NAACP issues advisory against Florida travel over DeSantis 'hostile' policy.

AuthorSchuster, Steve
PositionRon DeSantis

Byline: Steve Schuster, sschuster@dailyreporter.com

By Steve Schuster

sschuster@dailyreporter.com

Similar to when the U.S. State Department issues a travel advisory warning U.S. Citizens not to travel abroad to a certain country due to safety concerns, the NAACP issued a similar warning to persons of color, advising against Florida travel.

The travel advisory issued Saturday by the NAACP Board of Directors was issued as a direct result of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' "aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools," officials said in a written statement.

The travel advisory states:

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.

"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.

According to officials, the travel advisory was initially proposed to the Board of Directors by NAACP's Florida State Conference back in March, but was just approved this week. NAACP's collective consideration of this advisory is a result from unrelenting attacks on fundamental freedoms from the Governor and his legislative body.

"Once again, hate-inspired state leaders have chosen to put politics over people. Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities to appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority," said Chair of the NAACP Board of Directors, Leon Russell.

In response to the March proposed advisory, DeSantis said, "What a joke."

"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 New York Post reported.

The NAACP statement made note of a Florida bill DeSantis signed into law recently, which banned colleges from spending public funds on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

During the bill signing, DeSantis said, "DEI is better viewed as standing for...

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