Black lawmakers call out DeSantis for ‘racist’ actions in redrawn congressional map
Black Florida lawmakers gathered in the heart of Little Haiti on Monday to send Gov. Ron DeSantis a message on redrawn congressional maps.
“Let my people vote,” state Rep. Dotie Joseph said to the audience.
Joseph was joined by more than 20 other lawmakers and community members who expressed their disappointment, yet lack of surprise, when it came to DeSantis’ plan to redraw Florida’s congressional districts. The map, which would add four Republican seats and remove two districts currently held by Black Democrats, will be debated on Tuesday during a special session of the Legislature.
“We, as a community, have seen this written far too many times,“ said former state Sen. Dwight Bullard, who now serves as political director for New Florida Majority, “and guess what? We will not stand for it, we will not allow it.”
Speakers referred to DeSantis’ actions as “racist.” Bullard listed DeSantis’ previous pieces of legislation — from 2021’s “anti-riot” law, which a federal district judge blocked for being “vague and overbroad” as well as an attack on free speech, to the most recent “Stop WOKE Act,” which detractors say prevents the accurate teaching of Black history — as examples of the governor’s “acts of racism.” The congressional map was just the latest example, Bullard continued.
“I don’t know how many acts of racism one has to do to become a racist but let’s just say if this was a video game, he would be going for the high score,” said Bullard, who is a former high school history teacher.
State Sen. Shevrin Jones said that the framing of Florida’s last legislative session as “culture wars” masked what was really happening.
“We’re using culture wars as a nice way to call out what’s actually happening,” Jones said. “Let’s be clear and call it what it is: It’s racist.”
In an email response, DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw wrote that they “won’t be responding to unsubstantiated allegations from partisan critics.”
Pushaw also added a comment about DeSantis’ future political aspirations without being asked. “Governor DeSantis is focused on Florida and has never indicated he is running for any office besides Governor,” she wrote.
In 2010, Florida voters approved the Fair Districts Amendments to prevent lawmakers from diluting minority voter representation when political boundaries are redrawn every 10 years. DeSantis’ proposed congressional district map, which lawmakers are set to vote on in Tallahassee this week, plans to disassemble Congressional District 5, held by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson in North Florida, and Congressional District 10, held by U.S. Rep. Val Demings in Orlando. This would effectively diminish the number of Black-led districts from five to three.
DeSantis has argued that previous congressional maps were not “race neutral” enough. Specifically, DeSantis took issue with District 5, which is between Jacksonville and Tallahassee and which courts combined in 2015, a move the governor called “racial gerrymandering.”
READ MORE: DeSantis takes over redistricting. Outcome could reshape Florida political landscape
“You can have a factually neutral policy that doesn’t address race and all that means is, it’s your excuse to not address problems with race when there’s a disproportional impact,” Joseph said. “That means it gives you a pass to ignore the fact that whatever policy or practice that you are applying disproportionately discriminates against either Black people, people based on their racial minority, their ethnic minority, their language minority.”
Several organizations, including the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union and Faith in Florida, plan to protest DeSantis’ potential map when lawmakers meet Tuesday at the Capitol in Tallahassee.
“Our prayer is that the governor of Florida will have sleepless nights until he does what’s right for all Floridians,” said Rev. Rhonda Thomas, the executive director of Faith in Florida. She later concluded with a message for DeSantis: “We will see him in Tallahassee and we will definitely see him at the polls.”
Miami Herald reporter Bianca Padró Ocasio contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 5:05 PM.
