I make a motion that we allow the state of Florida to secede. Can I get a second? Let’s reach out to Spain and ask them to go back on their 1821 deal that saddled us with this geographical headache. We can use the damaged goods defense even though I’m sure we didn’t keep our receipt after all these years. The Seminoles would support this measure because soon after the ink dried on the deal, the U.S. government began taking their land, promptly forcing them onto reservations.

The latest in a long line of racially divisive nonsense from the sunshine state is the Florida mother who took offense to a book of poems at an elementary school where her two children attend. What was sad, silly, and telling is how those that oppose anything that brings a modicum of respect and acknowledgment to the achievements of skinfolk, the mother hasn’t even read the book she so outwardly abhorred, “I’m not a reader. I’m not a book person. I’m a mom involved in my children’s education.”

It was also reported that this mother of the year has ties to a violent white supremacy group and has posted racist and anti-Semitic messages on her social media page. Instead of vetting this cretin or giving any courtesy and respect to the people of color there, educational leaders opted to score political points in the state our former Racist in Chief now occupies by banning it.

The book of poems was authored by Harvard graduate, Amanda Gorman, who was picked by then President-elect Biden to read her original poem “The Hill We Climb” at his Inauguration. Gorman had the best response to the controversy saying, “One parent got my poems banned from classrooms, and yet one country can’t ban assault rifles from massacring them.”

This clueless and clearly bigoted mother is taking her cues from the equally dimwitted Florida governor who has instituted a similar type of ban on the teaching of anything close to the acknowledgment of real American history as it relates to its darker skin hued brother. Back in April, the governor signed the pointless HB 7, also known as the “Individual Freedom” measure. The bill bans educators from teaching certain topics related to race. It’s designed to prevent teachers from making students feel guilty or ashamed about their race because of historical events. He went further by limiting funding to institutions that violated this ban.

Although this bill was signed, and inept and racist politicians in states like Tennessee, Virginia and others campaigned similarly, Critical Race Theory is not being taught in any school curriculum in this country. This is nothing more than a page torn from the racist handbook of scaring uninformed white folks into believing Bigfoot and the big Black boogeyman will come into the classroom and eat their children. It’s no different than the cinematic racist propaganda peddled back in 1915 with the release of the movie, “A Birth of a Nation.” Even then, President Woodrow Wilson showed it in the East Room of the White House.

To all those who are opposed to the true history of this country being taught simply because hearing it may affect the fragile sensibilities of little white kids, what about the horrors inflicted upon Black and native Indian children who had to endure it? What about the psychological and emotional weight a Black child has to carry being told he’s equal, and his life has value, but is denied the opportunity to learn about his history, heritage and customs? This is separate and unequal all over again.

How are their white peers supposed to accept them as an equal when they’re never tasked with learning anything about who they are? Then we wonder why there’s so much racial animus and division. Instead of addressing it with educational opportunities, we engage in pointless failed feel-good diversity efforts like festivals, marches, prayers at trees and flagpoles, and other nonsensical efforts.

I’ve heard the argument that why should white kids have to be taught about the historical failures of the early leaders and settlers of this country. I nor any of my ancestors sailed on the Mayflower, fought in the Revolutionary or Civil wars, dumped tea in Boston, fought at the Alamo, or participated in the Holocaust, but I learned about them in school. Oscar winner Tom Hanks took to Instagram and shared his shock and amazement that true Black history was not taught when he was growing up. He was angry and annoyed that he only learned of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre two years ago at age 64.

If you think you have a Black friend and they’re not honest with you about how it feels to be black in America, then you really don’t have a Black friend. You just know someone Black.

Kenneth L. (Kenny) Hardin is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.