As political tensions rise in Florida, the NAACP requests a travel advisory for state
After hearing about recent proposals aimed at diversity and racial issues, the NAACP Florida Chapter has requested that the national board issue a travel advisory warning people to stay away from the Sunshine State.
On Saturday at the group’s state conference in Orlando, attendees proposed petitioning the board at the national level to issue a travel advisory, particularly for people of color. Hillsborough County NAACP President Yvette Lewis expressed relief after hearing the results of the vote, which had come back unanimously.
“We are an organization that protects people’s civil rights, and this is a first step to doing that,” Lewis said. “People are seeing what’s happening in Florida. They’re paying attention, and I hope that help is coming.” Lewis said that while she did not anticipate the vote, she was not overly surprised by the outcome.
She noted that attempts to curtail the civil liberties of African Americans and other marginalized groups predate the current legislative session. Redistricting maps that break up predominantly Black voting blocks and the whitewashing of history in schools are two examples of how this has happened, along with the arrests and wrongful convictions of people suspected of voting fraud.
Additionally, she added that the organization’s call was motivated by pending legislation that would violate people’s rights, such as a ban on abortions after six weeks and legislation that would limit the use of preferred pronouns in schools.
“Saying you don’t want AP African American Studies here because they have certain topics in it, certain categories, certain words in it. You don’t want companies to have the word diversity, equity and inclusion because it has institutional racism in their policy. You know, it takes us back. And we’ve been fighting so hard,” Lewis said to ABC Action News Tampa.
Lewis feels that it hurts the most when lawmakers try to suppress diversity in the classroom by doing things like cutting funding for equity and inclusion initiatives or outright banning certain teachings.
“When slaves tried to educate themselves, they were beaten. When they tried to learn to read, they were killed for having books,” Lewis emphatically said. “I have to relate this back because this is how I feel.”
Florida would not be the first state to have a travel advisory or boycott issued against it if the NAACP National Board goes ahead with action there when it reconvenes in May, as pointed out by Tampa Bay Times.
The group advocated for a boycott of South Carolina in 1999 when the state continued to fly the Confederate flag over its statehouse. It took 15 years for that boycott to be lifted.
After the Missouri state legislature passed a law that the Missouri chapter of the organization deemed “legal discrimination” in 2017, the organization issued a travel advisory for the state.
Economic pressure can be exerted through travel advisories and boycotts by keeping tourists away from states widely held to be unsafe for people of color.
She is hopeful that the widespread dissemination of this advisory will bring about a response to the dire situation she describes, in which she fears that oppression of the past will be replicated.
Evie Blanco is a journalist with nearly a decade of experience who was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Queens, New York. She is extremely well-versed in hip-hop music and culture and is always aware of any developments within it. Whether it’s the latest in pop culture, a fascinating foreign destination, a truly amazing new restaurant, or breaking news, she loves to write about it all.
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This story was originally published March 23, 2023 at 10:20 AM.