The power of the Black dollar: NAACP travel advisory in Florida a reminder of ’90s boycott

MIAMI -- The snub of Nelson Mandela was the last straw.

Miami politicians had planned to honor the South African leader during his June 1990 visit to the Magic City. That is, until Mandela, who spent nearly three decades in prison, voiced his support for Moammar Gadahfi, Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro a week before his visit. Miami’s Cuban community couldn’t believe it and in turn, elected officials — from city commissioners to mayors — decided to rescind the proclamation.

In their rebuke of Mandela, prominent Miami attorney H.T. Smith saw a rebuke of Black Miamians like himself. So on July 17, 1990, he launched Boycott Miami, an effort that encouraged Black tourists and businesses to steer clear of the city until it had done right by its Black residents. The campaign, which lasted 1,000 days and was supported by the NAACP and other groups, cost the county an estimated $20 million to $50 million in tourism. It also led to the opening of Royal Palm Crowne Plaza, Miami

Beach’s first Black-owned hotel, and thousands of scholarships for Black Miamians interested in hotel management.

Boycott Miami would not be the last time Black Americans would be cautioned against a Florida vacation. The NAACP’S recently issued travel advisory has called for a similar avoidance of the Sunshine State due to the work of Gov. Ron Desantis. And while the two movements had different catalysts, they both occurred at points when elected officials showed very little care toward Black constituents.

“When you do things like boycott, what you’re doing is you’re checking the economic power,” said Msomi Moor, a Florida Memorial University African American Studies professor. “Traditionally, boycotts have been one tool in a much larger tool kit of initiatives that have brought about the advancement of the Black community.”

Boycott Miami came at a time when Black Miamians had become more frustrated at being left out of South Florida’s burgeoning tourism industry. Miami had also been the site of three riots during the 1980s over police killing four unarmed Black men. The NAACP’S advisory, however, is specifically linked to one thing: Desantis’ policies.

“This is a public notice that Florida is not safe based on all the policies that have been put in place and the actions taken by the governor,” said Daniella Pierre, president of the NAACP’S Miami-dade chapter.

Deeming Desantis’ tenure an “all-out attack on Black Americans,” the travel advisory listed every piece of legislation enacted under the governor — including his attempts to ban books about race and LGBTQ+ issues, his efforts to criminalize protest and his ban of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida colleges — as examples to show that “Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.”

“Unfortunately, the governor is using his platform to advance some of the most regressive, racist polices in his attempt to become the president of the United States,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson told MSNBC on Monday.

Pierre echoed Johnson’s response, calling Desantis’ policies “harmful for Black Americans and people of color, particularly from vulnerable communities.”

Stephanie Jones, the founder and CEO of Blacks in Travel & Tourism, disagrees with the

NAACP’S tactics.

“To tell African Americans and people of color not to come to Florida as a way to boycott and address the efforts of Desantis is not well thought out,” said Jones adding that “small, Black businesses in underserved communities will be used as the sacrificial lamb.”

Although Jones understands “how it feels to be Black here in Florida,” she questions whether or not the NAACP approached experts in the travel space like herself.

She suggested that the NAACP partner with other adversaries of Desantis, like Disney, to “leverage a partnership” that could showcase a unified front against a governor who called the potential Florida boycott “a joke” in March.

“If he’s not fazed by his fight with Disney, why would he care if the most marginalized residents and businesses are impacted?”