Florida NAACP urges Black people not to visit its state. Critics worry the plan will backfire.

The Florida arm of the NAACP wants its national board to issue a travel advisory for the state, urging Black people to avoid visiting or moving to the state of Florida in response to a slew of proposals put forth by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that they say target Black history education and other diversity and inclusion initiatives throughout the Sunshine State.

“All of this is a tipping point,” Yvette Lewis, the NAACP Hillsborough County Branch president, told Yahoo News. “We encouraged more people to vote and that didn’t work because [extremist Republicans] gained more power and this is where we’re at. We had to take a strong stand because it has gone too far.”

Lewis, who leads the largest chapter in the state, presented the idea of an advisory to the NAACP Florida State Conference late last month after feeling as though all other options had been exhausted, and the group voted unanimously in favor of it. The recommendation will be reviewed by the national board of the NAACP when it reconvenes next month.

But some critics are concerned that an advisory will have unforeseen consequences on the very group that it’s intended to help: Black Floridians.

Riché J. Daniel Barnes, an anthropology and African American studies professor at the University of Florida, told Yahoo News that she believes an advisory does exactly what government officials want, which is to keep out those that disagree with them and foster an exclusive environment of only like-minded individuals.

“If the people I came here to work with and build community with leave, which they have already started, I am encouraged to do so as well,” she said.

Florida is home to more than 22 million people, 17% of whom are African American, according to the latest census data. Barnes, a recent transplant herself, believes that telling Black people not to visit or live in Florida sends the wrong message.

“This is political theater,” she said, adding that a more solution-oriented response “requires more people in the form of voters and more dollars in the form of economic prosperity and potential campaign contributions for [minority candidates] in communities of color.”

DeSantis’s response to proposed advisory

DeSantis has scoffed at any notion that a travel advisory would be effective, calling it a “joke” during a news conference the day after the NAACP state conference.

“We will see how effective that is,” he said. “Our country goes through all these stupid fights. This is a stunt to try to do that.”

When asked by Yahoo News for further comment, DeSantis’s deputy press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said, “The governor’s comments stand on their own.”

DeSantis and Republican elected officials within the state have been aggressively targeting diversity efforts. Last spring DeSantis signed the controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which banned public school teachers from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity in class. Shortly after, he signed the “Stop WOKE” Act, which placed limits on how race and gender can be discussed in classrooms at public colleges and universities. Months later, in January, this led to the banning of AP African American studies courses for their teaching of critical race theory, an educational movement that aims to contextualize recent and historical events in a framework of systemic racism (the College Board later revised the course).

For NAACP leaders in Florida, the weight of these targeted pieces of legislation has only been exacerbated in recent months with the banning of certain school books and movies deemed inappropriate for their discussion of sexual identity and coverage of race.

“This man is working to remove the word ‘diversity’ altogether,” Lewis said. “Just when we think we have arrived, they kick us and knock us down. And this isn’t just a Black person’s issue, it’s an everyone issue.”

Melba Pearson, a Miami-based civil rights and criminal law attorney specializing in policy, calls the travel advisory a “last resort.” As the legal redress chair for the NAACP South Dade Branch, Pearson said it’s the organization’s responsibility to warn Black residents and visitors that Florida is no longer a safe or welcoming place.

“It is something that we do not come to lightly; this is after we’ve tried all other methods of advocacy, education, and dialogue,” Pearson said in an email to Yahoo News. “All diplomatic routes have been exhausted, and hopefully, the threat of losing the millions of dollars of disposable income that Black tourists bring to Florida every year will reignite dialogue leading to policy change.”

But many supporters of DeSantis see the advisory as something more than a stunt. Florida GOP Rep. Byron Donalds called it “dangerous.”

“It continues this division in our country,” Donalds said during an appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” late last month. “We’re a great state, we’re open to everybody. We don’t want indoctrination ... but we teach Black history, we allow Black businesses to thrive. ... This is a joke.”

Travel advisory precedent

If successful, this would be the second time a statewide advisory was put forward.

The first was in 2017, when the organization issued a travel advisory for Missouri to warn Black visitors that their civil rights could be violated if they entered the state. This move came after multiple incidents, including a Black man dying while being held in a Missouri jail and the passing of S.B. 43, which made it harder for employees to prove unlawful discrimination based on race or gender.

The NAACP also cited a number of incidents of discrimination toward young African American men and women on college campuses that went unaddressed. This all came just three years after the fatal police shooting in Ferguson of 18-year-old Michael Brown, whose killing sparked public outcry and became the catalyst of many present-day protest movements.

While there is no data publicly available to quantify the impact of that first advisory, Pearson said, spreading knowledge about the issues facing Black people, particularly in Florida, is paramount.

“We have always felt that knowledge and education is power; empowering people to make their own decisions with the requisite information is our core mission,” she said. “That is something that will never change.”

Florida State Conference chair Adora Obi Nweze said in a statement that there is no “feel good” version of the inequities that Black Americans in the state have faced and continue to face on a daily basis.

“Our question to Governor DeSantis is, ‘What sort of future are you fostering for Black Americans throughout Florida while eradicating our historical contributions to this nation?’” she said.

Black-owned businesses weigh in

Black-owned businesses in tourist-heavy regions may be the hardest hit if an advisory is put into effect.

Vickie Jones, owner of JonesEz BBQ in Fort Myers Shores, told WINK News, a CBS affiliate in southwest Florida, that she believes her restaurant would fare well regardless because of how long it’s been a staple in the community, but she’s hesitant to embrace the message behind the advisory altogether.

“As a black-owned business? I can’t say don’t come to Florida, because I am in Florida,” she said. “And I like unity. I like community. I like for us to be together and have a voice.”

Shannea Akins, owner of Nikki’s Place Southern Cuisine in Orlando, said that despite having built a strong reputation for almost two and a half decades, she feels like any kind of advisory would be devastating to her business.

“It would be very, very detrimental to us because everybody who comes from out of town, they really do support us in a way that some of our locals can’t support all the time,” she told WESH, an NBC affiliate in Orlando.

As a native of Tampa, Lewis, the Hillsborough County chapter president, sees the possible hit to Black-owned businesses as a sacrifice worth making.

“[Black business owners] are going to have to stand for something,” she said. “If you continue to sit down and say, ‘It’ll pass through, we’ll get over it,’ it’s going to get worse.”

Lewis also believes this is a great opportunity for Black people within the state to begin patronizing more Black businesses.

“If you’re serious about change, then this is a time for all of us to come together,” she said. “If it’s important to keep that hotel running, then trust me, it will be important for them to get Black folks to work and for Black folks to maintain their job.”

While Barnes, the UF professor, understands the impetus behind the travel advisory, she feels that its effects are shortsighted at best.

“It is difficult for me to see how telling people not to come will bring forth help,” she said. “We need more people to stay here, move here and see a reason to make changes here. Most of the help that is needed is in the form of votes.”

Cover thumbnail photo illustration: Jack Forbes; photos: Getty Images, Alex Wong/Getty Images