CNN’s Don Lemon Asks Black History Activist If DeSantis Is Like Those Preschool Teachers In Blackface Incident
CNN anchor Don Lemon asked an activist if Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is like the preschool teachers who put kids in blackface to celebrate Black History Month.
Controversy exploded when parents at a private Miami preschool learned that a teacher at the school painted several children’s faces with blackface to teach some sort of Black History Month lesson, and provided photographic evidence.
At the same time, DeSantis has drawn protest and criticism over his attempts to push back on race-based history and policy that he criticizes as too “woke,” including an advanced-placement Black history curriculum he calls “indoctrination.”
On Wednesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Lemon talked about both issues with Bishop Rudolph McKissick Jr., Senior Pastor of the Bethel Church in Jacksonville, Florida and leader of a protest movement against DeSantis.
Lemon concluded his interview with McKissick by asking if DeSantis is acting out of ignorance like the preschool teachers, or is being deliberately dishonest:
DON LEMON: His office says that it is both dishonest and incorrect, a claim that Florida is banning Black history and says that Florida has a Black history requirement in state statute. What is your response to that?
BISHOP MCKISSICK: I think that’s a great talking point, but it’s disingenuous because we’re not saying that they don’t teach Black history. What we’re saying is you want to reject Black history, to teach it the way you want it so that this generation is not uncomfortable. Well, perhaps they need to be uncomfortable so they can join us in the fight. But equity and equality, they do have Black history, but it’s not really being taught as it should be across our state. And we’re not saying you don’t teach it. So we are not the ones who are dishonest. They are, because they know that’s not what we’re after. We’re after you not whitewashing our history.
DON LEMON: You’re saying he’s dishonest? Do you think he’s dishonest?
BISHOP MCKISSICK: (inaudible)
DON LEMON: Do you think he’s like that teacher who just doesn’t get it because they haven’t been taught, or do you just think he’s flat out lying and being dishonest about it?
BISHOP MCKISSICK: No, I think he gets it. I think he is using our state as the test lab to see how the nation responds. Because he wants to run for president. And what we want to show the nation, Don, is if you allow him to run for president, what you’re seeing in a microcosmic way in Florida is what you will see in a macrocosmic way in the nation.
DON LEMON: Bishop McKissick, thank you very much. We appreciate you coming on CNN this morning.
BISHOP MCKISSICK: Thank you, my friend.
Watch above via CNN This Morning.
