Measure seen as obvious attack on Black and brown populations – Saying it is designed to quash voices of Black and brown people, Florida Democratic lawmakers on Monday blasted a “Combating Public Disorder” proposal pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders, supposedly aimed at cracking down on violent protests.
“We know, from lifetimes of experiences, who this will harm … communities of color, Black and brown Floridians. This is calculated political opportunism,” House Minority Co-Leader Bobby DuBose, D-Fort Lauderdale, said during a video conference with reporters.
DeSantis first floated a version of the legislation in September, after months of nationwide protests about police violence against Black people and racial inequities.
DeSantis and the GOP leaders said the legislation would protect Florida from similar mob revolts.
“It doesn’t matter what banner you are flying under. The violence is wrong. The rioting and the disorder is wrong. We are not going to tolerate it in Florida,” DeSantis said last Thursday, adding that he hopes the proposal will get “even more support” following Wednesday’s insurrection, which resulted in the deaths of at least six people.
“You can have strong views. You can be disappointed in an election. You can be disappointed in whatever. But you can’t just go in and ransack public places like that. So, we are going to make sure the people who do that in Florida, if they do that, are going to face very quick penalties,” he said.
But Democratic lawmakers said linking the crackdown on protests with the assault on the Capitol was a ruse.
“This bill has been rebranded. The governor’s office is now saying it is in response to that. Now, this is just a blatant attempt to obfuscate their own responsibility for that violence that occurred,” Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer, D-Lighthouse Point, said.
The revamped version of the proposal would do away with bail or bond for people involved in violent protests. It would create a new criminal offense of “mob intimidation” when three or more people act “with a common intent, to compel or induce, or attempt to compel or induce, another person by force, or threat of force, to do any act or to assume or abandon a particular viewpoint.”
And the measure would make a crime of “doxing,” the posting of private information about people on social media sites, when such data is published with the intent to “threaten, intimidate, harass, incite violence … or place a person in reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm.”
Melba Pearson, new director of policy and programs at Florida International University’s Center for the Administration of Justice, and a recent candidate for Miami-Dade State Attorney, said the only positive aspects of this measure are the protections against cyber intimidation.
“This should be a stand-alone bill,” she said. “The rest should go in the trash because that is what it is, trash.”
Pearson noted that the following language in Florida statutes provides ample opportunity to prosecute the kinds of offenses the governor is concerned with: “(1) All persons guilty of an affray shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. (2) All persons guilty of a riot, or of inciting or encouraging a riot, shall be guilty of a felony of the third degree.”
“This bill is overkill, designed to squash free speech and peaceful assemblies, primarily by people of color. Should it become law, it threatens to tread on those same liberties for every other group that the governor and the government disagrees with, down the line,” Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, said.
The Florida proposal “would be absolutely deadly to our communities,” DuBose said. “As a father, trying to raise four young Black men and boys in this state, this terrifies me.”
Be the first to comment