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Ron DeSantis keeps trying to out-1984 Orwell.
On May 24, Walter Einekel wrote Ron DeSantis rings in ‘Freedom Summer’ by banning rainbows. The Governorissimo declared that that as part of his “Freedom Summer” initiative, all bridges in FL may only use red, white and blue lights from Memorial Day through Labor Day. This bans Floridians from lighting other colors to celebrate Pride or Juneteenth. (No word yet on whether Floridians can tell their kids their pets have crossed the “Rainbow Bridge.”)
Calling this attempt to limit expression “Freedom Summer” defames the actual Freedom Summer of 1964, when the Civil Rights Movement undertook a massive voter registration effort, with great cost:
It is believed that 1,062 people were arrested, 80 Freedom Summer workers were beaten, 37 churches were bombed or burned, 30 Black homes or businesses were bombed or burned, four civil rights workers were killed, and at least three Mississippi African Americans were murdered because of their involvement in this movement. Among the most notable victims were: James Chaney of Meridian, MS, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, both from New York. NY.
In defiance of the Governor’s perversion of the word “freedom,”
As night fell Friday on downtown Jacksonville, 70 people lined the pedestrian walkway of the Main Street bridge and simultaneously turned on high-powered flashlights that lit the bridge in a ribbon of rainbow colors arching above the St. Johns River.
DeSantis has also been a major perpetrator of voter suppression, forming “election police” to intimidate voters through arrests, making his “Freedom Summer” a further obscenity to these who fought and died for the right to vote during the actual 1964 summer.
Like the people who lit up the bridge, people here at Daily Kos have risen up against voter suppression (and candidate suppression), by supporting the 140 Blue Florida Project to recruit and fund candidates for every Florida Congressional and State Legislature seat in 2024.
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