NAACP seeks travel ban to Florida

An attack targeting black people in Florida is making one group say, stay away. This coming weekend, the NAACP Florida State conference voted unanimously to seek permission from its national headquarters to issue a travel advisory for the state of Florida.

The NAACP in Florida believes that blacks in Florida are under attack. The president of the Lee County NAACP was at the Florida state conference on Saturday and was one of the hundreds of leaders who voted unanimously to request permission from headquarters for the travel advisory. An advisory they hope will warn any and every black person eyeing Florida to pick another state.

Florida NAACP leaders want to send a strong message to any and every black person thinking about visiting Florida.

“What a travel advisory is that it allows us the NAACP to warn other blacks across the country to not come to Florida, not send their children to Florida, not vacation in Florida if you’re black,” James Muwakkil, the Lee County NAACP branch president said.

Muwakkil was involved in the decision to call for the travel advisory to Florida. He believes it’s absolutely necessary and blames one man.

“The bullseye has been put on black people’s back by this Governor. And so through this, if getting permission, we’re going to tell the rest of the world that we will not tolerate second-class citizenship,” Muwakkil said.

Florida is no stranger to travel bans. For example, California has halted all state-funded travel to Florida because of some of the positions and laws Florida’s adopted and tourism remains strong. But Muwakkil believes millions of people will listen to the travel advisory.

“There’s over 2,000,000 card-carrying members of the NAACP nationwide. With 2,200 units, the adult branches, the high school chapters, the college chapters, the youth council. That’s a lot of people who’s going to listen to what we say. There will be impact,” Muwakkil said.

And if millions do listen, Muwakkil knows what that could mean for black-owned businesses.

“There’s always going to be sacrifice when it comes to progress. There will always be burdens But yet, we have to push through it,” Muwakkil said.

Muwakkil said the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers support what the Florida NAACP is trying. WINK News reached out to Governor Desantis’ office for reaction but have not heard back yet.