Fact Check: Karine Jean-Pierre Falsely Claims DeSantis Limits the Teaching of Black History

CLAIM: Florida has “limited the teaching of black history,” among other “discriminatory” policies.

VERDICT: FALSE. Florida has banned Critical Race Theory, which is not “black history” but a radical ideology.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made several false claims Tuesday about Florida’s education policy, and other policies. Most of these have been fact-checked before by Breitbart News; they are talking points that have been repeated by left-wing media and the White House to damage Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who — whether he wins the 2024 Republican presidential nomination or not — has emerged as a leader.

On Tuesday, White House correspondent April D. Ryan, known for a history of racially-focused coverage, asked Jean-Pierre to comment on the NAACP’s “travel advisory” against Florida (which Ryan clearly endorses).

As Breitbart News has noted, Florida is the third-most popular state for black Americans relocating from elsewhere. They are moving there for the same reasons other Americans are: Florida has no state income tax, few regulations on business, and little patience for the ideological obsessions that guide policy in “blue” states.

DeSantis has drawn praise from conservatives for taking on “woke” ideology in education, signing a law that prevents teaching about sexuality and gender to the youngest children, and banning the use of Critical Race Theory in Florida curricula. Critical Race Theory is not black American history; it is a radical revisionist idea that the United States was founded on racism and that all of its institutions are still affected by that racism. Critical Race Theory even believes the civil rights movement was a wasted, even counterproductive, effort.

Jean-Pierre, however, stuck to the talking points. Without commenting specifically on the NAACP travel advisory, she said, “We’ve been outspoken about the impact of misguided policies advanced by Florida lawmakers. Republicans in Florida have attacked diversity [sic], they’ve attacked inclusion efforts [sic], they’ve limited the teaching of black history [sic], and they’ve launched attacks on the LGBT youth [sic].”

Jean-Pierre went further, calling Florida’s policies “discriminatory” and blaming “extreme Republicans.” But there is nothing in DeSantis’s policies that is “discriminatory.” And despite the sensational media coverage devoted to the NAACP’s travel advisory, blue states like California that have tried to impose boycotts or bans on government travel to conservative states have moved toward abandoning them, because they have failed.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.