Black Florida business owner slams NAACP for issuing ‘travel advisory’

• The NAACP issued a ‘travel advisory’ to Florida on May 20, saying the state under Governor Ron DeSantis is ‘openly hostile to African Americans’.
• The warning was angered by Republicans, who pointed out that many NAACP leaders, including the chairman, live in Florida.
• A black Florida businessman accused the NAACP on Friday of wanting to ‘get on the BLM gravy train.’

A black Florida businessman mocked the NAACP’s ‘travel advisory’ for the state last week, accusing the organization of jumping on the ‘BLM gravy train’ and raising money.

The NAACP warned on May 20 that Florida was ‘openly hostile to African Americans’ under Republican governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.

The opposition was immediate, with many NAACP leaders pointing out that they live in the state, including their chairman.

On Friday, financier Mike Hill, who is part of Project 21, an initiative promoting black Americans, said the NAACP’s warning was futile, and it has become public.

“I would tell black people who see this advice to simply ignore it and not come to Florida,” said Hill, owner of an independent insurance and financial services agency in Pensacola.

Hill told Fox News: “I believe they see the tens of millions of dollars that Black Lives Matter has been able to raise from the leftist agenda, and they want a piece of that gravy train.”

‘I believe it was more of a publicity stunt. It was more of an attempt to raise money than anything else.’

Florida Republicans are leading the charge against the warning, even though the chairman of the civil rights group is there and board members are vacationing at the beaches.

Leon W. Russell, 73, grew up in Virginia and lived in Florida most of his adult life.

Today, he lives in a two-bedroom home in North Tampa.

NAACP co-chair and board member Karen B. Towns likes to vacation in Clearwater.

Despite their ties to the Sunshine State, they joined the organization warning other African Americans against traveling there.

However, Russell joined the call for African Americans to take over the state.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Christian Ziegler is now trying to help Russell move to another state.

The chairman of the NAACP lives in Tampa, Florida! True leadership is the willingness to do what others ask you to do… time to get up and move.

‘If you think our state is so bad, the Florida GOP will help cover the costs of moving.’

Hill said that Russell and the group’s position was ridiculous, Russell singled out the opprobrium.

The funny thing is that he has lived here most of his adult life, he testified that a thousand people a day go to Florida for the opportunity here and still put out a statement saying don’t come here. About the racist attitudes in Florida,’ says Hill.

And he said the NAACP’s suggestion that it would backfire shows the organization is ‘irrelevant’.

‘I don’t think anybody is going to stop them from coming to Florida,’ he said.

If anything, I think this backfires on the NAACP and shows how irrelevant it is as an organization.

The travel advisory says DeSantis is trying to ‘erasure’ black history by removing CRT from schools.

DeSantis called it a ‘political show’ on Wednesday night and said it was ridiculous.

‘To say Florida is safe is a joke,’ he told Elon Musk during his campaign launch.