{"id":28541,"date":"2023-09-16T13:23:41","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T20:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28541"},"modified":"2023-09-16T13:23:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T20:23:42","slug":"blood-from-jacksonville-is-partially-on-ron-desantis-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/16\/blood-from-jacksonville-is-partially-on-ron-desantis-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"BLOOD FROM JACKSONVILLE IS PARTIALLY ON RON DESANTIS’ HANDS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FRI, 9\/8\/2023 – BY\u00a0CARL GIBSON<\/a> (Occupy.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the eve of the 60th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King\u2019s march on Washington, a 21-year-old gunman using a rifle emblazoned with swastikas opened fire at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, targeting Black people with an AR-15-style rifle he purchased legally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shooter, who initially tried to attack the campus of a historically Black college<\/a> before being turned away by security, yelled racial slurs during the attack and wrote a racist manifesto before carrying out the shooting. While addressing Jacksonville residents, Governor Ron DeSantis \u2013 a top contender in the 2024 Republican presidential primary \u2013 called the shooter a \u201cscumbag,\u201d though the crowd booed him<\/a> during his remarks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To his credit, DeSantis is right to describe the gunman \u2013 who ended his own life before police could apprehend him \u2013 in this way. But before attempting to speak on the tragedy, both DeSantis and Florida\u2019s Republican-controlled legislature should instead listen to people of color and reflect on how their prior actions and rhetoric as public officials have emboldened and encouraged people like the Jacksonville shooter to act on their hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NAACP: DESANTIS\u2019 FLORIDA IS \u2018OPENLY HOSTILE\u2019 TO AFRICAN AMERICANS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now in his fifth year and second term as Florida governor, DeSantis has made Florida a place \u201cwhere woke goes to die<\/a>,\u201d as he declared in his victory speech after his 2022 reelection. Florida Republicans increased their majorities in both the House of Representatives<\/a> and the Senate<\/a> in 2020 and 2022, and have used their power to enact sweeping new laws regulating public education in the Sunshine State, particularly as it relates to discussions of systemic racism and slavery. The \u201cStop WOKE Act,\u201d signed into law in 2022<\/a>, essentially halted discussions of race in public schools, and threw discussions about the contributions of African Americans to society and culture into question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same year, DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education<\/a> law, which is also known as the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law. This bill prevented discussions about LGBTQ+ issues between kindergarten and third grade, though that has since been expanded all the way to eighth grade. That law, compounded with the \u201cStop WOKE Act\u201d and House Bill 1467<\/a> \u2013 which dictates that all books be subject to review before being available to students \u2013 led to widespread book bans that effectively emptied library shelves across Florida. And in May, DeSantis signed another bill defunding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programming<\/a> at the state\u2019s public universities, arguing that DEI education distracts from \u201cthe core mission\u201d of universities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These actions, among others, led the NAACP to issue a very rare travel advisory, in which the organization warned that Florida has become \u201copenly hostile<\/a>\u201d to African Americans, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder 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,\u201d NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in the travel advisory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce again, hate-inspired state leaders have chosen to put politics over people. Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities to appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority,\u201d Leon Russell, chair of the NAACP board of directors, stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even after that travel advisory, DeSantis doubled down. In July, the Florida governor defended changes<\/a> to the state\u2019s middle school curriculum, which now requires history teachers to tell students that slavery taught enslaved people skills \u201cthat could be applied for their personal benefit.\u201d Vice President Kamala Harris accused Gov. DeSantis<\/a> of \u201cwanting to replace history with lies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization?\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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RON DESANTIS\u2019 OVERTURES TO VIOLENT RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Russell\u2019s description of DeSantis as appealing to a dangerous, extremist minority is accurate: The Florida governor\u2019s actions have consistently attracted support from neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and fascist-adjacent elements within the GOP. In June, Florida state representative Anna Eskamani (D) tweeted photos and videos<\/a> of a group of neo-Nazi demonstrators waving swastika flags and pro-DeSantis signs that read \u201cMake America Florida\u201d outside of Disney World in Orlando. The targeting of Disney World is likely due to DeSantis\u2019 attacks on Disney in response to the company\u2019s criticism<\/a> of his \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be easy for DeSantis to