CNN commentator ripped for tying DeSantis’ rejection of African Studies course to Memphis police killing

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GOP ‘stood in the way’ of police reform that could have prevented death of Tyre Nichols: MSNBC analyst

MSNBC legal analyst and Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler blamed the deadly beating of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers on Republicans in Congress who "stood in the way" of passing police reform legislation.

Conservatives called out CNN political commentator and former Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., for citing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' rejection of a high school African Studies program alongside Tyre Nichols' death.

In the wake of Memphis officials releasing bodycam footage of the police beating that resulted in the death of Nichols, 29, earlier in January, Jones claimed "anti-Blackness" was part of the perpetrators’ motives. 

"If you think the Memphis police officers had to be white in order to exhibit anti-Blackness, you need to take that AP African American Studies course Ron DeSantis just banned," Jones wrote Friday on Twitter.

CNN'S VAN JONES SAYS TYRE NICHOLS' DEATH MIGHT HAVE BEEN ‘DRIVEN BY RACISM’ DESPITE BLACK COPS BEING CHARGED 

Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)  ((Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))

Jones was alluding to the five officers charged in Nichols' death, who were Black: Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills, Emmitt Martin and Justin Smith. Each face charges including second-degree murder.

He also referenced DeSantis' opposition to a high school AP African Studies course proposed by The College Board. The course contains notes on Critical Race Theory and queer theory, according to a copy of the syllabus previously obtained by Fox News Digital. 

The AP course was rejected by the Florida Department of Education from being included in state curriculum because it violated the state’s law barring woke content in its public schools, Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. previously said, adding the state does, however, require the teaching of African-American history.

TYRE NICHOLS BODYCAM: MEMPHIS AUTHORITIES RELEASE VIDEO IN DEADLY TRAFFIC STOP

A Memphis police officer pulling Tyre Nichols out of his vehicle on Jan. 7, 2023. (Memphis Police Department)

DeSantis defended the rejection earlier in January, prompting calls from critics that his administration was erasing "all of Black history."

Jones’ tweet appeared to tie racial grievances over two of the week’s biggest cultural flashpoints, but users on Twitter weren’t buying it. 

Prominent conservatives on the platform blasted Jones’ tweet, with some arguing that it actually made the case for the Florida Department of Education’s decision to reject The College Board’s course. 

"It’s the thinking FROM that course DeSantis opposed that has people thinking like stupid things like this," said Washington Examiner columnist Christopher Tremoglie.

Conservative commentator Peter Boghossian wrote: "This is a textbook example of starting from a conclusion and working backward to find evidence that supports that conclusion. In this case it is actually worse as the fallacious process is foisted upon students by authority figures who will grade on conforming to the conclusion."

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"If you blame white supremacy for black on black crime, you’ve probably taken way too many of those kinds of courses," The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh wrote.

DeSantis deputy press secretary Jeremy Redfern declared after reading the tweet: "This is next level [clown] [world]."

Fox News' Taylor Penley and Kendall Tietz contributed to this report. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, waves with his wife Casey and their children. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (AP )