NAACP Issues Travel Advisory For Florida, Says State Is 'Hostile To Black Americans'

On Saturday, the NAACP issued an official travel advisory for Florida in reaction to what it called Gov. Ron DeSantis' "aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools."

The League of United Latin American Citizens and LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida have already issued travel recommendations; the civil rights organization is the most recent to do so.

"Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon," NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson said.

"He should know that democracy will prevail because its defenders are prepared to stand up and fight. We're not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the battle for the soul of our nation."

The advisory comes just days before DeSantis is expected to launch his presidential campaign, CBS News reported.

"As Governor DeSantis announced last week, Florida is seeing record-breaking tourism," DeSantis' press secretary said in a statement on Monday, calling the NAACP advisory "nothing more than a stunt."

"We began to look at the pattern and the comments, along with the public policy that Governor DeSantis and the Florida legislative body began to enact.

And we recognize that it is not only a direct attack on the African American community, but the Latino community, on women, the LGBTQIA community, and that's a problem," Johnson said.

"He's using his platform as governor to try to promote 'otherism' or racial hate and division," Johnson continued.

"That should not be the case. And America needs to understand as he prepares to run for the presidency, we cannot stand as a nation another individual occupying the White House with this type of belief system."

The launch of an AP course for high school students that focuses on African American studies was thwarted by the DeSantis administration in January, and DeSantis backed legislation that forbade the teaching of "critical race theory" in public schools.

"Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals," the NAACP travel notice states.

"Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color."

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz responded calling it "bizarre" and "utterly dishonest" in a Sunday tweet.

"In the 1950s & 1960s, the NAACP did extraordinary good helping lead the civil rights movement," the senator tweeted.

"Today, Dr. King would be ashamed of how profoundly they've lost their way."

Dr. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., responded to Cruz.

"What my father would be deeply concerned about is the harmful, discriminatory legislation in Florida," she tweeted.

One of the top tourist attractions, Disney, has been at odds with Governor DeSantis for some time.

Disney recently abandoned a $1 billion project to construct a campus in Florida. Disney's criticism of the state's "Don't Say Gay" statute sparked the dispute.

Equality Florida issued its advisory after DeSantis signed the "Don't Say Gay" bill into law.

"That law, along with additional proposals being considered, has turned the state's classrooms into political battlefields and is telegraphing to LGBTQ families and students that they are not welcome in Florida," the group said.

The League of United Latin American Citizens' warning referred to stringent immigration regulations in Florida.

The new immigration regulations, according to organization president Domingo Garcia, are "hostile and dangerous," and they pose a real threat to Latinos.

"Florida is a dangerous, hostile environment for law-abiding Americans and immigrants," Garcia said.