Republican presidential candidate Will Hurd took aim at fellow GOP hopeful Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for defending his state’s controversial curriculum on slavery.
“Anybody that is implying that there was an upside to slavery is insane,” Hurd said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” before criticizing DeSantis for doubling down on the position.
“Real leadership would have stepped up and said, ‘Hey, there is no upside to slavery. Slavery was not a jobs program. Nobody should imply that’s what we did, and we’re going to change the language.’ And this would have been done,” Hurd continued. “But this is one more part of a fact pattern of Ron DeSantis being mean and hateful.”
DeSantis has faced sharp criticism from Democrats – as well as from Black Republicans – over a line in the revised education curriculum guidelines in Florida that directs teachers to give instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), the only Black GOP member of the Florida congressional delegation, criticized the line in the curriculum but gave the Florida Department of Education the benefit of the doubt, saying overall the new standards for African-American history are “good, robust, & accurate.”
“That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted. That obviously wasn’t the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this,” Donalds added in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
DeSantis’s press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, fired back at Donalds in a post on X. Donalds is a Trump ally and supports the former president over DeSantis.
“Supposed conservatives in the federal government are pushing the same false narrative that originated from the @WhiteHouse,” Redfern wrote. “Florida isn’t going to hide the truth for political convenience. Maybe the congressman shouldn’t swing for the liberal media fences like @VP.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), another GOP presidential candidate and the only Black Republican senator, slammed DeSantis for his defense of the curriculum, saying last week, “There is no silver lining in slavery.”
“Slavery was really about separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives,” Scott added. “It was just devastating.”