NAACP’s Florida Travel Advisory is Full of Beans

Because most once-great organizations are just dens of iniquity and wokeness nowadays, the NAACP recently made headlines by issuing a travel advisory warning black Americans not to go to Florida, because there’s literally Nazi militias lined up at the border to round up and massacre anyone darker than Michael Jackson circa 1993. Or something.

What they literally said is that “Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. 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.”

As with most progressive pearl-clutching over Florida and other states less regulated than Soviet-era Russia, though, the facts do not support the hysteria. In fact, in this case, they show quite the opposite.

How do they show thee? Let me count the ways.

One, 49% of black Floridians are homeowners, which is better than the national average (44%), which is better than California (35.5%), which is better than New York (34%). 

Two, only 3.4% of black Floridians are unemployed– the third lowest rate in the nation. Also, it’s better than California, at 7.7%, which is marginally better than New York, at 8%. 

Three, Florida has more black-owned businesses than any other state. 

Okay, but that’s just for black Americans. What about the rest of the country, you ask?

Same story, different stats. Violent crime? Below national average. Murder rate per capita? Ranked 23 out of 50. Equality rating? 22 out of 50– not top tier, but better than California. Closing the racial unemployment gap? 12 out of 50. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLING, since that was explicitly called out by the NAACP? Ranked higher in racial equality than California, New York, AND Maryland. (Guess where the NAACP is headquartered. Go on, guess.)

(It’s Maryland.)

So I don’t know if the NAACP actually has no idea what they’re talking about, or if they think owning homes and businesses is bad for black people. More likely, they think black people are too ignorant to actually figure this sh*t out for themselves. (The data would, once again, suggest otherwise– black Americans are fleeing progressive states and rolling into places like Florida, Georgia, and Texas at remarkable rates.) 

The NAACP can put out whatever messaging they want, but so can Florida. And the results are in: “Welcome to the Sunshine State!” is winning.