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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss her criticism of the state’s Black history school curriculum standards after she joined widespread outrage over newly approved guidelines that diminish the impact of slavery and racist violence. “In Florida we are unafraid to have an open and honest dialogue about the issues. And you clearly have no trouble ducking down to Florida on short notice,” the governor wrote in a letter on 31 July, referencing her recent remarks in the state. “So given your grave concern (which, I must assume, is sincere) about what you think our standards say, I am officially inviting you back down to Florida to discuss our African American History standards,” he added. The administration also has invited William B Allen, one of the members of the working group that developed the standards who has a long history of inflammatory remarks and partisan rhetoric. The Independent has requested comment from the office of Ms Harris. The vice president travelled to Orlando on Tuesday to deliver remarks at the 20th Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church Quadrennial Convention. Her visit follows remarks in the state on 21 July to condemn the state’s “propaganda” and the “extremist, so-called leaders” who support it. Though she did not name him or any other Florida officials, the vice president’s speech was directly aimed at the governor, whose administration has sought to radically overhaul public education and establish a “parents’ rights” agenda that restricts honest lessons of race and racism, threatens discussion of LGBT+ people and events, targets libraries and reshapes local school boards. A new set of standards for African American history in Florida schools will teach middle schoolers how enslaved people “developed skills” that could be “applied for personal benefit”. Another guideline instructs high schoolers to be taught that a massacre led by white supremacists against Black residents in Ocoee to stop them from voting in 1920 included “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” Civil rights advocates, educators and lawmakers have warned that the guidelines present a distorted, revisionist picture of American history. “Adults know what slavery really was. It involved rape, it involved torture, it involved taking a baby from their mother, it involved some of the worst examples of depriving humanity of people in our world,” Ms Harris said in her remarks in Jacksonville. Members of the working group and the Florida Board of Education have defended the unanimously approved standards, assuring that they include comprehensive lessons on American history, including its darkest chapters. Mr Allen, a Black professor emeritus at Michigan State University who also sits on the national advisory board of the right-wing think tank Center for Urban Renewal and Education, has repeatedly defended the working group’s guidelines. A review of his past statements from Popular Information reveals a history of incendiary, contrarian remarks used to bolster and legitimise right-wing ideology. In 1989, he faced protests while participating in a panel titled “Blacks? Animals? Homosexuals? What is a Minority?” on which he claimed that special classes of protection for LGBT+ people and other minorities are a “fatal” mistake that heighten “tensions and antagonism”. Creating legal protections for minority groups “is the beginning of the evil of reducing American blacks to an equality with animals and then seducing other groups to seek the same charitable treatment,” according to prepared remarks. His speech was denounced by the US Civil Rights Commission – on which he was then serving as chair – as “disgusting” and “necessarily inflammatory”. That same year, he also was charged with kidnapping a 14-year-old girl from a Native American reservation in Arizona while she was the subject of a custody battle between her mother and a white couple who adopted her. Mr Allen also has opposed race-conscious admissions in higher education, including leading a campaign with a group that included members of the conservative Christian Hillsdale College and right-wing interest group the Heritage Foundation. He also has criticised The 1619 Project, which is explicitly banned from Florida schools, and has rejected concepts including “systemic racism, institutional racism [and] white privilege.” Mr DeSantis has routinely accused “the left” and Democratic officials of “indoctrinating” students in the state while he promotes an agenda that bans honest discussions of race and racism, sexuality and gender. The governor’s administration also recently approved materials from right-wing political advocacy group PragerU to be included in K-12 classrooms. The founder himself has said that those lessons are explicitly designed to indoctrinate. The campaign for Mr DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2024, has fired back at Black Republicans in Congress who have joined criticism of the African American history standards, including US Reps Byron Donalds and John James, as well as 2024 rival and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Both Mr James and Mr Donalds have endorsed Donald Trump. Read More Why Florida’s new curriculum on slavery is becoming a political headache for Ron DeSantis Most of Florida work group behind controversial new guidelines on African American history did not agree, report says The GOP primary is already decided. We’re just pretending it isn’t

YouTube’s UK and Ireland boss has insisted there will always be a future for long-form videos despite increasing competition from the likes of TikTok. Alison Lomax, who took on the post in January this year, told the PA news agency that YouTube is committed to a multi-format proposition, through its traditional longer videos as well as Shorts, launched in 2021 to draw back some of the audiences that had switched to short-form rivals such as TikTok. She said YouTube Music is rolling out its new podcast feature in response to increasing demand for podcasts from younger viewers, who she stressed are not turning their backs on longer-form content. Having launched in the US in April, it is now set to be unveiled in the UK by the end of the year, according to Ms Lomax. But it comes as TikTok continues to enjoy exponential growth, with mobile phone usage driving consumers towards short-form video. Speaking on the launch of YouTube’s latest UK impact report, Ms Lomax said: “Generation Z have really embraced the podcast, but they’re not 60 seconds.” She said in the future “there will still be a world for multi-format and you see that with creators”. “Just because you can create short form content, does not mean that they do. “People experiment with different formats.” (AI) is the buzz word of the year, but it's been part of what we are doing for many years Alison Lomax, YouTube UK and Ireland managing director The group, owned by Google parent Alphabet, said in its impact report that more than 45,000 full-time jobs were created among its creator economy in 2022, while its “creative ecosystem” contributed over £2 billion to wider UK economic output last year. The research, conducted by Oxford Economics, found that more than 65,000 creators and partners in the UK receive income linked to their YouTube presence, with over a third of British creators who earn money from YouTube saying it was their main source of revenue. Ms Lomax said recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) were also presenting “real opportunities” for its creators. The group has been working with Google DeepMind, which is headquartered in Britain, to design AI solutions to create performance improvements on the platform for creators and viewers. Ms Lomax said YouTube has been using AI since 2017, including to help develop content moderation in the battle against misinformation, something that is becoming increasingly important in the area of health and in particular ahead of upcoming elections in the US and UK. She said: “(AI) is the buzz word of the year, but it’s been part of what we are doing for many years.” Echoing recent comments from YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan, she said the industry is “at a critical inflection point” with AI. “We need to boldly embrace it, but also by being mindful about responsibility.” YouTube recently announced an initiative that will see it partner with the music industry as artists face increasing challenges from the rise of AI technology. It has launched YouTube’s Music AI Incubator to help inform its approach to the technology, look at how it can enhance creativity and address issues. “We’re aware of the big opportunity but also we are aware of the downsides… we want to be part of the solution and the opportunity,” said Ms Lomax. The music initiative is the first of a number of YouTube announcements in the AI arena this year, she said, adding it is “something we’re thinking about very deeply for the ecosystem”. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Robotic dog brought into survey historic Cold War weapons testing facilities Period and fertility tracking apps scrutinised over data security concerns Russian cyber-attacks ‘relentless’ as threat of WW3 grows, expert warns

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