Washington: In a celebration of "Black History Month" on Monday, President Joe Biden hailed the contributions made by African Americans to the United States, as have decades of presidents of both parties.
In front of a group of black lawmakers and government representatives, Biden declared, "History matters, and black history matters."
According to Biden, Americans "can't just choose to learn what we want to know." He said that the good, the bad, the truth and who we are as a country are the things that need to be learned.
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His remarks from the East Room of the White House come at a time when some conservative Republicans, notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are advocating for changes in how black history is taught in US classrooms. DeSantis may run for president in 2024 as a Republican.
About 18 US states have outlawed the teaching of Critical Race Theory, an undergraduate-level idea that looks at systemic racism, and Florida is one of them. Before Vice President Joe Biden spoke, Vice President Kamala Harris said, 'As a nation, we will not try to erase America's past.'
Biden gathered families of victims of hate crimes last week for a screening of the film "Till," about Emmett Till, the 14-year-old black boy whose murder in 1955 ignited the civil rights movement.
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According to the US Census Bureau, approximately 50% of Americans, or about 15% of the population, identify as "single black" or "with another race". Past presidents have often used Black History Month to describe unfulfilled promises made to Black Americans.
In a 1986 proclamation, Ronald Reagan declared the month a holiday, saying that "the American experience and character cannot be fully understood until the study of black history takes its rightful place in our classrooms and our scholarship." takes."
Reagan said that many Americans "struggle" for "the full and unrestricted recognition of the constitutional rights of all." In a speech, then-President George W. Bush asked historian Carter G. Noting the theme of the 2008 celebration honoring Woodson and "the origins of multiculturalism":
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"Our nation is now stronger and more hopeful because generations of leaders like him have worked to help America live up to its promise of equality and the great truth that all God's children are created equal."