Ron DeSantis.Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has issued atravel advisory for Florida, saying the state and its Republican governor are “openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.AP Photo/Phil Sears
Diversity, equity and inclusion (also known as DEI) and critical race theory (or CRT) courses have become a hot-button topic, particularly among conservatives who argue that the classes will teach white students that they are inferior to their minority peers. Progressives, however, say that these classes help foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment.
DeSantis has argued against them, claiming that “woke” ideology isracially divisive and discriminatory. CRT, he has said, is “state-sanctioned racism that … [teaches] kids to hate our country or to hate each other.”
Gov. DeSantis, Equality Florida argued in a statement, “has weaponized state agencies to silence critics and impose sanctions on large and small companies that dissent with his culture war agenda or disagree with his attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
That organization’s advisory warns of what it calls “the risks posed to the health, safety, and freedom of those considering short or long term travel, or relocation to the state.”
The Florida Immigrant Coalition, a statewide immigrant rights coalition, alsoissued a travel advisory in April, urging reconsideration of those traveling to Florida.
Marta Lavandier/AP
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DeSantis has been feuding with Disney since March 2022, after the company openly opposed the so-called"Don’t Say Gay" bill— a measure the governor endorsed and signed into law that restricts classroom discussion around gender identity and sexual orientation.
The tourism juggernaut — which produces a more-than $75.2 billion annual economic impact for Florida — is now suing DeSantis after he hosted a press conference in which he joked about building a private prison next to Disney World, suggested opening a competing theme park near the property, and discussed the possibility of raising the company’s taxes and imposing harsher restrictions on theme park rides.
source: people.com
