NAACP issues 'stunt' advisory, 'warning' tourists that Florida’s DeSantis is "hostile to Black Americans"

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP) has issued a travel advisory warning tourists not to visit Florida due to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s policies, which the group has framed as “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 travel advisory published on 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 organization asserted.

The NAACP release attributed its warning to DeSantis’s recent DEI policies, in which he banned colleges from spending public funds on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. 

DeSantis also signed the Stop WOKE Act, which regulates how schools can teach race and history. It also terminated an Advanced Placement African American Studies class in the state’s public schools for being void of “educational value.”

The NAACP is one of America’s oldest and most powerful civil rights organizations. It was founded in 1909 when anti-racist Whites united with Blacks from the Niagara movement to protest the rights of African Americans in the wake of the Civil War and oppressive Southern Jim Crow laws.

The NAACP initially fought serious acts against Blacks such as lynching and lobbied to pass anti-lynching laws, even compelling then President Woodrow Wilson to publicly condemn such “mob violence.”

In recent years however, with the end of such acts, the group has refocused its efforts to lobbying efforts on racially driven policies.

“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,” CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement.

“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 urged people to join the NAACP’s “battle for the soul of our nation.” 

The organization justified its position by saying it had standing due to the fact that 23% of Florida’s public school population is Black.

“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,” the advisory says.

DeSantis has repeated argued that brewing racial controversy and promoting sex and gender identity discussion in school is inappropriate for children.

He has defended the law banning explicit or separate diversity instruction. 

“DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,” the Florida governor said during his bill signing.

DeSantis mused at the proposed travel advisory when the Florida NAACP requested its national leaders support it in March.

“What a joke,” he said then. “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,” the Florida governor said.

Florida’s tourism agency recorded 137.6 million visitors last year, and there have been no reports of that number declining in 2023.