It’s extremely painful to watch a governor attack the pillars of diversity, inclusion and equity. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s campaign slogan in which he firmly stands is, “This is where ‘woke’ comes to die.”
A deeper look into life and death in Florida would reveal that it is not woke that dies here but people — students in school or adults in night clubs.
In his attempt to kill this “woke thing,” the governor has assembled an army of woke police, assigned with the job of destroying anything woke such as the life of Roberto Clemente or the treatment that Ruby Bridges endured as a child simply because she wanted to attend a public school.
This “woke thing” apparently is what DeSantis regards as the biggest threat to the well-being of school students in the state of Florida, never-mind what happened at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, or The Pulse Night Club. To make schools even more unsafe, this governor, without much fanfare or public notification, secretly signed into law a bill permitting conceal carry without a permit.
He finds it necessary to remove books from libraries because they are a threat to the comfortability of some students while signing into law a bill that puts every school student’s safety, while attending school, at risk. He has created a teacher shortage because of the fear that has been born from his campaign on “wokeness” leaving teachers uncertain as to whether or not they will be prosecuted or discharged because Ruby Bridge was mentioned in a classroom.
There is something inherently wrong when a gun has no restrictions but a book does, and it speaks to the type of society that we choose to live in.
Ruby Bridges had to be escorted every day to school by four United States Marshals. She walked past crowds of screaming adults yelling insults to an 8-year-old child. This is what DeSantis fears will harm Florida students, not guns, but a book telling the story of what a child endured just trying to go to school. She sat in a classroom all alone because only one teacher would teach her. Today there is a shortage of educators because they want to tell her story but can’t, and when you couple that with the threat of violence with the governor’s open carry no permit bill, it will take more than nice weather to attract new ones.
Politicians that do nothing to make schools safer are just self-interested, selfish individuals who never had to carry the burden of going to school every day with a bullet-proof backpack. These are the same people that have no problem taking away the healthcare of others, as long as theirs is safe. They’re the same people who never had to be escorted into school with four United States Marshals.
Charles Thomas lives in Lima. His column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Lima News editorial board or AIM Media, owner of The Lima News.
