UPDATE: Representatives for the Tallahassee Community College told WFSU that Black Male Achievers will not have to change its name.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-woke agenda warpath continues, and a student organization for Black males fears it may be caught in the crossfire.
The Black Male Achievers could be indirectly targeted as a result of a new Florida law prohibiting state or federal funding of student-led organizations that advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion. Through this bill, the only financing these organizations can receive now is through student-activity fees instead of the state.
According to its webpage, The Tallahassee Community College student group’s primary mission is to empower and educate men within minority groups to improve retention rates and aid in completing their future goals post-college.
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Meeting weekly, this group provides academic advising, mentoring and academic and professional skill development through workshops and guest speakers.
For the organization to retain its funding, The Black Male Achievers is considering changing its name, with some name options including “The Scholar Male Achievers” or “The Male Achievers.”
“We’re going to have to change the name of our organization, or they’re going to defund it because it has ‘Black’ in front of it,” Organization member Tyler Soto said in an interview with WFSU-TV.
DeSantis claims that his bill is meant to eliminate division in classrooms, believing that “woke” ideology harms the view of America by youths.
DeSantis has been fanning the flames of this issue since at least April 2022, when he successfully passed the Stop WOKE Act, which regulated the contents of what teachers could teach in schools.
“We won’t allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other,” said DeSantis during a press conference announcing the bill in December 2021. “We also have a responsibility to ensure that parents have the means to vindicate their rights when enforcing state standards. Finally, we must protect Florida workers against the hostile work environment that is created when large corporations force their employees to endure Critical Race Theory-inspired ‘training’ and indoctrination.”
DeSantis, who is eyeing a spot in the presidential race in 2024, has been lagging in polls for the Republican nominee position.
The former favored competitor of Trump is now facing a wide margin of favorability, according to data from the Morning Consult, with Donald Trump winning by 57 percent of the Republican vote over DeSantis’s 16 percent. DeSantis’s strategy seems to be playing to conservatives’ hatred of the current national trend of inclusivity and their fear of Critical Race Theory.
