{"id":26006,"date":"2022-10-05T19:13:25","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T23:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=26006"},"modified":"2022-10-05T19:13:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T23:13:30","slug":"ny-times-column-ron-desantiss-race-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2022\/10\/05\/ny-times-column-ron-desantiss-race-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>NY Times Column: Ron DeSantis\u2019s Race Problem<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/DESANTIS.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8555\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/DESANTIS.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/DESANTIS.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/DESANTIS.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/DESANTIS.jpg?w=1140&amp;ssl=1 1140w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new opinion piece in the New York Times lays out in scathing fashion how\u00a0Ron DeSantis has \u201c targeted Black people, Black Power, and Black history\u201d and Florida and \u201chas actually tried to strip Black Floridians of their power and voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The column documents DeSantis\u2019 standard operating procedure when confronted on issues of race, writing:&nbsp;<em>\u201cInstead of addressing the issue directly, he \u2014 or his office \u2014 claims to be oblivious. That\u2019s the DeSantis M.O.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The piece goes on to recount a number of ways DeSantis has targeted Black communities in Florida, including enacting his own redistricting plan that removed a congressional district that includes Black-majority communities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The New York Times: Opinion:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/r20.rs6.net\/tn.jsp?f=001ECt8xPo0LCzjjGj0PxkzZ77ejQxQ26GbD9JXiladvqMHOQSf0hmWB9whPWQA0-dn-YAAUPpaM62eOwW4djPhyo_kwQtUNlGkdMaLJ1lggXWOsGLIyN35So-M8eYBJ9DhBG81I3DcByuLhfTsAaNHrXkpFo6l9NxqUvkXUBpG6hsMeztSPQDmkrdJ4HCR4gYz0wNx7eOEspRyRkdzYjqscg==&amp;c=p9Gx1ZEbebq-jWEA4hSVsJ-CKn0BgGx2F9OnLtEhinVjXxIeIR7nYw==&amp;ch=ITSM9rOG2BBcPWjGHrsz0Ib0VMiNWQ7V_DMXtjq0nfWi5By0AdxSZA==\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ron DeSantis\u2019s Race Problem<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In July, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida appointed Jeffery Moore, a former tax law specialist with the Florida Department of Revenue, to be a county commissioner in Gadsden, the blackest county in the state.<\/li><li>On Friday, Moore resigned after a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/r20.rs6.net\/tn.jsp?f=001ECt8xPo0LCzjjGj0PxkzZ77ejQxQ26GbD9JXiladvqMHOQSf0hmWBxzXhv45dxF5U2JSNM927IfuAmr3vuvRy0TgDp97sCtspewN_l_SSziZDIIVwoaxQUI1XB7k4CH7uRNkS923ahDtz-nRcckRpbU_e5vk1hD4Uu1IeUp7qD8k6SdIhUxuQPCTjZUzLBXW-9ntxk_3HI2E7h5tsoSlMU_eGvoqqoZ2JhWQdLLogBxmJNAXAJbZNmIFR-0P9SIvGbIA5nTO0-MbXyh1Pkr4RwqwgvoAFjOg8O9ATd1h62Ft0eHGzjUAeizNRG2jNUxW5m3G4zDaEEtVdwbmELDySg==&amp;c=p9Gx1ZEbebq-jWEA4hSVsJ-CKn0BgGx2F9OnLtEhinVjXxIeIR7nYw==&amp;ch=ITSM9rOG2BBcPWjGHrsz0Ib0VMiNWQ7V_DMXtjq0nfWi5By0AdxSZA==\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">picture emerged<\/a>&nbsp;that appeared to show him dressed in Ku Klux Klan regalia.<\/li><li>This is not the first, shall I say, \u201cawkward\u201d racial issue DeSantis had encountered. But throughout, he has had much the same response: Instead of addressing the issue directly, he \u2014 or his office \u2014 claims to be oblivious. That\u2019s the DeSantis M.O.