Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has called the state’s NAACP’s request to place a travel advisory for Florida a “joke.” According to 10 Investigates reports, on March 21, the Florida division of the NAACP voted unanimously last weekend to make a formal request to issue a travel advisory on Florida due to the recent slew of legislation explicitly targeting diversity and equity initiatives.
DeSantis said in a news conference following the voting, “What a joke – what a joke. Yeah, we’ll see how effective that is,” He added, “It’s a pure stunt. And fine, if you want to waste your time on a stunt, that’s fine. Look, I – I’m not wasting my time on your stunts, OK? I’m going to make sure that we’re getting things done here, and we’re going to continue to make this state a great state.”
The Hillsborough NAACP President Yvette Lewis responded to his ignorant comments by saying it is “a joke’ that all of the United States is hearing.” She continued to describe the rising number of bills trying to restrict education courses in Florida about critical race theory and gender studies. “[We are] very concerned with the state of mind that the state of Florida is moving into when it comes to…the bills that are being presented in the state of Florida,” Lewis said.
“We will issue that out to everyone nationwide, so they will know what’s going on here and how our people are being treated in the state of Florida. And we’re gonna let them make their decision on if they want to come to the state of Florida.
During the NAACP meeting discussing the travel advisory, it was decided that “We would issue this to anyone who is thinking of coming to Florida, thinking of sending their children to school — anyone planning to breathe in Florida.” To hopefully preserve people’s education surrounding these topics, the warning would serve as notification of concerning educational practices in the state. “We want people to be ‘woke.'”
