‘Hate-inspired’ leadership: NAACP joins other groups in warning against travel to Florida
The oldest civil rights group in the U.S. is cautioning travelers to reconsider visits to Florida as they join other advocates in expressing distaste for the state’s “openly hostile” leadership.
The NAACP issued a travel advisory Saturday in response to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempts to ban books about race and LGBTQ+ identities, reject a new Advanced Placement African American Studies course and bar diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida colleges. The advisory was proposed to the national Board of Directors in April during the NAACP Florida chapter’s conference in Orlando.
“Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,” the advisory says. “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.”
As for NAACP President Derrick Johnson, he asserts DeSantis has launched “unrelenting attacks on fundamental freedoms.”
“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,” Johnson said in a statement.
The NAACP isn’t the only civil rights organization to declare a travel warning for Florida in recent months.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), one of the oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights group in the U.S., issued a warning Wednesday advising immigrants and their families to avoid traveling to the Sunshine State because of DeSantis’ recent crackdown on immigration.
