ATLANTA — The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People issued an official travel advisory against the state of Florida following Gov. Ron DeSantis' alleged aggressive legislative attacks toward Black Americans, people of color, as well as the LGBTQ+ community.
The travel advisory alleges the state's hostility toward those groups and urges travelers to "understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color."
According to the Georgia NAACP, the advisory proposal occurred at the NAACP Florida State Conference as a result of Gov. DeSantis' attacks on fundamental freedoms such as transgender health care.
Gov. DeSantis has also targeted the education system by rejecting Florida students' access to the AP African American Studies course back in March.
"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.
According to NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, Gov. DeSantis' failure to teach accurate representations of Black history while enabling regressive polices is a disservice to students and a "dereliction" to Floridians.
"Under the leadership of Governor 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 said. "He should know that democracy will prevail because its defenders are prepared to stand up and fight. We're not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the battle for the soul of our nation."
