In DeSantis rebuke, 2 major Black orgs move their conferences — and millions in revenue — out of Florida
The two organizations cite “hostile” conditions toward African Americans in Florida for their decision.
Just two months after the NAACP issued a formal travel advisory for Florida, warning visitors that the state has become “openly hostile toward African Americans” under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s leadership, two major Black organizations are moving their annual multimillion-dollar conferences elsewhere.
Now advocates hope the momentum from the relocations translates to real change that affects the ballot box in 2024.
“It is our hope that the outcry and loss of revenue will force legislators to repeal the terrible bills that were passed in the last few years,” Melba Pearson, a Miami-based civil rights and criminal law attorney, told Yahoo News. “We hope that voters will make solid decisions in the upcoming elections, based on now knowing the impact these negative laws have on their neighbors, friends and communities."
Organizations pivot from Florida
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the country’s oldest and largest intercollegiate Black fraternity, and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), one of the largest student-governed organizations based in the U.S., have decided to move their conferences that were scheduled to be in Florida in 2025 and 2024, respectively, to other states, citing a potential “hostile” environment for their members.
Alpha Phi Alpha, which was founded in 1906 and boasts a membership of more than 200,000 members and 700 chapters around the world, last week said that due to DeSantis’s “harmful, racist, and insensitive policies against the Black community,” the organization would find a new home for its 119th anniversary convention, slated to be in Orlando in 2025. The group says the event was expected to generate $4.6 million in economic impact....
NSBE, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, similarly decided after much deliberation that Florida did not offer its members enough safety and an ideal “membership experience” to be the setting for such a milestone event.
“We made the decision that the environment in Florida is not the backdrop we want for that 50th annual convention,” Avery Layne, national chair of the organization, which reports having more than 18,000 members and nearly 800 chapters worldwide, told Yahoo News....
Controversial Florida policies
At the center of the decisions are what critics say are the state GOP leaders’ attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity programs in Florida schools....
Florida is home to more than 22 million people, 17% of whom are African American, according to the latest census data....
The governor has openly mocked the notion that any kind of boycott or travel advisory would be effective, calling it a “joke” during a news conference the day after the NAACP state conference in March.
In all, at least 10 other conferences that were slated to be hosted in Fort Lauderdale, Miami or Orlando have been moved or canceled in recent months, with event organizers citing concerns over the state’s laws related to LGBTQ rights, abortion, gun laws and more. The lost revenue has cost local businesses, hotels and others in excess of $20 million, according to local tourism officials....