The NAACP issued a travel advisory discouraging tourists from visiting Florida to protest Gov. Ron DeSantis’ policies, which the civil rights group claim are “hostile to black Americans” — just days before he’s expected 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 stunning travel advisory released Saturday said.
“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 statement cited several of DeSantis’s controversial policies, including a law he approved last Monday banning colleges from spending public funds on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
The Florida governor also signed the Stop WOKE Act, curbing how schools can discuss race during required training or instruction, and blocked an Advanced Placement African American Studies course in the state’s public schools because he said it lacked “educational value.”
According to NBC News, The advisory comes after DeSantis’ administration in January blocked an Advanced Placement course in African American Studies from being offered in Florida high schools. In a letter to the College Board rejecting the course, the administration said: “As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement that “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.”
Under 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.
The College Board, a nonprofit that oversees the AP program nationwide, moved to revise its framework for the curriculum after state officials said they rejected it because of six areas of concern — “Black Queer Studies,” “Intersectionality,” “Movement for Black Lives,” “Black Feminist Literary Thought,” “The Reparations Movement” and “Black Struggle in the 21st Century” — and works by Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, bell hooks, Angela Davis and other Black authors.
Although the College Board and many of the academic experts consulted about the framework insisted that they would not cave to political pressure and that the revisions had long been planned, the changes made concessions that directly address conservatives’ concerns.
The revised syllabus removed the names of several Black authors identified as problematic by Florida officials, substantially revised sections about intersectionality and removed a section about the Movement for Black Lives.
