All,
The creation of targeted surveillance "hit" lists intended to harass, instill fear and harm reputations of average citizens has never been viewed historically as being shiny examples of our best moments in a healthy democracy. Remember McCarthy and his Hollywood Blacklist, J. Edgar Hoover's Red Scare list, and Nixon's enemies list?
Now, in Florida, we have Ron DeSantis who has created his own Governor's "hit" list of more than a dozen nonpartisan incumbent school board members for the 2024 elections. Their ultimate transgression? He claims they have failed to protect students from “woke” ideologies that include objections to book bans, support of masks on children during the pandemic, and support of diversity and equity policies.
The school board members DeSantis plans to target (for now) have been publicly named and are from Brevard County (Jennifer Jenkins), Duval County (Kelly Coker and Cindy Pearson), Hillsborough County (Nadia Combs and Jessica Vaughn), Indian River County (Peggy Jones and Brian Barefoot), Miami-Dade County (Luisa Santos), Pinellas County (Laura Hine and Eileen Long), St. Lucie County (Jack Kelly), Volusia County (Anita Burnette and Carl Persis) and Sarasota County (Tom Edwards).
Here is our "ASK":
Add this new School Board enemies list as just another reason to swiftly create and execute action plans for education of the public about ALL the ways that DeSantis is attacking our education system. There is something every day and it is hard to come up for air. Letters-to-the Editor, social media posts, calls to radio programs, and coordination of community town halls are all examples of what can be done to raise citizen awareness. Call on your local legislators to join in the conversation and insist that they publicly state their position on DeSantis' most recent authoritarian tactics. If they refuse to participate or state their position, publicize that, too.
For those of you who live in the targeted counties, reach out to the named School Board members and offer your support. These members will suffer mentally and physically as a result of being named publicly to this "hit" list, and they need to know they have allies in their struggle.
Thank-you for standing up and speaking out for our School Board members, who remain our local stewards of public education!
Jean Siebenaler LEGISLATIVE CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC WOMEN'S CLUB OF FLORIDA
