The country is on fire and Florida is the epicenter, origination point and the accelerant. I don’t know which is worse. The former president and Florida resident being indicted on 34 felony charges, escalated attacks in the Jacksonville mayoral race, or the slate of bills proposed, passed, or signed into law so far this legislative session that reads like a greatest hits of how to strip people of their semblance of safety, bodily autonomy and dignity while masquerading as the first frontier of choice and upholding the myth of American exceptionalism. 

At the state level, the school voucher bill will allow any parent of any child regardless of income level to receive a government subsidy to attend private school, further leeching resources away from public schools and into the coffers of private institutions. The law’s unknown price tag is concerning as it could jeopardize funding for public education, which could be the entire point of the policy as Florida’s public schools have become a flashpoint for controversy due to the book bans and proposals to expand the Parental Rights in Education law through 12th grade; like students haven’t learned all the letters of the rainbow by then and perhaps even explored them for themselves.

Shout out to the Republican lady lawmakers who crossed party lines and voted against a six-week abortion ban. It didn’t make much of a difference, but we appreciate you in this particular fight. It baffles me how in a country marketed as the best in the world we are the worst when it comes to maternal mortality among first-world nations. Black women are now four to five times more likely to die in childbirth compared to white women, a statistic that gets worse when you increase age, education, and socioeconomic status; and the rate of maternal death among white women has increased post-COVID as well. And it’s into this environment that you want to ban abortion? So not only are we sentencing people to forced labor as if they were enslaved, but also quite possibly to death.

Speaking of which. Permitless carry? 

Really. In the United Counties of Stand Your Ground. 

You’ve got to be kidding me. 

Folks can now walk around carrying a gun without a permit just five years after the massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, and the only response to this from local lawmaker Travis Hutson is we don’t have to worry about the law-abiding citizens who purchase guns legally, only those bad actors who shouldn’t have them and didn’t procure them legally.

Umm… Sir… Audrey Hale, who killed six people including three children at a Nashville elementary school legally purchased seven guns, planned her attack for months, trained for it, and fired 152 rounds. But the only concern with permitless carry are the “bad actors.” 

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Spare me, before I cuss. 

Then there’s a bill to prohibit public money from being invested in support of companies whose leadership think it’s a good idea to create a diverse and equitable workplace or worry about the environment, as if Sanibel Island wasn’t destroyed during hurricane season last year.

The crusade against “woke” ideology that began with the former twice-impeached and now indicted president’s crusade against the first Black president has now found its way into the Jacksonville mayoral race, turning Deegan vs. Davis into Deegan vs. Davis & DeSantis. And what’s the attack? Deegan’s support for Black Lives Matter. To which Daniel Davis said, “She can’t talk outside of both sides of her mouth. You either support Sheriff T.K. Waters and our police officers, or not.” As if supporting the right for Black people to breathe, to make it home after a traffic stop, and not be beaten or trampled on is “anti-police.” Supporting the movement for Black lives is actually the very least you can do. 

And before you talk to me about the negative narrative associated with “defund the police,” first explain to me why the JSO budget is over a half a billion dollars? We can’t get a tenant bill of rights, we can’t get a police review board or advisory council, we can’t get JSO to allow the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate their police shootings, we can’t get more mental health services for the ill and/or unhoused, we can’t even get the Confederate monuments removed, but we can have more police officers, and equipment, and studies of crime, but not actual safety. 

This is the basket a little less than half of the country has placed their eggs in hopes of making the greatest omelets ever, when what is being legislated is more akin to a game of Roulette where you’re gambling with your life at every pull of the trigger and roll of the barrel. Sounds cracked and scrambled to me, and the fire that is Florida is on high and burning hot. 

Consider this my ringing the alarm!