Opinion
By Dave Scott, 5-26-23
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is warning blacks to avoid Florida but it can’t explain why.
Other than spouting baseless generalities such as “Florida is not a safe place for them” and calling the state’s inhabitants “openly hostile” this antiquated and pathetic organization is coming up empty attempting to justify its absurd position.
In its official “travel advisory” it failed to mention that its board’s chairman, Leon Russell, lives in Tampa. Is he going to move? They didn’t say.
If he wants to hit the bricks and put the “hostile” and “unsafe” Sunshine State in his rearview mirror he won’t even have to put his money where his mouth is. Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler has generously offered to pay his moving expenses.
The NAACP’s anti-Florida stance confirms that this organization has outlived its usefulness as a civil rights organization and is nothing more than a whiney, yappy arm of the Democrat Party’s far left and has been for the past 20 years or more. The large number of blacks living in Florida, moving here, and visiting here are examples of how irrelevant this tone-deaf far-left organization has become. Did they hire the former Bud Light marketing team to develop their new strategy?
What’s this group’s beef with Florida other than it’s a deep red state whose 30 Electoral College votes are a sure thing for the Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential race?
In its false scenario the flummoxed NAACP paints all 22 million Floridians as bigots, homophobes, transphobes and any other “phobe” on its phony baloney Floridaphobe list. It apparently considers Governor Ron DeSantis the Grand Kleagle of the KKK and a racist homophobe with no redeeming qualities.
In its official travel advisory The NAACP said: “Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. 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.” These idiots, who say Florida is transphobic and bigoted, have never been to Miami or Key West.
What Governor DeSantis is guilty of is making Florida family friendly and protecting its citizens and visitors from unhinged lunatics that make outrageously stupid pronouncements like this one.
Not only is their statement contemptibly ridiculous, false and inflammatory, but this silly group doesn’t realize that there are many “communities of color” in the state that cater to the tourist industry. “Up yours Florida!” they proclaim even though they can’t explain why, other than they hate Republican Governor DeSantis.
DeSantis, a strong 2024 Republican presidential candidate, has passed a plethora of legislation in this year’s state legislature including expanded gun rights by making Florida a “constitutional carry” state; protections against “unwanted medical interventions”; and an attack on hot-button cultural issues including critical race theory in education and sex-reassignment surgeries and hormone therapies for transgender minors.
His exemplary handling of the COVID crisis opened the state’s schools and businesses putting Floridians far ahead of those Democrat-run states that are still lagging behind in education and economically, no matter their color or sexual preference. Florida has some of the highest rated school systems in the country. Its literacy rate for black students exceeds most other states.
DeSantis has an uncompromising approach to the “woke” left, especially on parental rights with tough laws to get the groomers out of classrooms and homosexual porn out of school libraries. This along with the banning of the racist anti-white bigotry of Critical Race Theory have proven unpopular among far left groups like the NAACP. They oppose his defense of defending parental rights in education and standing up to the “bio-medical security state” by opposing “jab or job” vaccine mandates and mutilating sex change surgery on children.
Florida ranks number one for immigration from other states, number one in economic growth among large states, number one in tourism and has record-low unemployment and record-high budget surpluses. More tourists have visited Florida since the beginning of this year than at any comparable time period in the state’s history. Also more blacks have moved here than ever before.
The NAACP has its work cut out for it. “Stop being excellent!” they demand. Apparently it wants no part of any of this and considers these valid reasons to avoid the state.
Do folks actually listen to anything this faux group has to say anymore? Those that do will no longer enjoy trips to Disney World, relaxing and fishing on the hundreds of miles of beautiful beaches and lakes, colorful wildlife, great weather, enjoying festivals, camping, spring breaks, theme parks, and so much more.
They’ll love the weather, prices and beaches of New York, Michigan, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Folks following the NAACP’s advice will also relish dodging bullets in tourist-friendly Detroit, St. Louis, and Baltimore, riding the filthy crime ridden subway in New York and sharing hotels with illegal unvetted immigrants, and walking the “safe” streets of Chicago, a city with one of the country’s highest rates of black-on-black homicides. Have fun and stay safe. We’ll miss you.
Oh, if you decide to cancel your Florida reservations there’s a long waiting list of grateful folks ready to take your places. And good luck explaining your decision to cancel your trip to Disney World to the kids.
(An abridged version of the above commentary appears on the national news site Biz Pac Review at https://www.bizpacreview.com/2023/05/24/avoid-florida-says-naacp-but-it-cant-explain-why-1361870/)
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Wait! What? If America is systemically racist as lunatic groups like the NAACP, the Democrat party and the White House staff that control Joe Biden say, then explain why it is the only white majority country to ever elect and then reelect a black president? Also explain the millions of people of all races that seek to immigrate here every year and those that are illegally pouring across our southern border, most of them of color.
As black GOP presidential candidate Larry Elder says: “More black Africans have come to America of their own free will than were brought here on slave ships.”
Elder went on to declare: “Of all the reasons we must defeat Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2024, this — pitting Americans against Americans — is the most urgent one. America is not a racist country. We are the most accepting and most tolerant large, multi-racial society in human history.”
Name one country better or even equal. You can’t.
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Read All About It! But Not Here! I cancelled my subscription to the daily Jacksonville-based Florida Times Union newspaper in 2014 for the following reasons:
- Its home delivery price exceeded my annual car insurance premium
- Its coverage of the dreadful NFL Jaguars football team extended from the police blotter to the recipe section. If a Jaguar player wasn’t involved it wasn’t reported.
- It stopped running major league baseball box scores and game summaries.
- It started fluttering into my driveway instead of landing with a thud.
