The NAACP is on high alert – a Republican governor, with an unabashedly conservative agenda and some chance of winning, is running for president.
It sprung into action with a travel advisory warning people what they’re getting into if they risk visiting Florida’s sunny beaches or world-class attractions.
“Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,” the statement said.
“Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida minimizes and marginalizes the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color and their contributions.”
This is a shameful lie even by the standards of the NAACP.
The political game is clear – use “travel advisor” to gain attention and credibility that Governor Ron DeSantis won’t just get harsh statements about and hopefully the resulting media coverage will help fuel negative relations with the state.
We’re used to taking travel advisories seriously because the State Department often issues them and for nonsensical reasons.
When it says we shouldn’t travel to Burma “because of civil unrest and armed conflict,” and “urges increased caution because of illegal detentions and areas of landmines and unexploded ordnance,” most of us pay attention. .
The NAACP wants people to think of Florida as a hellhole where the threat is not physical but ideological — DeSantis is pursuing an agenda that is, in fact, hostile to some minority groups.
The group makes it clear that it is considering the governor’s fight against diversity, equity and inclusion in schools, critical race theory and gender ideology, as well as canceling an AP African-American studies course.
This is a classic example of progressive goal-post shifting.
DEI is a relatively recent fad, but now if anyone wants to keep it out of education, it’s the equivalent of George Wallace standing at the schoolhouse door.
It’s the same thing with gender ideology – no one thought that LGBTQ rights depended on teaching young children about gender fluidity until the day before yesterday.
As for the battle over the African-American Studies course, it is wrong to suggest that the state’s stance against overly political content in the course makes it opposed to the teaching of African-American history.
In fact, the state curriculum requires the teaching of key aspects of African-American history, and these provisions have been strengthened under DeSantis.
Again, none of this has anything to do with travel — if people want to stand in line at Universal Studios and read Ibram X. Kendi or start their DEI training on an airboat in the Everglades, So no one can stop them.
Even if you come to a different place than DeSantis on these various controversies, to suggest that his positions constitute any kind of mistreatment of African Americans or other groups is a silly insult.
Florida is a vibrant, diverse state, where people of all backgrounds stand to benefit from good government.
The unemployment rate in the state is below 3%, and the earnings of African Americans are growing steadily.
The schools are excellent, and minority test scores are strong.
Crime is at a half-century low.
Of course, if Florida were truly a hotbed of hostility toward minorities, Americans would have noticed and would not have congregated there.
The state has gained about 700,000 people since the 2020 census.
U-Hauls are coming because Florida is well-earned as an open space full of opportunity.
If the NAACP were truly concerned about the well-being of African Americans rather than trying to potentially score points against a Republican in national politics, it would issue travel advisories about moving to Chicago or Baltimore, cities with poor governance, where it is positively menacing. Young black men to live.
Such places can learn from Florida.
If the NAACP was thinking clearly and had no agenda, it would not be denouncing the state, but considering moving its headquarters there.
Twitter: @richlory
