By Jonathan Feingold
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ disdain for “woke ideology” is on full display.
At a January 2023 inaugural event, the governor boasted that “Florida is where woke goes to die.”
This is more than political bluster.
In just the past month, DeSantis has stacked the board of the New College of Florida, a well-known liberal arts college, with right-wing ideologues and has directed universities to report their diversity efforts and critical race theory classes to his office.
So what, precisely, does Desantis – a potential 2024 presidential nominee – oppose?
That became clear in December 2022 when multiple DeSantis officials appeared before a federal judge to defend the governor’s decision to suspend a local prosecutor whom DeSantis had termed a “woke ideologue.” The judge asked Ryan Newman, DeSantis’ general counsel, to define “woke.”
Newman answered that “woke” is “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”
Newman added that DeSantis does not believe systemic injustices exist in the United States.
DeSantis, for his part, has explicitly denied that systemic racism exists – characterizing the notion as “a bunch of horse manure.”
In my view as a legal scholar on race and law, Newman’s explanation was a stark admission.
By his own account, Newman placed DeSantis on the side of injustice. We might call DeSantis an “injustice denier.” Akin to climate change, there is no legitimate academic debate about the reality of systemic racism.
It’s real. It’s pervasive. It’s unjust. No amount of denial can change that – even if it scores political points.
Political campaign against ‘woke’
When DeSantis and others bemoan “woke indoctrination,” their claim is not that schools should be value-free zones.
Their claim is that schools teach the wrong values.
This should surprise no one.
In the wake of 2020’s global uprising for racial justice, right-wing think tanks, foundations and officials launched an open smear campaign to stigmatize modest efforts to make American classrooms more inclusive and curriculum more comprehensive.
As early as March 2021, one of the campaign’s chief architects, Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, publicly bragged about weaponizing critical race theory to further that agenda.
Rufo further explained that maligning critical race theory through calculated caricature and distortion was an “obvious” element of a “public persuasion campaign” to erode faith in public schools.
Rufo, one of DeSantis’ recent board appointees, has outlined the end goal: “lay seige to the institutions” and return Americans to a pre-civil rights social order that lacked affirmative commitments to racial inclusion.
A long history of white resistance
Proponents often claim that laws and policies designed to restrict classroom conversations about race are necessary to protect mostly white students from emotional discomfort.
Yet over two years into an open disinformation campaign and hundreds of laws designed to suppress “woke” viewpoints, many in the mainstream media still frame anti-racism and anti-anti-racism as competing sides in an educational culture war.
In my view, the culture war framing is odd.
It exaggerates disagreement among typical Americans – most of whom believe students should learn about racism and reject book bans. It falsely recasts a top-down political project as a grassroots uprising. And it minimizes the rising toll on students, parents and educators.
The “culture war” frame also implies Americans are fighting over values, yet rarely makes explicit those competing values.
One thing is clear.
There is little new about this culture war.
It is hard to miss the parallels in rhetoric and tactics between 21st-century anti-anti-racism and 20th-century massive resistance, when segregationists openly defied federal court orders to integrate public schools.
Past generations have invoked “religious liberty,” “school choice” and “parents’ rights” to defend the prevailing social order, defund public schools and discredit efforts to redistribute racial power.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
In my view, many of today’s anti-anti-racists rehearse the same old rhetoric for similar ends.
Past generations harnessed state power to penalize educators who dared to teach about injustice.
Historian Candace Cunningham recounts one example from 1956 South Carolina.
Two years after Brown v. Board of Education, South Carolina’s white Legislature enacted 14 laws designed to stymie civil rights.
This included a law that required all teachers to swear an anti-NAACP oath – a law designed to target Black educators and “destabilize the civil rights movement,” as Cunningham explains.
Impact on cultural literacy
A revival of such measures has occurred since 2020.
In at least 15 states, GOP officials have passed “educational gag orders” to chill classroom conversations about race, racism and related topics. This includes Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act,” a portion of which was enjoined in November 2022.
Given the laws’ design and effect, University of Florida Law Professor Kathryn Russell-Brown has likened this legislation to 19th-century anti-literacy laws.
According to free speech advocacy group PEN America, 2022 saw a 250% jump in such laws, which became more punitive and more likely to target higher education and LGBTQ identities.
Similar policies have accelerated at the local level across the country.
As of December 2022, UCLA’s CRT Forward Tracking Project had identified over 130 school district policies that target anti-racist pedagogy and curriculum.
