Ron DeSantis just sent a letter to Kamala Harris requesting a meeting to discuss Florida's new...

[demmiblue]

7. Here is the rest about William Allen:

1. @RonDeSantis just sent a letter to @KamalaHarris requesting a meeting to discuss Florida's new Black history curriculum

DeSantis said he would bring along William Allen, who helped write the curriculum

Who is William Allen?

We took a deep dive

And it's a WILD ride

🧵 Image

2. Allen has a history of making incendiary remarks and promoting right-wing ideology

In 1989, as chairman of Reagan's Civil Rights Commission, Allen gave a talk at an anti-gay conference titled “Blacks? Animals? Homosexuals? What is a Minority?”

popular.info/p/meet-the-sch…

3. In the speech, Allen said creating legal protections for minority groups “is the beginning of the evil of reducing American blacks to an equality with animals and then seducing other groups to seek the same charitable treatment.''

4. At the time, the rest of the Commission denounced the speech for being ''disgusting and unnecessarily inflammatory.'' When the Commission held a vote to condemn the speech, Allen "was the only member of the commission to vote in behalf of himself."

popular.info/p/meet-the-sch…

5. Allen was also charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old girl from a reservation. There was a custody battle between her birth mother and a white couple that wanted to adopt her

“Allen contends that the girl wants to leave the reservation, though the mother has formal custody”

6. Following pressure from the Commission, Allen eventually apologized. But even then, he said he would “not assume responsibility'' for the events. He also refused to step down, and instead called for the resignation of everyone on the Commission.

7. More recently, Allen has been an outspoken critic of efforts to promote diversity.

Accepting the “whole idea of diversity and identity,” Allen says, “is apartheid.” Image

8. There is a lot more on Allen and other members of the work group that created Florida's new Black history curriculum in today's Popular Information.

popular.info/p/meet-the-sch…

9. This platform is controlled by a mercurial billionaire who uses it to promote right-wing ideology and conspiracy theories.

I recommend getting accountability journalism directly by subscribing to Popular Information.

It's free to sign up.

popular.info/subscribe

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1686349939725492224.html