Democratic Party strategist Aisha C. Mills said that Florida under GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis was “about to be a terrorist state” for black and LGBTQ people — though in the identical interview she admitted traveling to the Sunshine State recently for spring break.
Mills made the comment Monday on Nicolle Wallace’s “Deadline” show while discussing the NAACP’s travel advisory, which warned that Florida was openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.
“Praising the NAACP’s advisory as extremely clever,” Mills revealed that she and her family recently traveled to the state.
“You understand, I just took my family to spring break in Florida recently and I take into consideration all of the parents who travel there for sun and joy and peace and restoration,” she said.
“Actually as a lesbian, as a black woman, I don’t wish to have anything to do with the place,” she continued.
“And I take into consideration all the opposite individuals who don’t wish to travel there either.”
Democratic Party strategist Aisha C. Mills said on Monday that Florida was about to show right into a “terrorist state” for black and LGBTQ people.MSNBC
She said the advisory also turned a “lens on the US and highlights how bigotry and bias and ignorance do as much harm as we accuse other countries of doing to those who they suppress.”
Her comments were reported by the news site Mediaite.
The NAACP this past weekend joined two other civil rights groups — League of United Latin American Residents (LULAC), a Latino civil rights organization, and Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group — to warn would-be tourists about recent laws signed by DeSantis, who will announce his intent to run for president on Wednesday.
A recent flurry of laws that was enacted in Florida has angered Democrats and their supporters.
The DeSantis administration rejected the College Board’s Advanced Placement African American Studies course.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed laws targeting woke curricula in schools.Getty Images
DeSantis and Republican lawmakers even have pressed forward with measures that ban state colleges from having programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, in addition to critical race theory, and in addition passed the Stop WOKE Act that restricts certain race-based conversations and evaluation in schools and businesses.
Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis’ press secretary, tweeted in response to Mills: “She literally said she got here to Florida for spring break.”
He added a “laughing hysterically” emoji.
In the following sentence of the tweet, he wrote: “These should not serious people.”
The warning approved Saturday by the NAACP’s board of directors tells tourists that, before traveling to Florida, they need to understand the state “devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.”
The NAACP and other civil rights groups have warned would-be tourists about traveling to Florida.Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image
DeSantis has signed pieces of laws including the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which was opposed by Disney.Getty Images
The travel advisory was blasted by Republicans, including Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).
“I don’t even know what the NAACP is talking about,” Donalds, who’s black, told Fox News on Monday.
“That is silly, and it’s dumb. It’s political.”
“It is unnecessary,” Donalds continued.
“We should always be focused on ensuring people even have the chance to realize, which Florida is definitely doing and thriving in way higher than other states, let’s say Recent York or California or Washington State.”
With Post Wires