By Dr. Harold A. Black
blackh@knoxfocus.com
haroldblackphd.com
You can tell who the left fears by the hit pieces that suddenly appear in their newspapers, on their networks and their sycophants like Black Lives Matter, Move On and the NAACP. Make no doubt about it, the object of their scorn (and fear) is the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. How else do you explain their labeling of his wife as Lady Macbeth while they put Hillary Clinton and Gisele Fetterman on a pedestal? Moreover, Fetterman’s husband, who somehow was elected to the U.S. Senate by voters in Pennsylvania, is doted on and given loving praise by the left’s media outlets. Fetterman, who is speech impaired, wears hoodies and shorts to the Senate and has actually been mentioned as a presidential candidate! His clownish attire has been called “stylish” by those on the left. If Fetterman were a Republican, he would be ridiculed and satirized by Saturday Night Live and late-night comics.
But Fetterman is the type of politician that the left loves. It can control him which explains why they fear DeSantis. They cannot control him and he revels in that knowledge. The left desperately wants Donald Trump to be the nominee of the Republican Party because Trump is the only Republican they think they can beat. While the left occasionally makes snide remarks at Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Mike Pence, they look upon the Florida governor as the largest danger to their power. Thus, they sicced the NAACP on him issuing a “travel advisory” cautioning blacks to not travel to Florida which the NAACP says is hostile to people of color (and LGPTQ+). When I first saw the travel advisory, I wondered why the NAACP would do something this stupid. Are they saying that the 3 million black and 6 million Latino residents are in danger living in such a hostile environment? That is probably news to those Floridians of color. Are black tourists being attacked when they cross the state line? I go to Florida three or four times a year and have yet to be attacked by anything other than mosquitoes, black flies and love bugs. I have not been denied service, cursed at or treated with anything but respect. Maybe I should get the chairman of the NAACP who lives in Tampa to show me where he has suffered from living in such a hostile state.
Is Florida more dangerous to blacks than Chicago, New York or Los Angeles? Do blacks in Florida suffer more discrimination than in Democrat-controlled states? Florida’s blacks have lower unemployment rates than in California and higher median incomes than blacks in Illinois. Are there more hate crimes against people of color in Florida? The data say otherwise. The advisory also said that DeSantis has tried to erase Black history and restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools. I’ve written on this before. What DeSantis did was to have the courage to not allow the AP course on black history to be part of the Florida curricula. That course was less about history than it was about Critical Race Theory, “queer” black history and the distortions of the 1619 Project. Florida does teach black history. DeSantis gives an award for the best essays on black history by public school students. The state’s education department says that “Students shall develop an understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on individual freedoms.” Indeed, the 1920 Ocoee massacre, in which blacks were killed by a mob, is a part of the state’s curriculum. No, DeSantis is not trying to erase black history. He also has willingly incurred the ire of the left by taking over Florida’s leftist New College and ending funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs that tout segregation and pit races against each other.
DeSantis called the travel advisory a stunt. It is not a stunt. It is worse than that. It is the NAACP being made a fool of by its bosses on the left. The NAACP has long since ceased to be a civil rights organization and has become another organ of the left. It claims to want to enhance black education, yet it strongly condemns school choice which has been able to improve the educational achievement of minorities. Not surprisingly, one of the major contributors to the organization is the teachers’ unions. If the NAACP were serious about black progress, it would favor right-to-work laws, oppose increases in minimum wages and support school choice. But then, the NAACP is more interested in pleasing its funding sources than in advancing the well-being of black folks.
