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ST. A trio of lawsuits target a Florida law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts race-based conversation and analysis in business and education, the latest filed Thursday by college professors and students claiming it is blatantly unconstitutional.
Known as the “Stop WOKE” act, the law targets what DeSantis has called a “pernicious” ideology exemplified by critical race theory — the idea that racism is systemic in U.S. institutions that serve to perpetuate white dominance in society.
The law prohibits teaching or business practices that contend members of one ethnic group are inherently racist and should feel guilt for past actions committed by others. It also bars the notion that a person’s status as privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by their race or gender, or that discrimination is acceptable to achieve diversity.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court claims the law amounts to “racially motivated censorship” that will act to “stifle widespread demands to discuss, study and address systemic inequalities” underscored by the national discussion of race following the killing of the Black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May 2020.
“In place of free and open academic inquiry and debate, instructors fear discussing topics of oppression, privilege, and race and gender inequalities with which the Legislature disagrees,” the lawsuit says. “As a result, students are either denied access to knowledge altogether or instructors are forced to present incomplete or inaccurate information that is steered toward the Legislature’s own views.
