Calling the content “abhorrent,” U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) shared one of the Prager University Foundation animated historical videos, a number of which have been approved for official use by the Florida Board of Education for teaching history in the state’s public schools.
In the video, a character representing Christopher Columbus tries to situate slavery in its historical context, saying that “slavery is as old as time,” and offering up a bitter, harrowing Sophie’s Choice binary. “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no?” posits the animated Columbus.
My 14 year old heard about these and asked me to sit down a watch a few full videos. There is no context to save these clips. This is racist, right wing indoctrination being piped straight into the bloodstream of schoolchildren. Abhorrent. https://t.co/Xx2ZxOmrcq
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 15, 2023
The video tells children: “Before you judge, you must ask yourself: what did the culture and society of the time treat as no big deal?”
Murphy, understanding that no slave ever thought slavery was “no big deal,” objects to the attempt at contextualization. Murphy writes: “There is no context to save these clips. This is racist, right wing indoctrination being piped straight into the bloodstream of schoolchildren. Abhorrent.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proudly declared his state the place where “woke goes to die” — meaning that Florida doesn’t countenance portrayals of inequality in society, even if they might explain or help to eradicate systemic problems built on racial bias.
Prager University Foundation says on its website: “PragerU is not an accredited university, nor do we claim to be. We don’t offer degrees, but we do provide educational, entertaining, pro-American videos for every age.”
