Kamala Harris slaps down Ron DeSantis’ invite to hash out slavery dustup

Vice President Kamala Harris slapped down Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ invite to hash out their curriculum spat.

“Extremists attempt to divide our nation with unnecessary debates. But I have news for them: We will not be distracted — and we will not be deterred,” Harris tweeted Tuesday.

“There is no roundtable, no lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate the undeniable fact: There were no redeeming qualities to slavery.”

Last month, Harris, the nation’s first black vice president, attended a church convention on DeSantis’ home turf and publicly denounced the state’s updated curriculum on African American studies, which features lessons on the “benefits” of slavery.

“They want to replace history with lies,” Harris said at the time. “Middle school students in Florida [are] to be told that enslaved people benefited from slavery.”

DeSantis responded Monday in a letter to Harris, goading her into a debate.

“Our state pushed forward nation-leading stand-alone African American history standards — one of the only states in the nation to require this level of learning about such an important subject,” he wrote.

“I am prepared to meet as early as Wednesday of this week, but of course want to be deferential to your busy schedule should you already have a trip to the southern border planned for that day. Please let me know as soon as possible,” he chided the “border czar.”

The curriculum in question came from a working group that developed it after Florida rejected a pilot Advanced Placement course on African American studies earlier this year over concerns about discussion of communism and authors who wrote about so-called critical race theory, among other grievances.

A benchmark clarification in the new standard stipulates that “instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

That line has sparked an outcry of criticism of the new standard, including from many black Republicans, such as 2024 hopeful Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and Florida Rep. Byron Donalds.

DeSantis has underscored that he was not involved with the development of the new standards and forcefully shrugged off the criticisms as misinformed.

“That’s not what the curriculum says,” DeSantis shot back during a tour in Iowa last week when a reporter asked if there were “beneficial aspects” to slavery.

“In the curriculum, it’s very clear. I think it’s like 200-plus pages of all kinds of stuff … that makes it very clear about the injustices of slavery in vivid detail.”

“That particular provision about the skills, that was in spite of slavery not because of. The AP course has made that same point,” he added.

DeSantis’s allies have also pointed to members of the working group such as Dr. William Allen, former chairman of the US Commission on Civil Rights, who have strongly defended it.

DeSantis is currently in New Hampshire, where he unveiled his economic agenda Monday. He is slated to head back to Iowa later this week to resume his Never Back Down bus tour of the Hawkeye State.

Harris, meanwhile, is delivering a series of speeches while President Biden vacations at his Delaware beach house.