The NAACP issued a formal travel advisory against the state of Florida Saturday, saying the state “has become hostile to Black Americans” under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis.
“Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. 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,” reads the travel advisory.
The advisory was initially proposed to the national organization’s board of directors by the NAACP’s Florida State Conference. “What a joke,” said DeSantis back in March after being asked to respond to the local chapter’s move.
The NAACP cited a number of the governor’s legislative efforts as grounds for issuing the advisory. Just last week, DeSantis signed into law a bill that defunds diversity, equity, and inclusion in Florida colleges and prevents general education courses from teaching critical race theory, among other things. The governor also rejected an AP African-American Studies course earlier this year, saying the pilot curriculum had a political agenda that is inappropriate. College Board has made cuts to the more controversial aspects of the course in response.
“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,” said NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson.
In response to the AP controversy, the NAACP distributed 10,000 books to 25 predominantly African-American communities across the state, explaining that “the majority of the books donated were titles banned under the state’s increasingly restrictive laws.”
“This is a pure stunt. If you want to waste your time on a stunt, that’s fine. I’m not wasting my time on your stunt,” explained DeSantis.
The governor added that the state leads the nation in tourism and was skeptical the travel advisory would have any effect.
“We’ll see how effective that is. Just remember, during COVID, these people would be on CNN…slamming Florida, saying ‘We were so bad, don’t go to Florida.’ And then they would end up being spotted on the beach somewhere vacationing in Florida. So this is just ridiculous,” argued DeSantis.
According to the governor, in 2021, people couldn’t vacation in many other states and landing in Florida would be a breath of fresh air.