A local Florida NAACP president said Monday on CNN that the black community would “support our own” after the host questioned whether the travel advisory would inadvertently harm black-owned businesses.
The NAACP issued a travel warning for Florida on Saturday, claiming the state “devalues and marginalizes” issues facing “communities of color.”
“Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,” the NAACP said. “Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.”
NAACP Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County President Marsha Ellison defended the ban on Monday, telling CNN black-owned businesses would not be hurt.
“Florida does lead the nation in the number of black-owned businesses,” CNN’s Boris Sanchez said. “More than 15,000, according to the state. Many of them rely on tourism. I’m wondering if you think this travel advisory may inadvertently harm them?” (RELATED: NAACP President Ignores Stats On Florida When Confronted By CNN Host)
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“I think what you have to realize, that we need to do a better – and we will encourage us to do a better job of supporting us year round, not simply when there is a group that is going to come to town. We have a number of large African American, primarily, groups that will be coming to Florida, and so we will make sure that those individuals leave the area, the convention area, and go out and support black businesses. That’s something that we need to make sure that we do year-round, and we will certainly do that and we will be fine,” Ellison said.
“We will support our own.”
The move to issue a travel advisory was prompted by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to reject the initial Advance Placement African American Studies course that included topics on queer theory. DeSantis said while teaching black history is a “core curriculum” but including queer ideology was “indoctrination.”