>> WHEN THE SHOW FIRST STARTED A YEAR AGO, RON DESANTIS WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A SUCCESSFUL REELECTION CAMPAIGN FOR GOVERNOR. HE WAS JUST BEGINNING HIS WAR ON WOKE. AS THE EXTENDED HIS REACH INTO PUBLIC CLASSROOMS ACROSS FLORIDA, TRANSFORMING THEM INTO ANTI-WOKE BATTLEGROUNDS, WE FOLLOWED. REPORTING ON THE EFFECT OF HIS NEW POLICIES. WHEN GOVERNOR DESANTIS BEGAN POLICING LANGUAGE IN FLORIDA SCHOOLS, WE TALKED WITH TEACHERS ATTEMPTING TO PLAN LESSONS WHERE THEY COULDN'T TEACH ABOUT RACISM IF ANY GROUP OF STUDENTS FEEL DISCOMFORT. WHEN DESANTIS INITIATED A HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF NEW COLLEGE, A SMALL PUBLIC LIBERAL ARTS SCHOOL IN THE STATE, WE WENT THERE. WE SPOKE TO STUDENTS, AND PARENTS ABOUT THE NEW TRUSTEES, AND THEIR MISSION TO TRANSFORM THE SCHOOL INTO A MODEL OF CONSERVATISM. ONE YEAR LATER GOVERNOR DESANTIS IS ATTEMPTING TO RESCUE HIS STRUGGLING PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN BY SPOTLIGHTING HIS LATEST CRUSADE AGAINST BLACK HISTORY. FIRST, FLORIDA REJECTED THE CURRICULUM FROM AP AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES. THEN THE BOARD OF EDUCATION APPROVED NEW STANDARDS FOR TEACHING BLACK HISTORY, INCLUDING MANDATING LESSONS ON THE PERSONAL BENEFIT OF SLAVERY. AND REQUIRING THAT LESSONS ON CERTAIN RACE MASSACRES INCLUDE ACTS OF VIOLENCE PERPETRATED AGAINST AND BY AFRICAN AMERICANS. SO, ONCE AGAIN, WE WENT BACK TO FLORIDA, TRAVELING TO THE SMALL TOWN OF OCOEE. 12 MILES WEST OF ORLANDO, WHERE THE TOWN'S OWN HISTORY -- AND THE ABILITY TO LEARN ABOUT IT. >> BASICALLY, A WHOLE BUNCH OF BLACK PEOPLE WERE KILLED BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO VOTE IN THE WHITE PEOPLE DECIDED THAT THEY WANTED TO KILL THEM AND BURN OUR HOMES AND STUFF. IT WAS A REALLY HORRIBLE NIGHT. I KNOW A LOT OF STUDENTS DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT, EVEN THOUGH WE ARE LITERALLY THERE. >> I LEARNED ABOUT THE MASSACRE -- WE WERE OUTSIDE TALKING AND THEY WERE LIKE DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS A SCHOLARSHIP? AND WE ARE LIKE WHAT SCHOLARSHIP? AND THEY SAID THE MASSACRE. AND SHE WAS LIKE THEY KILLED ALL THE BLACK PEOPLE. AND I SAID THEY WHAT? AND I'M JUST LIKE THIS IS SERIOUS. HOW RACISM GOES SO FAR. >> IT HAPPENS EVERYWHERE. >> WE STILL DON'T KNOW ABOUT IT. >> I WASN'T TAUGHT AT ANY SCHOOL. I THINK IT MAY HAVE BEEN MENTIONING A PEA U.S. HISTORY MY JUNIOR YEAR. EVEN IF IT IS AT A SLOWER PACE IT STILL NEEDS TO BE TAUGHT THROUGHOUT THE YEARS AT SCHOOL. BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT AND IT IS OUR HISTORY. ESPECIALLY LIVING IN FLORIDA. >> IN NOVEMBER, 1920, THE SMALL TOWN OF OCOEE WAS THE SITE OF THE WORST ELECTION DAY VIOLENCE IN ELECTION HISTORY. AND WEEKS BEFORE THE ELECTION, KKK MEMBERS SEND THREATENING MEMBERS -- WHO REGISTERED RESIDENTS TO VOTE. THE KLAN PROMISED WE SHOULD ALWAYS -- AND HE WHO INTERFERES MUST FACE THE CONSEQUENCES. >> THIS IS SLEEPY HOLLOW GROUND CEMETERY, WHICH CONTAINS THE BODIES OF AT LEAST 300 PEOPLE, BLACK PEOPLE WHO DIED DURING THE MASSACRE. MOST OF THEM BURNED TO DEATH BEYOND RECOGNITION. SO THEY WERE PUT IN MASS