Is Florida Governor Proposing Law Enforcement Protection or Endorsing Backlash for Black Lives Matter Protests?
By: L.A. Justice
Tags: Racial Justice, Law Enforcement, Protest, Racism, BlackLivesMatter

Photo by ev on Unsplash

In what some are referring to as a bold new move by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, he has recently proposed new legislation for the state called the Combatting Violence, Disorder and Looting, and Law Enforcement Protection Act.

At first glance, this act promises to reduce the amount of looting, violence, and lawlessness that occurred during recent protests. However, critics and activists see this as an anti-mob legislation being used not only to expand Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, but to directly target Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters. This is reminiscent of the way Qualified Immunity was implemented during the Civil Rights era as backlash for the protections provided to black people via the Civil Rights Act of 1871.

During his announcement, DeSantis opens by condemning the “attacks on law enforcement,” and the “disorder and tumult in many cities across the country.” However, he never once points to any of the horrendous cases of police brutality that were the direct cause of the protests.

What DeSantis is doing is creating a completely biased, one-sided narrative that paints the police as the victims, and he expects the public to buy into it. Yes, there was looting. Yes, there was violence. Yes, there were attacks against the police. All these things that none of the peaceful protesters were responsible for, did indeed happen.

However, DeSantis does not address any of the violence that occurred when numerous peaceful protesters were tear-gassed or shot with rubber bullets by the police. He never mentions the times when white nationalist counter-protesters violently attacked peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters. And he never mentions the fact that 93% of protests were found to be peaceful. This is more than just an oversight on his part. This is a counterattack against BLM protesters. This is about instilling fear into those who fight back.

DeSantis’ proposal would impose felony charges for protesters participating in “violent or disorderly” assemblies, and felony charges for obstructing roadways, and destroying public property. On the other hand, a driver is NOT liable for causing the INJURY or DEATH of another human being, so long as they claim they were fleeing for their safety from a mob. This means that a protester can get a felony charge while protesting against police brutality if an officer deems they are “violent and disorderly,” meanwhile a motorist only has to claim that they “feared for their life” and they are free to run down and murder protesters.

Because of the racial inequities that exist in the application of the law for people of color, this bill becomes nothing more than justification for vigilante violence. And the claims made by people in certain situations who “fear for their life,” sound eerily similar to the words used when Stand Your Ground or Qualified Immunity have been invoked to justify killing unarmed black men, women, and children.

Many critics maintain that this proposal seeks to criminalize those who exercise their First Amendment rights, and even goes so far as to essentially legalize the murder of protesters. Florida news channel 9, WFTV, summarizes Kara Gross’ statement of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). As she says, “all of this is designed to thwart protesters, to criminalize them, to penalize them … to create new criminal offenses, and to enhance the criminal penalties that already exist.”

People across the country need to pay close attention to what is currently happening in Florida. If this proposal passes, it will set a dangerous precedent for other states to follow, especially those with a large majority of politically conservative citizens. And even though this is a constitutional and human rights issue, it has already proven to be more of a bi-partisan political issue, based on the support it is already receiving.

Protests against this proposed bill have already been held in Jacksonville, Florida, and I anticipate many more will occur if this piece of legislation passes. The history of police brutality and race relations in this country in general, and in the state of Florida in particular, indicate the likelihood of this happening.

Towards the end of Governor DeSantis’ announcement, he states that “when there is a victim in need in the state of Florida, regardless of race, color, creed, any characteristic you can think, when there is a victim at risk, these folks [the police] are going to respond, and they are going to be there, and they are going to stand up for the people, who may not be able to stand up for themselves.” This is an altruistically equitable statement at best, or an outright lie at worst. Either way people need to hold DeSantis and every law enforcement agency in Florida accountable for standing by these words, especially during protests that are fighting against racial violence at the hands of the police and other racial terrorists.