It is not the ‘anti-woke’ movement that is winning in Florida, it is inhumanity

As a civil rights attorney, I must admit that, in my goal of making Florida a less corrupt, more tolerant place to live, I have failed. Gov. DeSantis turned out to be exactly the kind of governor I expected him to be based on the dog-whistling seen during his campaign. He has not even tried to hide the fact that he plans to use the power of the government to get elected to higher office by scoring "wins" for his, conservative team, and by appealing to his base's base emotions.

It is not the “anti-woke movement,” whatever that means, that is winning in Florida; it is inhumanity.  Because of the war in Ukraine, as an immigrant from that country, I am watching closely what is happening in Russia, and, unfortunately, seeing the same thing happening here in Tallahassee.

Florida currently ranks as the 46th state in U.S. News' rankings in economic opportunity. While DeSantis's rich donors are getting richer from the economic growth that Florida and the entire United States is experiencing, most DeSantis supporters’ lives are not improving. Similarly, while billions in taxpayer dollars is being stolen by Putin, many people in Russia support him because they are seeing the war in Ukraine as a territorial “win.”

Has DeSantis or other Republican legislators been in an actual classroom? Have they asked any teachers what their actual problems are? Evidently not, based on the kind of legislation regarding schools that is being passed, legislation which prioritizes obscure gender issues over real problems, such as the severe teacher and staff shortage. In fact, "the war on the woke" has only exacerbated these real issues.

Princeton's Gerrymandering Project has given Florida's 2022 State House Congressional map an "F", finding that the state has been gerrymandered to significant Republican advantage. Gerrymandering is an anti-democratic process of drawing district lines in such a way as to favor the party currently in power. Having come to power in this anti-democratic way, Republicans are now capitalizing on their political advantage by passing vague, scary, anti-democratic laws that appeal to their base. These same laws are also targeting vulnerable minorities: gays, transgender people, illegal immigrants, poor people with criminal records, and putting Floridians in legal jeopardy for doing things they have a legal right to do.

Laws are being so vaguely written that anyone can be charged just for associating with some of the people being targeted. As people, our most rewarding, most important experiences come from associating with others. It is all of our right of association that is being taken away by legislation that has made it illegal to invite someone who turns out to be undocumented to one’s house or car.

Our teachers' right to free speech is being infringed upon by laws making it illegal for them to mention homosexuality in a school.

Florida has refused to recognize transgender people's decision to transition to another gender, and made it a misdemeanor for them to, basically, be who they are, and to use the restroom corresponding to the gender they transitioned to. This puts schools, prisons, and hospitals in an awkward position of having to ensure compliance with these laws, making the very existence and presence of transgender people a problem for everyone around them.

People with felony convictions who have had their right to vote restored are having that right taken away from them by new laws subjecting them to felony criminal prosecution simply for being mistaken or misled as to their eligibility, even if they were misled by the same agencies that are then arresting them.This is making a mockery of the people of Florida's decision to re-enfranchise convicted felons.

Russia is also using vaguely written laws that target political opponents, and, simultaneously, discriminating against minorities.

Russia's government can now criminally prosecute anyone who speaks out against the war under vaguely written laws against "discrediting the Russian army." Ethnic Ukrainians, gays, people who engage in political or organizational activities are targeted by other vague laws, such as laws against "distributing gay propaganda," whatever that means. Using division, hate, and instituting anti-democratic reforms slowly is a well-known path to political power.

Unfortunately, just as expected,is the governed people's abdication of their rights in response to the government’s increasing authoritarianism. If rights are taken away slowly, people rationalize those changes, deciding that they don’t empathize with the people being targeted, that the rights taken away are not important to them, or that they are somehow the beneficiaries of these changes.

The worst thing about what is happening is not where we are, but where this is all going. With no political pushback, the descent into authoritarianism and fascism in Florida, and, maybe, the entire country, will continue.

Elena Komsky is a Tallahassee attorney practicing employment law.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: It is not the ‘anti-woke’ movement that is winning in Florida, it is inhumanity