GRAVES IN THIS SPOT. AND UNTIL RECENTLY THEY WERE FORGOTTEN ABOUT. >> THE MASSACRE WAS SCORCHED PLAY TO AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN WHO WENT TO THE POST TO VOTE. IT WAS ABOUT VOTING RIGHTS. >> THERE WAS A GOOD REASON FOR WHITE MEN TO BE AFRAID OF BLACK PEOPLE VOTING BECAUSE A CHANGE THE BALANCE OF POWER. >> SO, THEY WERE REFUSED THE RIGHT TO VOTE. >> THE MOB COMES TO THE HOME, SURROUNDS HIS HOME, TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON AND TO BRING HIM OUT TO PUNISH HIM FOR ATTEMPTING TO VOTE. THEY KILLED TWO OF THEM THROUGH FRIENDLY FIRE. AND IT GETS BLAMED ON JULY PERRY. THERE WERE HEADLINES ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. TWO WIGHTMAN KILLED, BLACKS RIOTING OUT. >> IT APPEARS UNCLEAR WHO KILLED THOSE MEN, BUT THOSE HEADLINES ABOUT THE DEATHS OF WHITES AT JULY PERRY'S HOME, DIMINISHING RACIAL TERROR IN THAT COMMUNITY, THOSE HEADLINES WOULD HAVE REPERCUSSIONS BOTH THEN, AND NOW. >> HE WAS ARRESTED, AND BROUGHT INTO ORLANDO, WHERE THE COUNTY JAIL IS. THE MOB FOLLOWED HIM AND TOOK HIM OUT OF THE JAIL AND HUNG HIM. AND LEFT HIS BODY HANGING FOR DAYS. AS INTIMIDATION SO THAT OTHER AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO WOULD CONTEMPLATE VOTING IN ORANGE COUNTY WOULD SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. >> A LOT OF WHAT THE KKK WAS TRYING TO DO WAS TO SUPPRESS THE VOTE WITHOUT USING VIOLENCE. NORMALLY IT WORKED. >> THE BLACK DEATH TOLL FROM THAT DAY IS NOW INCALCULABLE. THE REMAINING BLACK POPULATION PLUMMETED AFTER THE MASSACRE. AND THE EVENTS OF NOVEMBER 1920 WERE LARGELY FORGOTTEN. UNTIL NOW. >> SINCE I HAVE BEEN GOVERNOR WE HAVE ADDED TO WHICH TYPE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ISSUES -- WE HAVE MANDATORY INSTRUCTION ON THE ELECTION DAY RIOTS IN 1920. >> THE NEW CURRICULUM IN FLORIDA SCHOOLS CHAMPIONED BY GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS MANDATES THAT STUDENTS LEARN ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN OCOEE. BUT ONLY IF THAT INSTRUCTION INCLUDES ACTS OF VIOLENCE PERPETRATED AGAINST AND BY AFRICAN AMERICANS. IT IS AN APPARENT REFERENCE TO THE TWO WIGHTMAN KILLED AT PERRY'S HOME, AND IT OBSCURES THE FACT THAT THE MASSACRE TARGETED BLACK CITIZENS. >> THERE HAD BEEN COMMENTS ABOUT THE DEATH OF THE STANDARDS. ANYONE WHO COULD READ THESE STANDARDS, YOU COULD SEE THE TOPICS THAT ARE COVERED OUR IN-DEPTH AND THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS LEFT OUT. >> THE SLATE OF FLORIDA AND DESANTIS IS OFFICIALLY BLAMING ANTI WHITE VIOLENCE ON BLACKS IN OCOEE. IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. IT IS A LIE. THE TWO WHITE MEN WHO DIED HERE DIED AT THE HANDS OF OTHER WHITE PEOPLE. SO WE ARE HERE TO TRY TO CORRECT THAT LIE. >> IF YOU TAKE A MASSACRE WHERE A WHOLE TOWN WAS DESTROYED, HOUSES WERE SET AFIRE, SCHOOLS WERE SET A FIRE, LODGES, CHURCHES, PEOPLE WHO RAN OUT OF THEIR HOMES WERE SHOT AND KILLED. AND THOSE WHO DID NOT RUN OUT OF THEIR HOMES, BURNED IN THE BUILDING. AND IF YOU CAN TAKE SOMETHING LIKE THAT AND HAVE IT FOCUSED ON VIOLENCE, PERPETRATING BY, AND AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS, YOU