The Florida Governor’s Harmful War on “Woke” That Will Infuriate You

In April 2022, DeSantis signed the “Stop WOKE Act” into law. (The acronym stands for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”) The law forces educational institutions and businesses to curtail discussions of race in classrooms and workplaces throughout the state. That’s because DeSantis and the majority-Republican Florida legislature are seeing “wokeness” everywhere.  

Critics rightly point out that the now-catchall term is being used to refer to everything from diversity training for employees to college classes on African American history, to a kindergarten discussion about different kinds of families that vary from the traditional nuclear ideal. Here’s what you need to know about the Florida governor’s harmful war on woke: 

The Stop WOKE Act 

The provisions of the Stop WOKE Act, as described in official announcements, ban teaching the following: that people who are members of one racial or ethnic group, or one gender, are inherently more moral or just than members of another; that anyone is essentially “racist, sexist, or oppressive” by reason of their racial or ethnic background or gender; that people are by virtue of their race or gender more or less “privileged,” and more.  

The law even banned 28 math books, asserting that “Critical Race Theory” (or CRT) had invaded some of the word problems. Journalists who examined thousands of pages from the state’s math books didn’t find any instances of the theory, taught only at the postsecondary level, that examines the sweeping effects of structural inequalities in society.  

The Reform That Wasn't 

In the summer of 2022, DeSantis signed a related bill, HB 1467, into law. This law purports to provide greater transparency into educational decisions such as how books are selected for school libraries, and to give parents more power over their kids’ educations. The reality is that it has led to bans of hundreds of critically acclaimed books from local classrooms, in some cases based on a single person’s complaints. Educators found to be violating HB 1467 could be charged with a third-degree felony for allegedly allowing minors to access “sexually explicit” materials. 

“Don’t Say Gay” 

And in March 2022, the governor signed another such regressive bill into law, the Parental Rights in Education Act. This one is popularly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. It prohibits discussion about gender identity and sexual identity in grades K-3. For older students, these themes can only be addressed in ways consistent with Florida Department of Education guidelines. 

Justified Criticism 

DeSantis’s opponents have called out the draconian provisions and applications of these laws. In January 2023, Democratic State Senator Bobby Powell condemned DeSantis’s announcement that Florida public high school students would no longer be able to take Advanced Placement courses on Black history. Powell called this ban “not only discriminatory” and a case of “white-washing” history, but also against pre-existing law.  

He noted a three-decade-old Florida law that actually requires public schools to teach African American history, including both the injustices of slavery and the many contributions Black Americans have made to the country. In November, a United States district judge blocked implementation of parts of the Stop WOKE Act as applied to colleges and universities, calling it a “dystopian” ban on free speech.  

Dismantling Liberal Education 

DeSantis, determined to make end runs around anything standing in his way, seems to think he’s found a solution to the district court’s decision. He’s installed seven new right-wing trustees at New School of Florida, the public university system’s flagship liberal arts school in the state. This board is making sweeping changes, including abolishing the office dedicated to DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion.  

The new board members have painted New School as academically lackluster and argued that it caters to students who are seeking wishy-washy social justice activism rather than skills that will prepare them to earn good incomes. DeSantis himself once referred to “zombie studies” at such schools and decried students’ graduating from them deeply in debt and unable to earn a living.  

MSNBC journalist Alex Wagner traveled to New School to talk to some of the students there. Far from studying zombie movies, New School students are learning finance, computer science, and economics, along with engaging in a robust program in the humanities. The curriculum centers around students working with professors to create innovative individual projects. In the past 15 years, New School students have been awarded 74 prestigious Fulbright Fellowships. As Wagner’s inquiries uncovered, New School students go on to pursue doctoral studies in a wide variety of fields at a rate much higher than other liberal arts graduates. 

Unintended Consequences of These Laws 

The chaos and confusion around all these draconian laws is dizzying. The Florida Department of Education hasn’t helped matters, telling educators to “err on the side of caution” in determining whether materials are unsuitable. One standard the department mentioned was whether a teacher would be uncomfortable reading passages aloud.  

The bestselling writer Jodi Picoult was one of the many contemporary authors whose works have been banned by a local school system’s interpretation of the state education department’s directives. Despite the governor’s saying that allegations of book-banning were all a “hoax,” one parent filed a complaint and 20 Picoult titles were removed from classrooms in Martin County. Picoult’s book The Storyteller, about the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, was banned for the first time anywhere, ever.  

Picoult is in good company: books by Toni Morrison and James Patterson were banned in Martin County. Those pictures of empty classroom bookshelves in Florida that’ve gone viral? They’re real. As if that wasn’t enough, for their latest piece of anti-woke legislation, DeSantis and his supporters have come up with a law that would ban “woke” banking. 

According to DeSantis, this proposal would safeguard business interests, protect consumers’ investments, and allow equal access to banking services. It would prohibit fund managers overseeing state and local investments from considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) questions when making lending and other decisions. It would also enjoin financial institutions from “discriminating” based on political, social, or religious beliefs.  

The harm of all these new “anti-woke” laws is in their vagueness, and in the threat of truly scary consequences for well-meaning people who run afoul of them. The laws are set up to empower single-minded activists and to stop serious discussion of sensitive issues that could threaten existing power structures. Floridians need to “wake up" to these threats to their academic and personal freedoms.