As rapidly as Dream Defenders spread out from Florida, (and even away from civil rights to focus on cults, and fund raising), Cult Leader/Governor Rick Scott is continuing to falsify the Sunshine State’s civil rights history to minimize and distort the pervasive, persistent racism in this Sunshine State before, during and after the end of Reconstruction in 1876—in fact up until today.
Today, three citizens with Florida ties were inducted into the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame in a special ceremony in Tallahassee. Each was named by Rick Scott, based on selections he made from 10 proposed names by the state’s do-little Florida Commission on Human Relations. Rick has named every one of the 13 civil rights heroes selected for induction since the Hall was created by legislation in 2010.
Today, Rick Scott has been described by popular Miami writer Carl Hiassen as “the emptiest of empty suits—no talent for leadership, no muscle for compromise, no sense of the big picture.” Yet the State Legislature had full knowledge that he would name at least the first few identified for inclusion in the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame.
What is wrong with these images about the selection process? Consider the unlikely but frightening possibility of the ultimate decision for a national Civil Rights Hall of Fame resting with Justice Clarence Thomas. Imagine former President de Klerk being given the right to select members to a comparable Hall of Fame in South Africa, after the apartheid state was ended.
And when there is a Palestinian State. How overjoyed would the citizens be to learn that a prominent Israel historian would have the honor of selecting Civil Rights heroes, albeit from a list prepared by the native population? What could go wrong? What did go wrong in Florida?
The first group was identified in 2012. One of the individuals selected had joined with other Southern racist U.S. Senators to successfully filibuster an anti-lynching bill which had been expected to pass. The second group included four names, although the legislation specifically limited the selection to three. The throw-in was the spouse of the target–martyr Harry Moore. She was unfortunate to be in his bed when their house was firebombed in a still unsolved “mystery.”
Rick Scott did not show up for the ceremony to admit the third group, perhaps because they were the most radical chosen to date. One of the three, A. Philip Randolph, who was born and raised in Florida, apparently never looked back after he left the State to become the dominant African-American labor organizer and civil rights leader. Florida is a “right to work” state, with an unbelievable bias against unions and union leaders. And Scott selected him?
But the individual who may have prompted Scott’s absence still is alive—he is Robert B. Hayling. His NAACP leadership in St. Augustine, in the 1960s, and abrasive style were challenged as too daring by far more cautionary individuals in the community and nationally.
Ironically, the white Gainesville Sun and its weekly Guardian targeted to African-Americans who live in District One, in the black section, in the last week have loudly applauded a living history being dramatized about ruthless Ponce de Leon landing more than 400 years ago in the St. Augustine area. The group of second to fifth graders at historically black Duval Elementary School in Gainesville is reported to be excited about their field trip to St. Augustine, on May 21. It is unlikely Hayling’s role will be mentioned.
This year’s list of three Civil Rights Hall of Fame recipients includes Florida Blue Key recipient, Gov. Reubin Askew, who served in the 1970s, and two African-Americans whose names are unknown to me although I have lived in this Sunshine State for 30 years, and I have served in the civil rights movement for 50 years. The recipients are Edward Daniel Davis, Sr., who died in1989, and Sallye B. Mathis, who died in 1982.
It is time for the Dream Defenders to identify for younger generations the people who should be honored for their participation in the ongoing struggle. In brief, let the Movement create its own recognition in Florida, rather than allow children to depend on the empty suits making the selection today.
Gabe Hillel can be reached at: [email protected].
