The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called data undermining his position that Florida is unsafe for black people "propaganda language."
"First of all, this propaganda language over the last several years wasn't because of anything [Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R.)] did in policy," NAACP president Derrick Johnson said Monday after he was asked on CNN about a statement from the Florida Chamber of Commerce describing the state as the "number-one spot in the United States for black-owned businesses." The chamber's statement comes a week after the NAACP warned black people to avoid traveling to Florida due to "openly hostile" policies.
The NAACP's "travel advisory" did not cite any figures. The Washington Free Beacon reported Tuesday that data show that "black Floridians enjoy lower unemployment, higher median incomes, and lower rates of both hate crimes and police killings than their counterparts in other states." Florida law enforcement reported 127 hate crimes against blacks in 2020, while police in California reported 1,537 and New York reported 466. Exit polling last year also showed that 13 percent of black Floridians supported DeSantis in his gubernatorial reelection.
Johnson further called the numbers "misleading and wrong."
"Well, I have never seen an accurate exit poll in 30 years," Johnson told CNN. "And I’m surprised that you would repeat an exit poll number. Exit polls are historically wrong and misleading. Therefore, whatever the number or percentage of individuals who voted for him, that’s prior to these bad policies."