Florida Republicans are leading the backlash against the NAACP’s travel advisory warning black Americans not to visit their state, despite the fact the civil rights group’s own chairman lives there.
Leon W. Russell, 73, has lived in Florida for his entire adult life after growing up in Virginia. Today, he lives in a two-bedroom home in north Tampa.
Russell however joined calls for African Americans to boycott the state yesterday.
The travel advisory claims Ron DeSantis is trying to ‘erase’ black history by eradicating CRT from schools.
The stunning advisory was released yesterday and has enraged Republicans of all races.
Among them is Christian Ziegler, Chairman of the Florida GOP, who is now offering to help Russell move to a different state.
‘The CHAIRMAN of the NAACP lives in Tampa, FLORIDA! True leadership is being willing to do what you ask others to do… time to step up and MOVE.
‘If you think our state is so bad, the Florida GOP will help with moving costs.’
Rep. Byron Donalds called the advisor ‘dumb’, ‘silly’ and ‘political’.
‘I don’t even know what the NAACP is talking about. This is silly, and it’s dumb. It’s political. It makes no sense.
‘We’ve got to get past this stuff. We can’t be using race to weaponize our politics and weaponize our media.’It’s disgusting and it’s got to stop,’ he said.
‘The only hostility I feel is inflation hitting my pocketbook because that inflation is hostile.
‘When the price of food is up, the price of gas is up, the fact that fentanyl is coming into every community because of Joe Biden.. maybe the NAACP should be focused on that. Because that is hostile.’
Senator Tim Scott did not address the NAACP or its advisory directly, but said during his presidential campaign announcement that America was the land of ‘opportunity – not oppression’.
‘We are not defined by the color of our skin. If anyone tells you anything different, you’re a liar.
‘I will be the president that will destroy the liberal lie that America is an evil country. America is not a racist country.
‘We need to stop canceling our founding fathers and start celebrating them for the geniuses they were.’
He also called for ‘less CRT’ and ‘more ABC’s’ in schools.
Nikki Whiting, the press secretary for Florida’s Department of Health, responded to the NAACP’s advisory by reminding the organization that Joseph Ladapo, the state’s Surgeon General, is black.
Lavern Spicer, who is running in Florida’s 22nd District, shared a video of the Haitian Compass Festival that took place in Miami this weekend.
‘The 25,000 Black people out at the Haitian Compass Festival last night most certainly did not get the NAACP’s memo about how dangerous Florida is for Black people!’ she joked.
* Article From: The Daily Mail