Florida isn’t hostile to blacks, but these blue states sure appear to be

If you want to know which states support thriving black communities, you can find the answer in two ways.

You might look at data and see which states have growing black communities and which do not. You might instead listen to such fallen organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

ENTER DESANTIS

The NAACP’s board of directors this week issued a “formal travel advisory” against Florida. It was entirely political, mentioning Gov. Ron DeSantis by name just as he was announcing his campaign for the presidency.

“Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans,” the NAACP notice claims, citing DeSantis’s “aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.”

On the second charge, restricting DEI programs in Florida schools, DeSantis would probably agree.
DEI programs are proven failures
that
only increase racial division
. Every governor should be eliminating their use across state government.

On the first charge, that DeSantis has attempted to “erase Black history,” the NAACP is factually wrong. Florida schools are required
by law
to teach “the history of African peoples,” including “the passage to America” and “the enslavement experience.” These lessons include “how the freedoms of persons have been infringed by sexism, slavery, racial oppression, racial segregation, and racial discrimination.”

So much for marginalizing “the contributions of and challenges faced by African Americans,” as the advisory claims.

If the NAACP wants to identify states where policy is hostile to blacks, it should turn its eyes to states and cities run by Democrats. At the end of 2022, the national black unemployment rate stood at 6.1%. In Florida, it was more than two points lower at 3.8%. Meanwhile, black unemployment was higher than the national average in California (7.5%), Illinois (10.9%), and New York (8.3%).

The story is worse in Democratically run cities. In New York City, for example, 12.2% of blacks are unemployed. Compare that to Miami, where the black unemployment rate is 4.7%. If you are a black person looking for a job, California, Illinois, and New York are far more hostile environments than Florida.

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Black people know this even if organizations such as the NAACP, which claim to speak for them, do not. That is why black families, especially middle-class black families, are leaving Democratically run states in droves.
New York City has lost 9% of its black population over the past 20 years
. Over the past 40 years,
the black populations of Compton, San Francisco, and Oakland have fallen by 45%, 43%, and 40%, respectively.

Black families are fleeing Chicago too
. Meanwhile, Florida’s black population has grown from 3.1 million in 2010 to 3.8 million today.

The NAACP claims to be an organization “committed to a world without racism where black people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities.” It may want to spend less time worrying about thriving, happily employed black communities in Florida and more time figuring out which Democratic policies are destroying black communities in blue states.