The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has issued a travel warning against Black folks visiting Florida. It is nothing less than a nonsensical political public relations stunt. In terms of public relations, it did get them a lot of publicity – but that may not be good. Now a lot of people are learning how misguided the once premier civil rights group has become.
Make no mistake about it. The travel warning was issued to help President Biden and the Democrats in the upcoming 2024 election. It was crafted as an attack ad on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — Biden’s strongest potential opponent – at least according to recent polls.
Apparently, the travel advisory gimmick has replaced protests and sit-ins for the NAACP. They issued an advisory in 2017 for Missouri based on a “danger to civil rights.” Then again in 2018 for Georgia for “racist attacks, intimidation and threats” against blacks.
In this Advisory, the NAACP claims that Governor Ron DeSantis has “engaged in an all-out attack on Black Americans, accurate Black history, voting rights, members of the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, women’s reproductive rights and free speech, while simultaneously embracing a culture of fear, bullying, and intimidation by public officials.” Whew! The whole Democrat script in one communique. The scope of the complaints clearly establishes the politically partisan nature of the “advisory.”
The Advisory for Florida is even more ridiculous and meaningless than the NAACP’s previous publicity-seeking advisories. Florida is a very diverse state. In fact, almost half the population are people-of-color, as the left likes to call them. Blacks represent 14 percent of the population, which tracks closely to the national number. Florida is the preferred location for Haitian– and other “island Blacks.”
That is about the same percentage as Illinois and Michigan, with a high concentration of Blacks in the segregated cities of Chicago and Detroit. The Black population in Florida is far more integrated.
That brings up a question. Anyone who has had deep ties to the Black community in America knows that there is a significant schism between island Blacks and those referred to as African Blacks. The NAACP is headed by those with a traditional African ancestry and perspective. They have never embraced the more conservative Haitian and island Blacks as “brothers.” Is that why the NAACP ignores the presence of a large Black community?
The current president of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson, has said that he wants to guide “the Association through a period of re-envisioning and reinvigoration.” Those goals reflect the realization that the organization has lost influence in recent years and that it will move in a different direction. It appears that means greater participation in partisan politics and a broadening of its mission to include non-Black interest groups.
The NAACP does not endorse presidential candidates – at least not officially. In 2020, Johnson said, “We don’t endorse candidates or political parties. I’m going to embrace the need to increase voter turnout in the Black community. Then we allow the voters to make a determination of the options on the ballot, which of the two they’re going to select.”
In reality, Johnson repeatedly criticized President Trump in 2020 and praised his opponent, then-former Vice President Biden. The NAACP underscored his position by hosting a friendly town hall meeting for Biden.
Florida is a great place for Blacks to live and visit. Black citizens are not oppressed by the systemic de facto racism plagues residents trapped in segregated ghettoes in all those Democrat-controlled cities.
It is peculiar and very telling that the NAACP doesn’t issue travel advisories for those cities in which black people are being murdered on the streets every day. My hometown of Chicago is far more dangerous for Black residents and visitors than Florida. If the NAACP wants to address endangerment to Black folks, they will warn against travel or taking up residency in places such as Baltimore, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, etc., etc., etc.
I have always had a high regard for the NAACP as an organization devoted to civil rights – as a bridge between Republicans and Democrats – conservatives and liberals. It was a safe harbor for folks sincerely interested in pursuing equality and justice for Black Americans without being diverted by partisan politics. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Under Johnson, the NAACP has become just another Democratic Party shill operation.
So, there ‘tis.