OPINION:
The NAACP’s recent, broadly written warning advising its members not to travel to Florida is an over-the-top accusation from a group doing the bidding of those who would rather see the White House remain under the control of the organized left.
The state has turned strongly to the right, thanks to the leadership of GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is in second place behind former President Donald Trump in most Republican pre-primary polls.
Mr. DeSantis’ standing in the national polls makes him fair game for the group, which is increasingly becoming an advocate of the radical progressive agenda rather than civil rights. That’s why it called Florida “openly hostile” to African Americans and accused Mr. DeSantis of promoting education and social policies that are “regressive.”
These allegations did not sit well with Demographia’s Wendell Cox, a respected demographer and urban policy consultant, who decided to measure the NAACP’s assertions against the data.
What he found was that the standard of living among African American households in Florida is higher than in states like California, New York and Illinois, which are both more politically progressive and not subject to an NAACP travel advisory.
So much for being “openly hostile.”
Mr. Cox also found that African Americans in Florida are more likely to own their home than their counterparts in other states considered more liberal and hospitable to the interests of minorities. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey indicates that just under half — 49.2% — of them owned their home, higher than the 44% national average and eighth-best among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
In California, homeownership by African Americans dropped from just over half — 51% — in 2004 to 35.5% in 2021, according to the state’s housing finance agency. In Illinois, the latest figures say just 41.2% of African Americans own their home, and in New York, it’s 34.1%: — fewer than in Florida in both cases.
Mr. Cox suggests this is a more important statistic than people may realize. Homeownership is the gateway to further opportunity for low- and middle-income households. Family wealth resides in home equity. Homeownership not only reduces that but also provides a resource to draw on when moving up the economic ladder.
Employment figures also provide good news for Florida. The Economic Policy Institute found that the state’s Black unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2023 was 3.4%, the third-best in the nation behind South Dakota and Alabama. In the progressive states, which are still struggling with the aftermath of the lockdowns, jobless rates are higher, especially among minorities.
In New Jersey, the 6.8% unemployment rate among African Americans is double what it is in Florida. It was even higher in California, at 7.7%, and New York, at 8%.
Mr. Cox also found evidence that Florida is home to more Black-owned businesses than any other state. What the NAACP meant to say but did so badly was that if you’re Black and you go to Florida, don’t leave.
That’s certainly the position of groups such the Black Travel Alliance, which criticized the NAACP’s travel advisory, as Mr. Cox pointed out in a piece he co-authored in a national magazine.
A statement it issued along with Future of Black Tourism and Blacks in Travel & Tourism questioned whether what the NAACP had done would be “damaging to small Black travel and tourism businesses and underserved communities in Florida that rely heavily on tourism.”
The best test of a state’s attractiveness is whether people are moving in or moving out. Households move to improve their lives. Florida’s population gains have been astonishing. In 2000, Florida had 3 million fewer people than New York. By 2022, Florida’s population was 2.6 million more than New York’s.
The same is true domestically. People are moving to Florida — which has had, Mr. Cox found, a net domestic migration surge of 3 million since 2000 — because it’s a better place to live than the big blue states.
Rather than pay attention when groups play the race card, people should be asking what Florida does for African Americans that is better than what New York, California and Illinois do.
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