To Ron DeSantis, what's more dangerous, 'woke ideology' or white supremacy?

To a crowd of Tennessee's GOP faithful on July 15, Florida Gov. and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis went to his greatest hits and boasted about his self-proclaimed battle against "wokeness."

“We’ve made the state of Florida the place where woke goes to die," DeSantis said in Nashville. “And now, it is our mission as Americans to ensure that in January 2025 ... we leave woke ideology in the dustbin of history where it belongs.”

But woke ideology, plain and simple, is imaginary hatred that its critics can't even define. There is no culprit, only rabbit holes that lead to nowhere.

What should be in the dustbin of history are white supremacy and white nationalism. They promote the view that nonwhites are inferior and are worthy of harm. Yet some in our country choose to hold on to these dangerous ideologies.

Let me assure you, DeSantis, Tennessee does not have a problem with "woke ideology" but with white supremacy and nationalism that have led to acts of hatred and fear.

Tennessee's history with white supremacy isn't just history. It's recent past.

Throughout 1996, 160 Black churches in America were burned down due to arson. Tennessee had victims of this hatred.

On Jan. 8, 1996, the Inner City Church in Knoxville was hit with 18 Molotov cocktails. "Die (racial slur) Die!” and “White Is Right” were painted on the backdoor of the church. More than 20 years later, no one has been charged with burning the church to the ground.

Salem Missionary Baptist Church, a church northeast of Memphis, was also victim to a mysterious fire. Then-President Bill Clinton, first lady Hillary, Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, went to the church to help repair the damages.

Let's not forget that just this March 2, hours after Gov. Bill Lee signed anti-drag and anti-trans laws, Nazis hung a sign up on Chestnut Street near Fort Negley in Nashville.

The sign read: “Thank you Bill Lee for tirelessly working to fight (anti-gay slur) and (anti-trans slur). We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

Jade Byers, a spokeswoman for Gov. Bill Lee, said the governor "strongly condemns" antisemitism, white supremacy and hate: "Acts of hate have no place anywhere and will not be tolerated in the state of Tennessee."

Blanket statements do not reach the heart of an issue. It allows white supremacy to seep through the cracks and continue.

'Try That In A Small Town' divides us: I grew up in small town Tennessee. Jason Aldean's song doesn't represent my values.

In a most recent incident, three African American churches in Columbia, Tennessee, were victims of racial intimidation.

Flyers that included hateful messaging were found at Faith United Missionary Baptist Church, Bethel Chapel AME Church and Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church on July 9. The flyer references the "Old Glory Knights of the Ku Klux Klan" and includes an email address for an unnamed individual.

"This attack on the serenity and sanctity of Black parishioners is nothing less than demonic," Tennessee NAACP said in a statement about the KKK flyers. "This brazen act is a reminder that in 1996, (Black) churches across Tennessee and the South East were burned and their parishioners left without a place of worship."

Police have arrested a 38-year-old white man and a 17-year-old boy and charged them with civil rights intimidation. Racism and white nationalism continue in our country frankly because leaders have attempted to make light of this hatred.

Our leaders have encouraged white supremacy

When asked during a radio show whether white nationalists could serve in the military, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., referred to them as Americans. After first defending what he said on CNN, he later retracted his comments, saying "white nationalists are racists."

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When a U.S. senator says a hate group is wrongfully labeled as such, that message reaches across the country. It emboldens people to send KKK flyers to Black churches in an attempt to instill fear.

But the hatred, the racism that is suffered at the hand of white supremacy is real. Black Tennesseans have the scars to prove it.

It is on us to make the past the past. The church burnings or messages of hate do not stay just a dark part of history if we do not condemn the ideology that people believed to carry out these unspeakable acts.

LeBron Hill is an opinion columnist for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee, where this column was first published, and the curator of the Black Tennessee Voices newsletter and Instagram account. Contact him at LHill@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @hill_bron or Instagram at @antioniohill12

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: DeSantis thinks our problem is 'wokeness'. It's really white supremacy