“With Florida, it’s hard to draw any other conclusion than they are actively trying to use the Asian American Pacific Islander community as a wedge here,” says Gregg Orton, national director of National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.
A new law in Florida mandates the teaching of Asian American and Pacific Islander history in public schools. But many Asian Americans are not celebrating, pointing to how other marginalized communities are being impacted by the state heavily limiting the instruction of systemic racism and gender identity in the classroom.
“When you advance a bill that uplifts AAPI communities, but don’t want to acknowledge the fact that in the same state, there are real intentional efforts to invisiblize or erase Black history, or [critical race theory], you are on the wrong side of history,” Orton said. “With Florida, it’s hard to draw any other conclusion than they are actively trying to use the Asian American Pacific Islander community as a wedge here.
The history mandate would require the teaching of Japanese American incarceration in World War II, immigration, citizenship and the “contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to American society.” Conversely, the anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion bill, effective July 1, will ban the teaching of courses that legislators say “distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics.
Manjusha P. Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, similarly noted that Asian American experiences cannot be separated from that of Black, Indigenous and other groups, calling into question what “version” of history will be taught in schools.
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