Haiti, Baltimore tragedies are racist fodder to some in GOP
What do Haiti’s deadly chaos and the Baltimore bridge collapse have in common?
The tragedies are racist fodder for some of Florida’s top Republican leaders.
Lake County GOP chairman Anthony Sabatini posted on X the terrifying video of the ship’s struggles.
“DEI did this,” Sabatini appears to joke.
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion.
At least six people are dead. The young mayor of Baltimore tackling the crisis, Brandon Maurice Scott, is an African American elected in 2020 — not through multicultural programs but with an enviable 70% of the vote.
Responded Democratic South Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones on X: “I guess DEI is the new “N” word.”
Indeed.
FROM SABATINI TO DESANTIS
Then, there’s Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state’s top Republican.
He has always told us who he is, through both words and deeds.
So why now expect a man who launched his gubernatorial bid in 2018 on Fox News using dog-whistle language against his African American opponent — and has dismantled DEI programs at colleges and universities and whitewashed racist history in public schools curriculum — give a damn about the suffering of Haitians?
The stories and videos out of Haiti of innocents, including children, being randomly shot at by gangs are heart-breaking.
Is there any amount of strife that can move DeSantis?
The higher rates of African American COVID deaths didn’t. In fact, he appointed an anti-vaxxer doctor who is Black as surgeon general. He gives terrible advice on vaccines and dissuades people from protecting themselves.
The spate of killings of unarmed Black men and women by police and white supremacists didn’t move him, either. He reacted to the 2020
George Floyd killing on video and the ensuing national protests, including in Florida cities, by signing into law protest rules that can turn a demonstrator into a felon.
Now that Haiti is collapsing, the pretend hero is flying into Florida Haitians with U.S. citizenship and money.
SPECIAL SESSION?
But what about ordinary Haitians fleeing violence?
Instead of compassion, DeSantis demonizes the most vulnerable in Haiti who are unable to protect themselves from random killings — and does so before the ready-to-beracially-stoked Sean Hannity audience on Fox.
The mighty governor said Sunday he may call a special session to seek expanded powers to arrest and jail Haitians seeking refuge in Florida. For what crime exactly?
It doesn’t matter. He has achieved the objective of using Black would-be immigrants to fear-monger in an election year.
Same way he achieved the objective of repressing the Black vote in Florida by having police round up Black voters, early in the morning wearing nothing but underwear for all to see, accusing them of voter fraud — charges that were mostly dismissed in court.
The racist message sent when DeSantis told Floridians in 2018 not to “monkey this up” by electing Andrew Gillum has been turned during his two terms as governor into racially-charged action.
His Operation Vigilant Sentry, launched in South Florida to prevent Haitians from landing boats on the state’s coast, is only the latest.
The silver lining is that
Florida’s Black leaders aren’t staying silent.
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, who has Haitian, Puerto Rican and AfroCuban roots, responded to both Sabatini and DeSantis with deftness on X and in a press conference Tuesday.
He called for protected status for Haitians fleeing violence and slammed DeSantis’ cruelty.
“Imagine the Haitian people in our community waking up every morning to see the devastation in Haiti,” said Frost, an Orlando Democrat. “And [then they] turn on the TV and see their bigoted governor use his power not to console the people, not to tell them he’s going to do what he can to help the island and to help Haiti, but to demonize and dehumanize them.”
He added: “It’s disgusting.”
Yes, it is.