Why this petition matters

Started by Dr. Dessie Sanders, D​.​H.L ; ABD-Ph​.​D., Hum

Traumatic Experience

Between 1501 and 1867, nearly 13 million African people were kidnapped, forced onto European and American ships, and trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean to be enslaved, abused, and forever separated from their homes, families, ancestors, and cultures.

The Middle Passage was the route taken by slave ships from Africa to the Americas.

It is estimated that between 10 and 20 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic Ocean during this time period.

The conditions on these ships were inhumane, with slaves being packed tightly into cramped quarters and subjected to disease, starvation, and abuse by their captors.

It was a traumatic experience and the trauma that slavery has caused, still has a devastating impact on many African Americans (the descendants of former African slaves of the North Atlantic Slave Trade) today.

The abduction, abuse, and enslavement of Africans by Europeans for nearly five centuries dramatically altered the global landscape and created a legacy of suffering and bigotry that can still be seen today.

Slavery & Human Trafficking
Throughout history and across continents, slavery was used as a way to obtain cheap labor by depriving human beings of their personal liberty and creating a dependent labor force that was legally viewed as the property of the slaveholder, despite the obvious and grievous violation of human rights that this practice entailed. The abolition movement in western Europe and the Americas began in the late 18th century and was chiefly responsible for creating the emotional climate necessary for ending the transatlantic slave trade. Although slavery no longer exists as a legal phenomenon recognized by a political authority or government, human trafficking—a form of modern-day slavery that involves the illegal transport of individuals by force or deception for the purpose of labor, sexual exploitation, or financial gain—is a growing international phenomenon that affects people of all ages. 

Although the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It ended slavery and began the long-term goal of achieving equality for all Americans. The amendment exempted from the involuntary servitude clause persons convicted of a crime, and persons drafted to serve in the military. Despite the 13th Amendment, vestiges of racial discrimination and inequality continued to exist in America well into the 20th century.

Americans Americans, (the decendents of former African slaves), have yet to be financialy compensated for their trauma since the North American Slave Trade.

According to Eric Lutz who is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, Ron DeSantis’s war on “wokeness” in schools ascended to dangerous new heights Wednesday, as Florida’s State Board of Education approved new African American studies curriculum standards that, among other things, would force public school students to learn about some of the supposed upsides of slavery — a whitewashing of history that the state’s largest teachers union decried as a “big step backward” for education.

Florida’s new African American studies curriculum standards is unconstitutional; it forces Educators of public schools to teach students about some of the supposed upsides of slavery, negatively impacts Africans and African Americas, and jeopardizes their human rights. Slavery, never benefited Africans or African Americans. They never agreed or volunteered to become enslaved or sign a binding contract to be owned by another race of people. 

In all, the Middle Passage was the journey of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas. It was a brutal and deadly voyage that lasted for several weeks or months. At least 2 million Africans died during the Middle Passage, and another 15 to 30 percent died before or after the journey. This means that for every 100 enslaved Africans who reached the New World, another 40 had perished in Africa or on the way. This is a petition to remove Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Board of Education, and eradicate Florida’s new African American studies curriculum standards, which will force public school teachers to teach students to learn about some of the supposed upsides of slavery. Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Board of Education, and others who agree with this false narrative, can not change the truth about slavery in the United States of America.

1608 – John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown, VA colony council.

1794 – America’s first non-denominational college was charted. Blount College later became the University of Tennessee.

1813 – The first defeat of British naval squadron occurred in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. The leader of the U.S. fleet sent the famous message “We have met the enemy, and they are ours” to U.S. General William Henry Harrison.

1845 – King Willem II opened Amsterdam Stock exchange.

1846 – Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.

1847 – The first theater opened in Hawaii.

1862 – Rabbi Jacob Frankel became the first Jewish Army chaplain.

1897 – British police arrest George Smith for drunken driving. It was the first DWI.

1899 – A second quake in seven days hit Yakutat Bay, AK. It measured 8.6.

1913 – The Lincoln Highway opened. It was the first paved coast-to-coast highway in the U.S.

1919 – New York City welcomed home 25,000 soldiers and General John J. Pershing who had served in the First Division during World War I.

1919 – Austria and the Allies signed the Treaty of St.-Germain-en-Laye. Austria recognized the independence of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

1921 – The Ayus Autobahn in Germany opened near Berlin. The road is known for its nonexistent speed limit.

1923 – The Irish Free state joined the League of Nations.

1926 – Germany joined the League of Nations.

1935 – “Popeye” was heard on NBC radio for the first time.

1939 – Canada declared war on Germany.

1940 – In Britain, Buckingham Palace was hit by German bomb.

1942 – U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt mandated gasoline rationing as part of the U.S. wartime effort.

1943 – German forces began their occupation of Rome during World War II.

1948 – Mildred “Axis Sally” Gillars was indicted for treason in Washington, DC. Gillars was a Nazi radio propagandist during World War II. She was convicted and spent 12 years in prison.

1950 – Eddie Cantor began working on TV on the “Colgate Comedy Hour” on NBC.

1951 – Britain began an economic boycott of Iran.

1953 – Swanson began selling its first “TV dinner.”

1955 – “Gunsmoke” premiered on CBS.

1955 – Bert Parks began a 25-year career as host of the “Miss America Pageant” on NBC.

1956 – Great Britain performed a nuclear test at Maralinga, Australia.

1961 – Mickey Mantle tied a major league baseball record for home runs when he hit the 400th of his career.

1963 – Twenty black students entered public schools in Alabama at the end of a standoff between federal authorities and Alabama governor George C. Wallace.

1972 – Gayle Sayers (Chicago Bears) retired from the National Football League (NFL).

1974 – Lou Brock (St. Louis Cardinals) set a new major league baseball record when he stole his 105th base of the season.

1977 – “Mickey Finn” appeared in the comic pages for the last time.

1979 – U.S. President Carter granted clemency to four Puerto Rican nationalists who had been imprisoned for an attack on the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954 and an attempted assassination of U.S. President Truman in 1950.

1981 – Pablo Picasso’s mural Guernica was received in the town of Guernica.

1984 – The Federal Communications Commission changed a rule to allow broadcasters to own 12 AM and 12 FM radio stations. The previous limit was 7 of each.

1989 – Hungary gave permission to thousands of East German refugees and visitors to immigrate to West Germany.

1990 – Iran agreed to resume full diplomatic ties with past enemy Iraq.

1990 – Iraq’s Saddam Hussein offered free oil to developing nations in an attempt to win their support during the Gulf War Crisis.

1992 – In Minneapolis, MN, a federal jury struck down professional football‘s limited free agency system.

1998 – Mac Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 – Northwest Airlines announced an agreement with pilots, ending a nearly two-week walkout.

1999 – A bronze sculpture of a war horse just over 24 feet high was dedicated in Milan, Italy.

2002 – Florida tested its new elections system. The test resulted in polling stations opening late and problems occurred with the touch screen voting machines.

2002 – The “September 11: Bearing Witness to History” exhibit opened at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

2002 – Switzerland became the 190th member of the United Nations.

The first meetings were from September 5 to October 26, 1774

The Second Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies in America that united in the American Revolutionary War.

It convened on May 10, 1775, with representatives from 12 of the colonies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, succeeding the ( First Continental Congress which met in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774. (

The Second Congress functioned as a de facto national government at the outset of the Revolutionary War by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and writing petitions such as the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms and the Olive Branch Petition

All thirteen colonies were represented by the time the Congress adopted the Lee Resolution which declared independence from Britain on July 2, 1776, and the congress agreed to the Declaration of Independence two days later.

Source: wiki