Another group cancels event

Black fraternity most recent convention to leave over politics

Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation’s oldest historically Black fraternity, is joining a growing list of groups canceling their Orlando conventions over political concerns.

The fraternity is pulling its 2025 convention out of Florida because of a “hostile” political environment created by Gov. Ron DeSantis, General President Willis L. Lonzer III said in a statement.

“In this environment of manufactured division and attacks on the Black community, Alpha Phi Alpha refuses to direct a projected $4.6 million convention economic impact to a place hostile to the communities we serve,” he said.

The event was planned for the Rosen Shingle Creek hotel and was expected to draw about 4,000 to 6,000 fraternity members in addition to family members and guests, said Eric Webb, an Alpha Phi Alpha spokesman.

In its announcement, Alpha Phi Alpha cited concerns about Florida’s new curriculum standards for African American history. In particular, controversy has erupted over a requirement that teachers include lessons on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Florida to criticize the standards, while DeSantis and his supporters defended them and said a national Advanced Placement course includes similar language.

The College Board, the organization that runs the AP program, took issue with that characterization, issuing a statement that it disagrees “with the notion that enslavement was in any way a beneficial, productive, or useful experience for African Americans.”

Jeremy Redfern, a DeSantis spokesman, dismissed Alpha Phi Alpha’s cancellation when asked for comment.

“This a stunt,” he said in an email.

Founded in 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha’s members have included civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, among other notable alumni.

A search is underway for a new location for the 2025 conference, Webb said.

At least four events planned for the Orange County Convention Center have been canceled over political concerns, spokeswoman Nicolette Sewell said.

The National Society of Black Engineers moved its 2024 convention out of Orlando, an event that organizers say attracts up to 15,000 people. The American Education Research Association and AnitaB.org, an organization of female and nonbinary tech workers, also nixed events planned for 2024.

The Association of perioperative Registered Nurses cited political concerns in canceling a conference and surgical expo planned for 2027, according to the convention center.

And organizers of Con of Thrones canceled an event planned for the Hyatt Regency Orlando they say draws 3,000 to 4,000 fans of the “Game of Thrones” books and television shows.

Several groups have issued travel warnings for Florida, including the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens and Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group.

Groups canceling their events have cited laws that banned most abortions after six weeks, allowed Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit, cracked down on illegal immigration and targeted transgender and LGBTQ+ issues.

DeSantis, though, has said Florida’s overall tourism numbers are rebounding from the pandemic.