As Ron DeSantis takes on CRT, the AP miraculously finds white rage where none is actually there.

The Critical Race Theory siege continues in this country, and those making the argument on the other side have failed to become any more lucid over time. As Glenn Younkin took initial steps to keep the CRT curriculum out of Virginia schools his opponents resorted to not making sense to make their point. Some screeched, “It’s not even being taught in schools!” Others went further, trying to claim that CRT does not even exist.

These retorts are rendered neutered immediately by basic responses. If it is not being taught then banning it should not be an issue, but if it does not even exist then getting upset over any action makes absolutely no sense. Try to imagine getting emotionally worked up if it was announced that schools could not teach unicorn husbandry. That is how vacant their argument becomes.

It is with similar logic that The Associated Press reports on a new bill in the Florida legislature, with the news syndicate declaring racism in the policy by injecting words that were not written. Called The Individual Freedom bill, the legislation would limit the teaching in schools or the diversity training in businesses that a particular race is responsible for historic actions. The AP declares it to be protection for one race alone.  

It begins with the headline: Florida could shield whites from ‘discomfort’ of racist past. From there the syndicate describes this as, A bill pushed by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that would prohibit public schools and private businesses from making white people feel “discomfort” when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation’s past.

The AP has somehow claimed that “whites” are being protected from “discomfort”, despite the reality that those quotes do not exist in the proposed legislation. That needs to be repeated: Those words are not found to be anywhere in the bill. Instead what you get is a neutral address that includes all races, and protects an individual from being punished in a fashion for a reason stemming solely from their race or sex. As it is written:

“An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, does not bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex. An individual should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race.”

So where, then, did the AP come up with the headline and the assessment that this was written strictly for whites? From a lone Democrat opponent of the bill, state Senator Shevrin Jones. It is revealing that Jones provides the same types of fractured arguments in opposing this bill, and even manages to disprove himself in his argument – all while the AP crafts its article around his impression.

“This bill’s not for Blacks, this bill was not for any other race. This was directed to make whites not feel bad about what happened years ago,” said Jones. How does this not include blacks, when no specific race is ever mentioned and thus means all races are included? He never explains. But then Jones continues, and he makes a wildly contradictory statement that undermines his entire opposition.

“At no point did anyone say white people should be held responsible for what happened, but what I would ask my white counterparts is, are you an enabler of what happened or are you going to say we must talk about history?”  

Just astounding. He manages, within a single sentence, to declare that whites would not be held responsible for past actions, but if you support this law, that makes you an enabler to what happened in the past. That is the very thing this bill is addressing! This is a state senator denying the need for this bill, and then proceeding to illustrate the very behavior requiring it to become a law.

Then just to completely undercut the AP position, this bill the outlet claims is written specifically for whites and does not represent any other race has been sponsored onto the statehouse floor by a Hispanic legislator, state Senator Manny Diaz. I am just going to assume the AP will declare Diaz to be a ‘white Hispanic’, to stay in line with its wholly created narrative.

The Associated Press would be better off keeping writer Brendan Farrington out of Florida. He is the same biased writer who kicked off the controversy last fall about DeSantis allegedly pushing Regeneron treatments on behalf of a donor. Accuracy in reporting is not in Farrington’s skill set.