DL Open Thread: Thursday, January 26, 2023

DeSantis’ Plan? Run Against ‘Wokeness’:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing mounting backlash regarding his administration’s decision to prohibit an Advanced Placement high school course on African American studies, with Black leaders rallying in the capital, a prominent civil rights lawyer threatening to sue and state lawmakers urging him to reverse the decision.

Attorney Ben Crump accused DeSantis of violating the federal and state constitutions Wednesday by refusing to permit the course. His legal team noted that a federal judge found a 2010 law in Arizona that banned a Mexican American studies program from Tucson schools unconstitutional and officials “motivated by racial animus.”

The state Department of Education contends that the class is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law.”(?). A new education law championed by DeSantis requires lessons on race be taught in “an objective manner” and “not used to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.” Some education advocates and teachers say the law is so broadly framed that it is having a chilling effect on the teaching of Black history.

The latest controversy in Florida education policies began this month, when the DeSantis administration said a pilot Advanced Placement course on Black history would not be approved by the state Department of Education because it violated state law and“lacks educational value.”

The state Education Department listed “concerns” in the curriculum, including topics covering “Intersectionality and Activism,” “Black Feminist Literary Theory” and “Black Queer Studies.”

“Now who would say that an important part of Black history is queer theory?” DeSantis said at a news conference this week. “That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids.”

But critics of the governor, who has made eliminating what he calls “woke indoctrination” from schools and businesses a key part of his platform, say he is unfairly targeting Black history by not allowing the course to be taught in Florida. Other Advanced Placement classes, such as European history, have not been scrutinized by the DeSantis administration.

Senators To Staffers: ‘Quick, Find Me Some Taylor Swift Lyrics I Can Use To Bash Ticketmaster’. You and I both know that’s how this happened:

Several bipartisan members of the subcommittee were flummoxed by the lack of accountability. Many quoted Taylor Swift lyrics to tell him so. “Live Nation and Ticketmaster is the 800-pound gorilla here. You have clear dominance, monopolistic control. This whole concert-ticket system is a mess. A monopolistic mess,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. “May I suggest, respectfully, that Ticketmaster look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem. It’s me,’” he added, citing lyrics to Swift’s 2022 banger, Anti-Hero.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the top Republican on the subcommittee, added a reference from another 2022 song, Karma. “Karma’s a relaxing thought,” he said. “Aren’t you envious that for you it’s not?”

Fanboys? I think not. That’s no reason not to break up Ticketmaster, though. They and Live Nation are music’s Evil Empire.

$122 Mill For Leg Hall Expansion? Maybe, maybe, you can justify some sort of parking garage. The rest?:

Studio JAED determined a 60% increase would be needed for public spaces, a 32% increase for private spaces and 73% in spaces for operations and infrastructure. Based on those numbers, the company suggested an approximate 57,000-square-foot addition to the hall.

Stemming from projections made during a Legislative Building Committee meeting last August, the estimated project budget totals $122 million. Of that, $74 million would go toward direct costs like the parking structure and site work; $24 million would cover indirect costs like administration and contracting; and $24 million would pay for other services, such as moving, storage and design.

Riverfront Development Corporation Goes After Black-Owned Business. Great piece by Amanda Fries, horrible behavior from the RDC and the rest of Gentrification, Inc.:

When a hookah lounge opened along the Riverfront in January last year, there was little fanfare.

No one – from the surrounding bars, restaurants, offices and retail space to the Riverfront Development Corp., which oversees development at the Wilmington Riverfront – appeared to have an issue with Pure Flavor Hookah Lounge opening at 960 Justison St.

But when the lounge’s owners applied for a taproom license to serve alcohol, that changed.

In a July 19, 2022 letter to the Delaware Office of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner, development corporation Executive Director Megan McGlinchey asked the commissioner to deny the Black-owned business’s request because “there have been numerous complaints” about the lounge and “the operators.”

The allegations against the hookah lounge, none of which are documented by Wilmington Police, mirror those from Brandon Heath, owner of Timothy’s Riverfront Grill, who claimed in an April 11, 2022 email to Pettinaro Management LLC, that they see “multiple issues per week” with the hookah lounge.

He went on to detail the exact claims mentioned in McGlinchey’s petition to the beverage control commissioner while also making allegations against another Black-owned business at the Riverfront, according to an email Heath sent to Pettinaro, Riverfront Development Corp. staff, and an officer with the Wilmington Police Department.

“We do not have reports of incidents of that nature at that location,” Wilmington Police Department spokesman David Karas confirmed.

This is nothing more than a concerted vendetta against a Black-owned business. If you’re wondering, yes, Buccini/Pollin has joined the all-white chorus against the Pure Flavor Hookah Lounge.

Legalized racism remains alive and well in Delaware.

What do you want to talk about?