A related study from January 2022 found that state and local anti-literacy laws affected over 900 districts, accounting for 35% of America’s K-12 students.
Given that 2022 saw more educational gag orders than the prior two years combined, that number is no doubt higher now.
Academic freedom under state review
Many of the same GOP officials pushing anti-literacy laws are also actively eroding key safeguards that shield public universities and professors from political interference.
Not surprisingly, DeSantis is a leading proponent of such efforts to curb university independence.
In Texas, the lieutenant governor threatened to terminate tenure after the University of Texas’ faculty leadership reaffirmed the value of academic freedom and the right to teach about race and gender justice.
Right-wing groups also have fueled defamatory campaigns against school leaders, teachers and librarians.
Many of the same groups have spearheaded an unprecedented wave of book bans.
PEN America tallied over 2,500 individual bans from July 2021 to June 2022.
This includes books like “When Wilma Rudolph Played Basketball,” which explores how an African American athlete overcame physical limitations and racial prejudice to win medals in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Experts have attributed the extreme rhetoric accompanying book bans and anti-literacy laws to a rise in threats and acts of physical violence. This includes nearly 200 documented anti-LGBTQ+ events in 2022 – a twelvefold increase over 2020 – and bomb threats targeting historically Black colleges and universities and other entities serving communities of color.
Against this backdrop, it is notable that the midterm elections revealed the limitations of anti-CRT and anti-wokeness rhetoric.
But those limitations seem unlikely to alter GOP talking points or the broader assault on public education.
The incoming GOP House leadership has already renewed its pledge to purge schools of critical race theory and “woke ideology.”
To borrow a phrase from the late Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, one might conclude that anti-anti-racism embodies a “fear of too much justice.”
Jonathan Feingold is Associate Professor of Law at Boston University.
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Thomas Kaspar says
I guess you don’t have any articles on how well Ron DeSantis performed as Governor for Fort Meyers and Daytona Shores just politically bias Democrat propaganda .
Deborah Coffey says
Governor for Fort Meyers (Myers)? What?
The dude says
DuhSantis showed up in his sexy boots for some campaign photos and sprinkled some federal money around.
Besides that what did he actually do?
Nothing.
Thomas Kaspar says
You think he is sexy , Sanibel Island and Daytona Shores think he is the next President . If your lucky he will fix your broke ass pier .
Joe D says
Sure, when you are spending FEDERAL money!
Ft Myers and the hurricane disaster relief hardly gets mentioned now from Tallahassee. And while they talk about all that “WASTEFUL WASHINGTON spending, “ I don’t see him or the Florida legislature turning down those multi-billion federal dollars pouring into the disaster areas!
Seems Book banning and rewriting “WOKE “ American History is a “MUCH BETTER way of spending Legislative time and money…..and NEWSCASTS opportunities!
Marlee says
WAIT!
A major Core Principle of Conservatism
Individual Freedom!
Laurel says
Marlee: Which bit by bit DeSantis is chiseling away.
Charles says
Donald his idol is beating him in the polls today, can’t wait to see the two go at it in a debate. One dictator against the other. Get the popcorn ready.
Jim099 says
This guy is wasting so much time on these issues instead of focusing on things that could help all Floridians. Like homeowners insurance, taxes, health care, etc..
The only reason deathsantis showed his face during the hurricane was it was before the November election. Otherwise he would have been doing his big WOKE thing.
Dictators eventually go away once people finally figure out how bad they are.
Thomas Kaspar says
Signed Charlie Crist
Laurel says
Thomas K.: Nope, I have to agree with Jimbo99 this time. By the way, Charlie Cris was okay as a Republican. Then the Republican party veered away from Crist and rest of the more reasonable Republicans.
Thomas Kaspar says
If you like flaky he is OK for you then . Charlie should stick to cruising Clearwater Beach nightclubs .
What Else Is New says
DeSantis showed up at the aftermath of a devastating hurricane so he could wear his Nancy Sinatra boots. Notice they didn’t get dirty, as he was loathe to walk in the mud, bless his heart. How disheartening to learn of D’s aberrant behavior when attempting to quiet educators. Are we sick of hearing D repeatedly saying, “woke?” Rerun Racist Ron needs to do an uptick on his language skills.
Thomas Kaspar says
Another WOKE Charlene Crist voter opines .
