Governor Ron DeSantis' All Out War on Black Floridians
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Updated 4/15/2023 at 8:00 a.m. ET
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has not held back from antagonizing Black Americans in the sunshine state. But it’s what he’s done without a bunch of fanfare that has so many Black Floridians on edge.
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Voting rights are a prime example. Since entering office, DeSantis has waged an unprecedented attack on Black voters and Black political power in Florida.The accusations against DeSantis include allegations that he gerrymandered Black voting power into oblivion and pushed through voting restrictions in an attempt to scare and confuse Black voters into staying home.
Let’s start with his gerrymandering strategy. We now have ample reporting from ProPublica and The Guardian that DeSantis was deeply involved in redrawing the new congressional district maps last year. According to reporting from The Guardian, DeSantis’s new map not only heavily favored Republicans, but it also cut the number of districts where Black voters had a chance to elect a candidate in half.
In a lawsuit, the Florida GOP was accused of using a two-pronged disenfranchisement strategy known as “cracking” and “packing” in predominantly Black districts. To simplify it a little, “cracking” refers to splitting a minority group amongst new districts to dilute their political power. So, for example, the new map split Black voters in Jacksonville into two different maps, diminishing their ability to pick a candidate. “Packing” is the opposite strategy. Essentially, you “pack” as many minority voters into one or two districts so you can limit the number of seats the group can get in Congress. The litigation is still ongoing, so we’ll see how that shakes out.
Gerrymandering isn’t the only attack on Black political power. Last year, the Justice Department sued the Florida GOP over new voting restrictions, which they said intentionally targeted Black voters. The restrictions caused chaos in November for Black Floridians who worried about running afoul of the law.
DeSantis’ Attack on Abortion Rights
It’s not just voting rights that have Black Floridians up in arms. During Black Maternal Health Week, DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban, making the procedure illegal before most people even know they’re pregnant.
The Root spoke with Nancy Metayer Bowen, the first Black and Haitian woman Commissioner of Coral Springs, FL., about the devastating fallout we can expect from this law.
“This legislation is playing with people’s lives. People are going to die for the sake of an agenda,” says Metayer Bowen, “an agenda that doesn’t benefit people that look like me, a black woman.”
Metayer Brown isn’t being hyperbolic. Research shows that abortion bans heavily increase rates of Black maternal mortality. In Florida, Metayer Brown says that many Black Americans struggle to access even basic health care, and forcing them to go through with pregnancies without access to proper care is a dangerous gamble with people’s lives.
The law also risks access to health care on an even greater scale, says Metayer Brown. We’ve already seen healthcare providers leaving states with restrictive abortion bans out of fear that they could face legal jeopardy. What’s to stop providers in Florida from leaving once the ban goes into place?
“We’re going to see a mass exodus of providers who will not be able to provide the care that our communities need,” says Metayer Bowen.
Although he hasn’t announced, DeSantis is still considered a contender for the Republican Presidential primary. The war he’s waged against Black political power and reproductive rights in Florida could be a troubling window into a DeSantis presidency.
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