions of individuals like United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, United States Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, as well as their fellow travelers with reactionary views. Their myth-based, distorted worldview results in public policies that inflict suffering upon all of us.

Professor James W. Loewen explores these themes and helps us understand how the harmful myths we teach about our country, its founding, its past, and its present hinder our ability to achieve our fullest collective potential. For more insights, we recommend reading James W. Loewen's book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (The New Press, 2018).

written by: Alex Rundlet, Chair
graphics by: Ithan Payne​