Deborah Coffey says
Let’s repeat: Ron DeSantis will NEVER be president of these United States. Just as voters rejected the 2020 election deniers, they will reject the cruel and hateful Fascist. America just doesn’t have enough idiots buying into this kind of hate to win a presidential election.
Anthony says
I’m sure you said the same thing about Donald Trump never being president…… And I respectfully disagree that America “doesn’t have enough idiots” We have over 81,000,000 of them according to Biden’s voters.
Laurel says
Anthony: That’s a really nice way to talk about half of your fellow American citizens. My husband is a Christian, and he told me you’re never supposed to call a person an “idiot.” Has that changed?
Deborah Coffey says
Actually, I did not say the same thing about Donald Trump. He was being groomed by Russia since 2005 and it was obvious their hands were all over that election.
Thomas Kaspar says
2024 is a layup for Desantis . Joe is lost and slobbering .
For Real says
DeSantis, for his part, has explicitly denied that systemic racism exists – characterizing the notion as “a bunch of horse manure.” ”
Is this how he was taught to speak in Harvard Law School. Trump sure taught him how to lie like him.
Laurel says
For Real: DeSantis is now legislating that no more teaching of black history in Florida’s public schools. What he should be doing is a hard search for his personality, if one actually exists somewhere.
Thomas Kaspar says
Firstly like “dont say gay” its out of context . Should Vladimir Nabokov be available to 4th graders ? Where is the line . Should we be teaching narrative select victim history another hundred years 2132 because its good business for organizations like BLB to flip homes in Malibu ? You should worrying about Hunter and the big guy exposing secrets in garages .
Pierre Tristam says
Clearly, Kaspar, he of the anti-ov, hasn’t read Nabokov if he thinks the book he’s referring to can stroke up (and down) one-handed delights. There’s not an iota of anything resembling porn in the book, most moms-for-bigotry types couldn’t make it past the first page due to their innate illiteracy, and yes, we can only wish 4th graders read Nabokov, any Nabokov: they’d be the best writers and readers on the planet by the time they reached 5th grade. Instead, Kaspar prefers to invite us to intellectual beheadings.
Thomas Kaspar says
So go ahead and list the books written by Nabokov that you would put in elementary school ? Also Hemingway and Mark Twain .
Pierre Tristam says
Just about every line Nabokov wrote is a jewel. The three-volume Library of America collection of his works: we could start there. Should be in every school library. No age limit. Actually the entire Library of America should be in every school library.
Deborah Coffey says
Right! I wish there was a way to block trolls on here.
Pierre Tristam says
There is. You don’t see what gets blocked. It would give you cancer, like it did two people at this end. But moderation tries to apply a light hand.
Deborah Coffey says
I believe you. Thanks, Pierre.
Thomas Kaspar says
I had to Google “anti-ov” .
The Dems do get trigger happy .
Pierre Tristam says
It’s not Googlable. Think Kasparov. The point is: Kasparov thinks; Kaspar is anti-think.
Geezer says
Hear! Hear!
I nominate the governor for the Lester Maddox Award!
JimBob says
If DeSantis starts selling ax handles a la Maddox would they be made of “Rosewood”?
Geezer says
I think they’d be hickory.
I do “get” the Rosewood reference.
Tsk tsk, JimBob…:-0
Thomas Kaspar says
“no more teaching of black history in Florida’s public schools.” simply false . I personally think there should be more teaching of history of Native Indians , Chinese indentured , Spanish contributions and Scottish engineering in Florida but theres not much victim grifting in that .
Laurel says
Thomas: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64348902
Thomas Kaspar says
You have to read your own link . Murderous genocidal slavery was not just about white oppression.
Pierre Tristam says
Of course: let’s not forget Catholicism specifically, and Christianity more broadly. Not many more more genocidal forces on earth, in history, than those.
Thomas Kaspar says
Who captured and brought African tribal slaves to markets within Africa ? Who were the Barbary Pirates ? Did Africans have slaves in Africa , the West Indies and United States ? Did Billy Bowlegs have slaves in Florida ? How many Africans freely immigrated to North America ? I think all people want to learn all the history , but there is a lot more money and votes from constituents who are told they are open ended victims .
Pierre Tristam says
I stand corrected. because the Mideast slave trade was responsible for 18.5 million deaths and the Atlantic slave trade only 16 million, then the Atlantic slave trade was god’s (Christianity’s, of course: as always) gift to Africans, who could, I guess in your thinking, at least look forward to shopping at the Mall of America, as opposed to building soccer stadiums in Qatar. Is that it? God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.