- If I wanted nothing but liberal blather I could subscribe to the Jacobin or Monthly Review,
- Did I mention that It stopped running major league baseball box scores and game summaries?
The 160-year old daily is the oldest daily newspaper in Florida. Its circulation went from 44,700 in 2017 to today’s 27,800. At one time it was well over 100,000. In 2016 its staff had shrunk to a meager 85 and conservative readers abandoned it. Its parent company Gannett has trimmed that to 27. It’s on its deathbed and won’t last much longer.
As a former daily newspaper reporter for the now defunct Tampa Tribune, it’s sad for me to witness a once respected news outlet slowly dying mostly by its own left hand.
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Speaking Of A Lousy Newspaper: The local Fernandina Beach News Leader, stumbled all over itself in faux outrage in an editorial this past Wednesday, May 24 (“Commission suppresses input”) attacking Commissioner Darron Ayscue and the three other commissioners who agreed with him by asking members of the community to wait until the end of the session to address items not on the agenda. If the paper is going to publicly criticizes Commissioner Ayscue it should at least get his name right. Its’ “Darron”, not “David”. The pompous gasbag, Chip Ross, the darling of the local left, was the lone commissioner disagreeing in the 4-1 vote, a sure indication the majority was correct.
Anyone who has ever sat through a lengthy schedule of local speakers knows how tedious and repetitious some of them can be. They most certainly have a right and a civic duty to speak up, but most of them need to polish their rhetorical skills, particularly the regular crowd of grey-haired, aging, finger-wagging liberal grannies. If you’ve never witnessed this parade of outraged hippie harpies do so at least once. You won’t find it enlightening, but you’ll get a few chuckles. However, this pathetic paranoid parade needs to wait until the agenda is completed. Those of us that don’t want to listen to their mindless blather can leave and not have to wait for the announced agenda items.
The News Leader editorial was unsigned with the exception of [email protected] which leads me to believe it was written either by the pretend reporter with the fortunate name of Julie Roberts or her college alumni at the Close Cover Before Striking School of Journalism and Screen Door Repair, Editor Tracy Dishman. Hopefully Publisher Foy Maloy wouldn’t pen such rubbish.
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Bud Light Sales Are Going Flatter Than Dylan Mulvaney: The bizarre partnership with transgender activist Mulvaney, a guy who says he’s a gal, has tanked sales of the once-popular Bud Light beer by an astounding 28.4% for the week ending on May 13, coming on the heels of similar sales drops.
While some of the decline is due to conservatives boycotting the beer, other people who are distancing themselves from the Anheuser-Busch InBev brand are apolitical, said Harry Schuhmacher, the editor and publisher of the trade publication Beer Business Daily.
“Most people don’t care about this issue and don’t want to get roped into a conversation,” he said. “Therefore they’re not going to buy the beer.”
I saw cases of Bud Light in Amelia Island grocery stores recently selling for a little over $20 that had a coupon on them offering a $20 rebate. Essentially they’re giving the stuff away. A guy stocking the beer shelves told me: “Nobody’s buying it.”
In a related news item, it was just reported by the Daily Caller yesterday that Target’s market value plunged $9 billion in one week after anger erupted over the store’s new “PRIDE” collection, which features clothing for children and babies as well as a chest-binding swim top and a “tuck-friendly” women’s bathing suit.
Are these Woke CEOs shorting their own stocks?
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Drinking, Dining & Dancing: There’s an online site called Mashed that rates foods from each state in the country and identifies the best restaurants nationwide to get specific foods.
After reading its reviews for the best foods in each state the site lost a huge chunk of credibility with me. For example if I was searching for a tasty meal, I would certainly avoid Mashed’s selections in Hawaii (Spam) and Utah (Jell-O). Really! JELL-O! And if I was hungry for shrimp Nevada would be the last place I’d head. But Mashed says Shrimp Cocktail is the number one choice there.
It redeemed itself somewhat by selecting boiled peanuts in South Carolina and Cincinnati Chili in Ohio. Read More: https://www.mashed.com/251111/the-most-famous-food-in-every-state/ With the exception of a couple the entire list read like a restaurant review in the Babylon Bee.
However, it made up for all of that state food silliness with the selection of restaurants that serve the best meals in each state when it tagged Florida’s Ted Peters in St. Petersburg. I’ve eaten at this St. Pete Beach joint and have had friends bring me meals from it so I and can personally testify to its greatness. Yes Greatness!!! According to the website, Florida’s best meal is the smoked mullet fish dinner from Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish! Here’s why it was selected:
“When digging into all of Florida’s bounties, the show turned its eyes and mouth towards Ted Peters smoked mullet fish dinner. Located in the beach city of St. Petersburg, Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish is renowned, fittingly, for its smoked fish. There’s truly little guesswork when choosing what to order at this restaurant… people come from all over to try this local delicacy. As one Tripadvisor review observes, this is a place that has withstood the test of time. This isn’t going to be an upscale experience, and that’s not the point. Come ready to de-bone your fish and drink in some local culture. Also, as per the St. Petersburg site, come with cash, as credit cards still aren’t accepted.”
I have no bones to pick with that review. I love smoked mullet. There’s only one place on Amelia Island I can get it and I can’t divulge its location because mullet isn’t on the menu and my favorite chef there doesn’t want folks swarming him because he has limited quantities and it isn’t always available.
Why doesn’t somebody open a smoked mullet joint hereabouts? All they need if a smoker a supply of mullet, ice cold beer, a few bottles of hot sauce, and some wooden benches. To read more about Ted Peters go to 72-Year-Old Florida Restaurant Serves The Best Meal In The State – Brightgram
Republished with the author’s permission. Read The Dave Scott Blog– subscribe Free
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.