Hey friends,
Any time there is a breaking news alert that begins with “Florida Governor” I feel my body tense up. Sometimes a shiver goes down my spine as I dare myself to keep reading. I am bracing myself for what I’m about to learn.
Earlier this week I came across a headline that began with the shiver inducing “Florida Gov.” and continued with “Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill into law Monday that would bar the state’s colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and limit how race can be discussed in many courses.”
There was no release in my neck. No exhale from my mouth. Instead my body got instantly cooled - like all the blood left my limbs to tend to my brain… and my heart.
I took to the pages of my social media - writing “The problems with this are many, but the one that breaks my heart is how it will impact students of color and their mental and emotional well-being. These programs and classrooms mean more than can be quantified.” And then I sat and thought more about those who would be impacted.
Students of color. Women. Trans students. Queer students. Disabled students. So many marginalized students rely on these programs and classrooms to feel seen, affirmed, supported, safe. This is a(nother) step toward educational inequality wrapped in co-opted language of “racial division”.
A(nother) step. Before this law was a bill and before the bill there was perhaps a committee and before that committee there was an organization and before the organization there was an op-ed and before the op-ed there was a sermon and before the sermon there was a prayer breakfast and before the prayer breakfast there was tweet and before the tweet there was a rally and before the rally there was a commitment to stay racist, to hoard power, to scapegoat. There was a belief that some are better, more Christian, more human, than others.
So what are we going to do about it? Whats your next step?
Because this won’t be their last.
A FEW MORE THINGS FOR YOU THIS WEEK…
The comments on this post are worth (at least) a few minutes of your time.
Go ahead, Target!
A WORD…
“None of us can be held responsible for the wrongs of our ancestors. But if today we choose not to do the right and necessary thing, that burden we own.”
- Nikole Hannah-Jones
Stay wild and holy and free,
Austin
PS If you haven’t ordered I’m Still Here (Young Readers Version) - get your copy today!!
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I live in Florida and it's been a horrorshow watching his fascist intentions get written into law by the obsequious boot lickers in the state house and senate. It's really scary times. He makes no secret about being a white christian nationalist (fascist) and still the national press just posits him somehow as a reasonable alternative to Trump. No. No he is not. He is a fucking monster.
I hope to see lots and lots of protests all across campuses in the US and especially in Florida. Is what the Governor did even legal? I mean aren't universities protected spaces where people can think and say what they want as long as it isn't hate speech. Imagine my head exploding. What happened to free speech?