MISSED THE WHOLE POINT. >> GOOD MORNING. >> GERALDINE THOMPSON OR TO THE FLORIDA EDUCATION SYSTEM FOR MORE THAN 24 YEARS BEFORE SHE BECAME A STATE SENATOR REPRESENTING OCOEE. >> I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME YOU AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS SPEAK OUT TOWN HALL MEETING. >> THOMPSON IS NOW INVOLVING THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO PROTECT THE STATE'S HISTORY STANDARDS. >> I WANT PETITIONS THAT WE ARE GOING TO SEND THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION. SAYING THAT WE WANT FACTUAL BALANCE HISTORY POT IN OUR CLASSROOMS. >> I LOVE THESE STUDENTS, EVERY DAY I COME TO SCHOOL, I COME TO WORK, I'M EXCITED TO TALK TO THE KIDS. I'M EXCITED TO TELL THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW SO THAT THEY CAN GROW AND MAKE THIS COUNTRY BETTER. BUT THEY WANT ME TO LIE TO KIDS. THEY WANT US TO IGNORE AFRICAN HISTORY PRIOR TO THE SLAVE TRADE. THEY WANT US TO TRY TO HIDE FLORIDA'S UGLY LEGISLATIVE HISTORY. I WILL NOT, IN MY CLASSROOM -- IT WILL NOT HAPPEN. >> WHILE TEACHERS AND OCOEE AND ACROSS FLORIDA ARE STRUGGLING TO TEACH STUDENTS UNDER THESE NEW STANDARDS, PROFESSOR, MARVIN DUNN, ISSUING EDUCATORS OCOEE'S HISTORY FIRSTHAND. >> I AM HERE BECAUSE I WANTED TO BRING ACTIVE TEACHERS TO THESE PLACES IN FLORIDA WHERE THE STATE REQUIRES SOME TO TELL LIES TO STUDENTS. LIKE THAT THERE WERE ANTI WHITE PEOPLE IN OCOEE. TEACHERS FEEL THEY HAVE TO TEACH ALIVE BECAUSE THE STATE REQUIRES AT. COULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS MARKER? THE PROBLEM WITH THIS MARKER IS THAT IT DOESN'T TELL THE TRUTH OF WHAT HAPPENED HERE. IT DOESN'T TELL THE TRUTH OF WHO IS OUT THERE. THIS IS HOLLOW GROUND. THIS IS NOT A CEMETERY. THIS IS A MASS GRAVE. THIS IS A MASS GRAVE. WE WILL TAKE QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, REACTIONS, ANYTHING FROM ANYBODY. >> I AM A TEACHER AND I AM TELLING ALL TEACHERS, AS YOU KNOW, I WAS NOT HIRED TO TEACH LIES. AND I WILL NEVER TEACH FLIES. I AM NOT A TEACHER WHO WILL TEACH LIVES. PERIOD. >> AS FOR THE STUDENTS AND SCHOOL IN OCOEE, THEY ARE DETERMINED TO LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THEIR OWN BACKYARD. REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE STATE OF FLORIDA SAYS. >> EVEN IF OUR HISTORY IS NOT BEING TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS IT IS OUR OBLIGATION TO LEAD ABOUT OUR HISTORY ON OUR OWN. >> WE HAVE TO DO WHAT OUR TEACHERS ARE UNABLE TO DO. WHAT ARE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS ARE BEING PROHIBITED FOR A TEACHING US BY A LAW. THEIR JOBS ARE AT STAKE, AND THEY ARE RISKING THEIR -- >> YOU CAN'T PICK AND CHOOSE WHICH ONES YOU WANT SAYING THAT HISTORY WAS BEAUTIFUL AND WE ARE SUCH A GENEROUS PEOPLE, NO. YOU KILLED PEOPLE, YOU MASSACRED PEOPLE, YOU TOOK PEOPLE FROM THEIR HOMES. THAT IS THE HARD TRUTH. LIKE IT HURTS. IT REALLY DOES. BECAUSE PEOPLE STILL HAVE WOUNDS. LIKE YOU HAVE THE GREAT GRANDCHILDREN SURVIVING, RECALLING THE TIMES OF TRAUMA. BUT WE HAVE TO HEAL AS A NATION. WE CAN'T HEAL AS A NATION -- IF YOU DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE THE PAST HISTORY
