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Did the Florida governor actually study history at school? Twain's whitewashing story wanders across my mind. Prevaricating Tom Sawyer got his aunt's fence whitewashed at a tidy profit, at the expense of gullible boys in town. Florida school children will be gulled, perforce, if Ron deWhitewasher's law stands.

For discussion: I would from KML's own 'Searching for Black Confederates' add the example of Booker T. Washington. Before 1900, Washington had achieved scientific prominence at his own Tuskeegee Institute. Part of his success was careful subservience to the ethos of The Lost Cause. Rejection of Union unity was building to its zenith (does it trump onward yet?) and White supremacy demanded Black subservience. Blacks knew that their bread could be buttered only occasionally, if butter could be begged at all. Washington, therefore, advised Blacks to only aspire to industrial jobs, dispensed by Whites.

This brings out that for supremacists like deSantis, non-Whites must crawl into a subservient status if they are to co-exist with him/them/theirs. Thus, a shout-out for our Vice President's impromptu trip to Florida to rebut him. (Kamala springs from my own San Francisco political circle that sends so many leaders to Washington.)

Affectionate RIP to TONY BENNETT. As a San Franciscan whose ears more than once grew weary of hearing of 'the little cable cars' after the SF Giants won ballgames, I want to pay tribute with two stories I heard on National Public Radio. Harry Belafonte (also a recent RIP) got him into the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. The rednecks would not allow any clubs to loan their equipment, so a Black mortuary loaned coffins to him. That's what he stood on to serenade the marchers by the roadside!

Before that, he was a 19 year old GI in Europe, still Anthony Benedetto. His racist sergeant caught him about to have Thanksgiving dinner with an African American buddy from New York. The NCO humiliated him for disobeying racial fraternization regulations, and transferred him to graves registration, which handled corpses.

(Thanks, KML!)

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As a retired history teacher, who loved history and whose students did well in class and later in college—I would not teach today, particularly in Texas or Florida—since their governors seem to be in a “hold my beer” contest with less than admirable goals.

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author

Unfortunately, you are not alone.

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I know. My daughter (who taught English in a high-risk school) had enough this year. She also loved teaching, and her kids loved her.

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