Miami newspaper urges Florida GOP to reflect on contribution to racist shooting

The Miami Herald editorial board, in an op-ed published Tuesday, August 29, called out Florida Republican governor and 2024 hopeful Ron DeSantis' political priorities that contributed to the racially motivated Jacksonville Dollar General shooting that took three Black lives Saturday, August 26.

The newspaper notes:

DeSantis said the right things in the wake of the shooting. He called the suspected gunman a 'major league scumbag' and denounced his racist motives. He struck a bipartisan tone by thanking Jacksonville's newly elected Democratic Mayor Donna Deegan. He vowed to direct state funds to secure Edward Waters University, the historically Black college the alleged shooter tried to access before his shooting spree. 'We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race. We are going to stand up and we are going to do what we need to do to make sure that evil does not triumph in the state of Florida,' DeSantis said at a vigil on Sunday.

The editors emphasized, "But the true leadership is displayed in the long run, when reporters and cameras have moved on. There's little hope that Jacksonville will signal a shift in Florida's race politics, but if the deaths of three people won't do it, then nothing else will."

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The board writes:

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have spent the past two years demonizing an AP Black studies course, scaring parents about critical race theory and painting diversity, equity and inclusion — DEI — as anti-American. They passed laws like the 'Stop WOKE Act,' which limited how K-12 teachers, college professors and corporate diversity trainers can teach about race and racism. CRT, DEI and 'woke' don't kill people. White supremacy does, as it did in mass murders in Jacksonville, Buffalo, Charleston, El Paso and Pittsburgh. A 'SCUMBAG' Teaching students about systemic racism — how laws, systems and institutions disadvantage African Americans — doesn't kill people.

The editors add, "Were the mass shooting to serve as a lesson for Florida policy makers, they would quickly launch task forces to address the white supremacy that's latent in Florida" — "the state where neo-Nazis boldly marched outside Disney World in June with flags bearing swastikas. Just as disturbing, some flags bore Gov. Ron DeSantis' image."

READ MORE: 'Blood on his hands': FL lawmaker slams DeSantis as cause of racially motivated shooting

Miami Herald's editorial board's full op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).