publicly distance himself from supporters who harbor hateful ideologies. However, he\u2019s done the opposite: In late July, DeSantis fired communications staffer Nate Hochman<\/a> for posting a video that showed the Florida governor\u2019s face imposed on the Florida flag and the sonnenrad \u2013 a neo-Nazi symbol often used in conjunction with the swastika \u2013 while soldiers marched. The video contrasted Donald Trump\u2019s statements in support of LGBTQ+ individuals with DeSantis\u2019 draconian record targeting that population. Republican operative Rick Wilson of the Lincoln Project told the Guardian that DeSantis only fired Hochman because \u201che got caught<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hochman wasn\u2019t simply a fringe extremist, but a rising star with the GOP. He was a staff writer<\/a> for the National Review, wrote a guest essay for the New York Times<\/a>, and was an occasional guest on Tucker Carlson\u2019s Fox News program. His LinkedIn profile<\/a> shows he worked at multiple prominent conservative think tanks and policy shops, and he has past involvement<\/a> in the influential Claremont Institute and Federalist Society. Hochman referred to Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes as \u201ca good influence<\/a>,\u201d and he even once tweeted favorably about fascism<\/a>, saying it was comparable to \u201cmainstream conservatism.\u201d It could even be argued that DeSantis and the institutional right hired and elevated Hochman not in spite of his warmth toward fascism, but because of it. And as of this writing, DeSantis still employs Christina Pushaw as his press secretary, an alt-right social media personality who openly cheered a study<\/a> about LGBTQ+ Florida residents fleeing the state for fear of harassment and bullying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to note that DeSantis\u2019 enabling of far-right extremism goes far beyond his attacks on DEI programming and LGBTQ+ rights. In April of this year, Gov. DeSantis signed a bill<\/a> allowing gun owners to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, and without having to undergo training classes or pass a background check. The Jacksonville gunman bought his weapons just prior<\/a> to that law taking effect, but had no issues buying either the handgun or the AR-15, despite being involuntarily committed to a mental institution under Florida\u2019s Baker Act in 2017. And as Occupy.com previously reported<\/a>, DeSantis signed a bill in 2021 allowing drivers to run over protesters without facing any legal consequences. The Florida governor has given numerous winks and nods to those who wish to carry out right-wing political violence, so he shouldn\u2019t be surprised when his words and actions are followed by bloodshed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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VIOLENT RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM REMAINS A NATIONAL AND GLOBAL ISSUE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The escalation of right-wing political violence isn\u2019t exclusive to just Florida: In May of this year, a 33-year-old Texas man used an AR-15-style rifle \u2013 one of eight legally purchased firearms \u2013 to kill eight people at a Dallas-area outlet mall before he was shot dead by police. Investigators later found that aside from the man\u2019s neo-Nazi tattoos and insignia, he was also active on white supremacist websites like the Daily Stormer and VDare, and had roughly 10 years<\/a> of racist and anti-Semitic diary entries. And like Ron DeSantis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has enabled violent outbursts like these with his relentless antagonization<\/a> of marginalized communities<\/a> and lackadaisical attitude<\/a> toward firearm regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s incumbent on political leaders to denounce and discourage political violence at every opportunity, especially when considering that right-wing extremism is the biggest domestic terrorism threat, according to a 2022 memo from the Department of Homeland Security<\/a>. But this problem has lingered for years: In 2019, the New York Times analyzed some of the most notorious mass shootings of the decade, and found that nearly all of the perpetrators<\/a> were affiliated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi causes. Mass shooters in Charleston, South Carolina; El Paso, Texas; Roseburg, Oregon; Oak Creek, Wisconsin; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere were all white men who targeted ethnic minorities. This is also a global problem, with right-wing extremist mass shooters killing 77 in Norway in 2011, and 51 in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Gov. DeSantis is truly wishing to stop attacks like the Jacksonville shooting from happening again, he should not speak, but rather listen to members of marginalized populations, who he has directly harmed with his policies and rhetoric. If not, the problem will only worsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carl Gibson is a freelance journalist and columnist whose work has been published in CNN, USA TODAY, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, Barron\u2019s, Business Insider, the Independent, and NPR, among others. Follow him on Bluesky @crgibs.bsky.social.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FRI, 9\/8\/2023 – BY\u00a0CARL GIBSON (Occupy.com) On the eve of the 60th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King\u2019s march on Washington, a 21-year-old gunman using a rifle emblazoned with swastikas opened fire at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, targeting Black people with an AR-15-style rifle he purchased… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[509],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28542,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28541\/revisions\/28542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}