5 December 1-7, 2022 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ FLORIDA “POSITIVELY DYSTOPIAN” FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS FLORIDA’S STOP WOKE ACT. BY ALEX DELUCA A federal judge issued a prelimi- nary injunction against Flori- da’s so-called Stop WOKE Act on November 17, slamming the brakes on the state’s enforce- ment of the controversial law that restricts teaching about systemic racism in public schools. In a 139-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee blasted the Stop WOKE Act, now known as the Individual Freedom Act, which had been championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The judge ruled that the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by barring Florida’s educators from expressing certain viewpoints in uni- versity classrooms while permitting “unfet- tered expression of the opposite viewpoints” favored by the State of Florida. “This is positively dystopian,” Walker wrote. “It should go without saying that if lib- erty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” Promoted as the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act, the bill signed into law earlier this year restricted ed- ucators and corporations from broaching sensitive topics about race. Among other concepts restricted in public schools, the law banned teaching the idea that people are “privileged or oppressed” solely because of their race, national origin, or sex. The act also restricted teaching that a person’s race, national origin, or sex can pre- dispose the person to biases, “whether con- sciously or unconsciously.” DeSantis claimed that the law was de- signed to prevent radical leftist theories from spreading in public schools. He said it would prevent children from being shamed about their race and historical wrongs over which they have no control. Critics have decried it as vague, hard to en- force, and destructive to bedrock educational principles. One of the country’s foremost ex- perts on McCarthyism told New Times early this month that the act and similar laws re- cently passed around the country are on par with the redbaiting and scare tactics em- ployed in the “Second Red Scare” of the 1950s. The ruling was handed down today in a lawsuit (Pernell v. Florida Board of Governors) filed in August by a group of educators and stu- dents from Florida colleges and universities. The state’s lawyers had argued that public school teachers do not have First Amend- ment rights when they’re on the clock and in the classroom because they are acting as mouthpieces of the state. Walker disagreed. He distinguished be- tween this case and instances in which fed- eral courts have ruled that states have the power to control school curricula and limit teachers’ speech. “Defendants... ask this Court to read these cases to conflate the State’s right to make content-based choices in setting the public school curriculum with unfettered discretion in limiting a professor’s ability to express certain viewpoints about the content of the curriculum once it has been set,” Walker wrote. The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Florida, and the Legal Defense Fund (LDF). “We are gratified at the court’s decision to halt this discriminatory law from causing further harm to Florida higher education students and educators and to the state at large,” said Morenike Fajana, assistant coun- sel with LDF. “Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ youth experience systemic discrimination in their daily lives, and they should not be banned from open conversations with pro- fessors who have dedicated their lives to ex- amining these issues and often have similar experiences.” Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, says the state intends to appeal the ruling. “We strongly disagree with Judge Walk- er’s preliminary injunction orders on the en- forcement of the Stop W.O.K.E. Act and will continue to fight to prevent Florida’s students and employees from being subjected to dis- criminatory classroom instruction or man- dated discriminatory workplace training,” Griffin said in a statement. Florida is just one of more than a dozen states across the nation that have recently passed laws aimed at censoring race and gen- der discussions in the classroom. The laws were, in large part, a reaction to reports of critical race theory being taught in public school settings. Back in August, in a separate case, Walker issued a preliminary injunction blocking a portion of the Stop WOKE Act that dealt with race-related workplace training. He enjoined a provision of the law that prohibited employers from requiring employees to participate in diversity train- ing courses that espoused certain concepts about systemic racism. | RIPTIDE | Photo by Gage Skidmore ▼ BROWARD RED TIDE FAILED FAR-RIGHT CANDIDATE SEEKS BROWARD GOP OVERHAUL. BY ALEX DELUCA A former Florida statehouse candidate who believes the election was stolen from Donald Trump is vying to unseat the leader of the established Broward County Republican Party. In the historically Democratic Broward County — which remained blue during the recent midterm election despite a massive increase in Republican turnout in the region — a group of candidates under the slogan “Broward First” re- cently spawned as a faction seeking to oust the old guard of the Broward Republican Executive Committee (BREC). “Let’s face it, we have all noticed the prob- lems with our current leadership,” reads a site for the candidates created by their hopeful chair- man, Jenna Hague. Hague is seeking to unseat retired narcotics agent Tom Powers, who was elected chairman of the Broward County GOP last December. Both Hague and Weston business owner Va- lenty (Lenny) Heda, who is running for the Re- publican committee vice chair position, refused to accept the 2020 election results, even after Trump failed in election-related legal challenges before numerous federal judges, including those appointed by Trump himself. The Broward GOP election is scheduled for December 5. Hague, an anti-mask mandate activist, re- cently lost her bid against Democrat Dan Daley for Florida House of Representatives District 96. Photos shared on Twitter by the local activist group Miami Against Fascism purport to show her at the U.S. Capitol when riots broke out on January 6, 2021. The images appear to show her outside the U.S. Capitol building holding up a shirt with the words “WE WON!” alongside for- mer President Donald Trump’s face. (Hague has not been charged in connection with the riot, nor has she addressed the allegations publicly.) Hague declined to comment about her al- leged Jan. 6 capitol riot attendance. However, in response to online criticism re- garding the candidates’ use of logos and slogans that some say resemble Nazi symbols, Hague wrote that the “America First” slogan is not rac- ist, nor meant to connote any Nazi ties. She noted that it was previously used by Trump to emphasize the United States’ with- drawal from international treaties and organiza- tions that did not benefit the nation. “Any alleged re- semblance of the lo- gos we have used to some Nazi emblems from many decades ago is merely in the imagination of those seeking to smear our team of candidates,” Hague wrote. “Of course we made no intention to mimic any racist symbols of the past. The eagle, by the way, is one of the most common animals used in design throughout history... especially in the United States.” She added: “This same ridiculous attack was made against the Trump campaign in 2020 when it used the “America First” slogan with some eagle imagery, and we echo the campaign’s response: that this inquiry is moronic and a tool of the left used to smear conservatives.” Heda, the vice chair candidate, describes himself as a “lifelong Republican” and technol- ogy industry veteran. According to his bio, he has experience campaigning for local candidates such as Broward School Board member Brenda Fam and City of Weston Mayor Peggy Brown. He was interviewed by the Christian Science Moni- tor at a local GOP meeting in Weston back in January, during which he discussed his support of Trump’s 2024 presidential run. “Yeah, I think he should [run],” Heda, who runs a tech support business, said in an inter- view. “I’m no sycophant... His stance on pushing the vaccine stuff – I disagree.” The GOP candidates hosted a meet and greet Monday at the Quarterdeck Bar and Grill in Fort Lauderdale. Flyers for the event, which were shared in the Floridians FIRST group chat on Telegram, prom- ised drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and discussion on “how, together, we can make BREC functional again!” [email protected] GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS HAGUE WROTE THAT THE “AMERICA FIRST” SLOGAN IS NOT RACIST, NOR MEANT TO CONNOTE ANY NAZI TIES. Gov. Ron DeSantis
