Earlier today, elected and community leaders from Florida and North Carolina held a virtual press conference ahead of Governor Ron DeSantis’ speech this evening at the GOP State Convention in Greensboro.
For those who missed the press conference, it can be viewed online here.
Speakers outlined the dangerous and extreme agenda on education and attacks on personal freedoms that Governor Ron DeSantis has made the centerpieces of his blueprint for the nation, including attacking LGBTQ+ students, banning books and the teaching of honest history, and diverting billions of taxpayer dollars from public schools to private, corporate schools.
“We collectively know that the discriminatory policies of the GOP leadership do not represent the people of our states and they are a threat to the future of our nation. Both [Ron] DeSantis and [Mark] Robinson share radical positions on banning books, censoring honest discussion about history and race, and targeting vulnerable LGBTQ students that will undermine our educational system and simply just bring us backwards.” – Progress North Carolina Executive Director Jessice Jollett
“We stand alongside community members of every economic experience, of every race, gender, and sexual orientation, in ensuring that you have the opportunity to reach your fullest potential and that doesn’t happen in a state run by Governor Ron DeSantis… He is continuously perpetuating culture wars that divide us, targeting already marginalized people, bullying LGBTQ+ youth, and, meanwhile, while he leads in this way, so many of our everyday institutions are neglected and dismantled… These are not individuals that you want in higher office and this extremism is being rejected by the American people.” – Florida State Representative Anna V. Eskamani
“Republican leaders like Mark Robinson and Ron DeSantis are taking us farther and farther away from what most people in North Carolina, Florida, and all over the United States are willing to tolerate… You have folks like Mark Robinson and Ron DeSantis who are using schools to divide us, using schools as a political weapon in a way that fundamentally breaks the compact that public education is where we come together, that public education is where we learn to be Americans, where we learn how to live up to the ideals of this country, and where we prepare children for our world, both to be ready to make a living and take care of their families and to contribute to a healthy and functioning democracy.” – North Carolina State Senator Graig Meyer
“Over the last few years we’ve witnessed countless attacks on our public education system in Florida with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis leading the charge… Instead of working to ensure that Florida, the third largest state in the country, has fully resourced public schools, quality educators, and well-funded mental health programs, we instead have a governor who is so hell-bent on ending public education as we know it… Look, Governor DeSantis has banned books, the teaching of true history, and so much more… DeSantis is trying to control how the populace thinks and lives their lives and now he is gallivanting across the country when instead he should be worried about the fact that working families can no longer afford Florida.” – Florida State Representative Angie Nixon
“Just like we don’t need politicians in our doctors’ offices, we certainly don’t need politicians like Mark Robinson and Ron DeSantis in our kids’ classrooms… From a discriminatory perspective, I can say that cruel and unusual policies proposed by Republicans like DeSantis and Mark Robinson are really causing more and more students and teachers to be centered as the victims of discrimination, of hate crimes, of school mass shootings, and harmful daily practices… We should be focused on fully funding our public schools so they have the staff and the resources they need to give all students the freedom they need to be healthy, to be prosperous, and to be safe.” – CEO of New North Carolina Action First Aimy Steele