ABC Action News; Posted By: Jada Williams
TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — It’s what keeps Florida going; tourism. Visit Florida said 137.6 million people visited here in 2022, the most ever. In 2021, tourism brought $101.9 billion dollars into the state’s economy.
“Florida is a nice place to be. You got your beaches, you got your tourists, you see people all over the world,” said Gregory Franklin as he strolled the Tampa Riverwalk.
But the Florida State Chapter of the NAACP has its sights set on hitting the state where it hurts most.
“We are letting our voices be heard, and we are just letting people know that we’re not gonna take it. We’re not just gonna sit still. We’re gonna stand up and we’re gonna fight. And when we fight, we win,” said Hillsborough County Chapter President Yvette Lewis.
Over the weekend, the Florida State NAACP unanimously voted to ask the NAACP National Board to issue a travel advisory. The advisory would ask people to forego visiting and moving to the sunshine state.
“Saying you don’t want AP African American Studies here because they have certain topics in it, certain categories, certain words in it. You don’t want companies to have the word diversity, equity, and inclusion because it has institutional racism in their policy. You know, it takes us back. And we’ve been fighting so hard,” Lewis said. Read more