<\/li><li>In a 2018 gubernatorial debate, the moderator asked DeSantis why he had spoken at several conferences hosted by David Horowitz, a conservative writer who the Southern Poverty Law Center says is a \u201cdriving force of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/r20.rs6.net\/tn.jsp?f=001ECt8xPo0LCzjjGj0PxkzZ77ejQxQ26GbD9JXiladvqMHOQSf0hmWB9whPWQA0-dnne9tBXYkgcGnPaSNYd5U9uvwf368sWwk8nDbbnqNArDhRv1vlcfoMZcx5V9ywP2uxlC-YTFGmLku8O9TU21SRF6_HXI3TnhQTwmLo7gn7rw5WdpX4znLbM8juIq0cmz5Q0BzvUfyIzOAeVGewIz7dyZkwtkjSAqA&amp;c=p9Gx1ZEbebq-jWEA4hSVsJ-CKn0BgGx2F9OnLtEhinVjXxIeIR7nYw==&amp;ch=ITSM9rOG2BBcPWjGHrsz0Ib0VMiNWQ7V_DMXtjq0nfWi5By0AdxSZA==\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">anti-Muslim<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/r20.rs6.net\/tn.jsp?f=001ECt8xPo0LCzjjGj0PxkzZ77ejQxQ26GbD9JXiladvqMHOQSf0hmWB9whPWQA0-dn1FeufR_p4MqXVBxXFYZunKCHOOoW_1g95L9YL_l0AgTHghy_cznNxcYpYxeIZCAjVEJNO7gNESwNcbbSY6ZGdF8Xkx2D6UXxe9OoBrDKGQz2UWghTqMOFGPxw16eLregvOqaot9ok8mtIbbt7orVFesKB3SjJguS&amp;c=p9Gx1ZEbebq-jWEA4hSVsJ-CKn0BgGx2F9OnLtEhinVjXxIeIR7nYw==&amp;ch=ITSM9rOG2BBcPWjGHrsz0Ib0VMiNWQ7V_DMXtjq0nfWi5By0AdxSZA==\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">anti-immigrant<\/a>&nbsp;and anti-Black movements.\u201d<\/li><li>There, too, DeSantis claimed obliviousness, responding, \u201cHow the hell am I supposed to know every single statement someone makes?\u201d<\/li><li>The problem, of course, is that DeSantis\u2019s unfortunate associations keep stacking up.<\/li><li>In 2018, he appointed Michael Ertel, then a county elections supervisor, to be his secretary of state. The following year, Ertel resigned after a picture emerged of him in blackface wearing a T-shirt that read \u201cKatrina Victim.\u201d<\/li><li>DeSantis responded to the controversy by saying: \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate. I think he\u2019s done a lot of good work.\u201d He continued, \u201cI don\u2019t want to get mired into kind of side controversies, and so I felt it was best to just accept the resignation and move on.\u201d Not a word of condemnation for the act or sympathy for the victims of the storm. Also, not a word of his own personal regret for appointing him.<\/li><li>This is a man who championed and signed Florida\u2019s ridiculous \u201cStop WOKE Act,\u201d restricting how race can be discussed in the state\u2019s schools and workplaces. You can\u2019t live in the dark on race and then try to drag your whole state into the darkness with you.<\/li><li>But there is a way in which race policy reaches far beyond being merely racist-adjacent. DeSantis, for instance, has actually tried to strip Black Floridians of their power and voice.<\/li><li>In 2010, Florida voters, by a strong majority, approved a constitutional amendment rejecting gerrymandering. The amendment made clear that \u201cdistricts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.\u201d<\/li><li>DeSantis may pretend to be oblivious to the racial acts and statements of the people he associates with and appoints, but eliminating Black power and representation was a conscious act.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new opinion piece in the New York Times lays out in scathing fashion how\u00a0Ron DeSantis has \u201c targeted Black people, Black Power, and Black history\u201d and Florida and \u201chas&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[3624],"class_list":["post-26006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","category-politics","tag-ny-times-column-ron-desantiss-race-problem"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}