Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott spar over Florida’s teaching of slavery during second GOP debate
Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

MIAMI — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his state’s new Black history education standards during the second Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, dismissing criticism of the curriculum as a “hoax” — and consequently drawing a rebuke from the only Black candidate on the debate stage, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Asked about a provision in the curriculum — which was approved by the Florida state Board of Education in July — that teaches that some enslaved people learned skills that ultimately were used for their “personal benefit,” DeSantis quickly brushed off the question as...