NAACP advises against visiting Florida over ‘hostile’ DeSantis polices, gov slams move as ‘stunt’
The NAACP issued a journey advisory discouraging vacationers from visiting Florida to protest Gov. Ron DeSantis’ insurance policies, which the civil rights group declare are “hostile to black Americans” — simply days earlier than he’s anticipated to announce his candidacy for president.
“On a seeming quest to silence African-American voices, the Governor and the State of Florida have shown that African Americans are not welcome in the State of Florida,” the beautiful journey advisory launched Saturday mentioned.
“Due to this sustained, blatant, relentless and systemic attack on democracy and civil rights, the NAACP hereby issues a travel advisory to African Americans, and other people of color regarding the hostility towards African Americans in Florida,” the group added.
The assertion cited a number of of DeSantis’s controversial insurance policies, together with a legislation he permitted final Monday banning faculties from spending public funds on range, fairness and inclusion efforts.
The Florida governor additionally signed the Stop WOKE Act, curbing how colleges can focus on race throughout required coaching or instruction, and blocked an Advanced Placement African American Studies course within the state’s public colleges as a result of he mentioned it lacked “educational value.”
“Let me be clear — failing to teach an accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all,” National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President and CEO Derrick Johnson mentioned in a press release.
“Under the leadership of Governor Desantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon,” Johnson added.
He urged folks to affix the NAACP’s “battle for the soul of our nation.”
The group had famous that black college students comprise 23% of Florida’s public faculty inhabitants.
“Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color,” the advisory says.
DeSantis additionally signed a controversial “Parental Rights in Education” legislation that bans grades Okay-to-3 classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender id, which critics model “Don’t Say Gay.”
The Republican governor mentioned discussing intercourse and gender id is inappropriate for younger college students.
The governor has defended the legislation against express or separate range instruction.
“DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,” DeSantis mentioned throughout his invoice signing.
DeSantis criticized the proposed journey advisory when the Florida chapter of the NAACP requested that nationwide leaders take it up in March.
“What a joke,” he mentioned then. “Yeah, we’ll see, we’ll see how effective that is.”
“This is a stunt to try to do that. It’s a pure stunt and fine, if you want to waste your time on a stunt, that’s fine. But I’m not wasting my time on your stunts,” DeSantis added.
The Sunshine State, is a tourism magnet and one of many state’s most necessary industries — with 137.6 million guests final yr, Florida’s tourism company mentioned.
Visitors contributed $101.9 billion to Florida’s economic system and supported over 1.7 million Florida jobs in 2021, in response to the company.
While the NAACP assault tries to color DeSantis as racially illiberal, the anti-Florida journey advisory could provoke conservative Republicans to rally round him as he takes on former President Donald Trump within the GOP main.
Trump’s MAGA base opposes race-based instruction.
DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern informed The Post in an e mail, “This is a stunt,” earlier than forwarding a GIF of DeSantis calling it a stunt beforehand.
The governor’s political aide Christina Pushaw additionally took to Twitter Sunday morning to flippantly mock the NAACP’s advisory.
“Does this mean no Urban Beach Week?,” she wrote, together with “Keep the travel advisories coming. It’s hard enough to get a dinner reservation in this [Miami] town.”
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