ACLU files lawsuit challenging Florida’s ‘Stop WOKE Act’

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August 18, 2022

By Janelle Griffith, NBC News

The complaint charges that the act is racially motivated censorship enacted by the Florida Legislature to stifle demands to discuss, study and address systemic inequalities.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB7, called the “Stop WOKE Act,” on April 22. (Daniel A. Varela / Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

The ACLU, the ACLU of Florida, the Legal Defense Fund and a national law firm filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act,” which restricts how race, gender and inequality are discussed in schools, colleges and workplaces.

The complaint, filed in federal court, names the Florida Board of Governors of the State University System and the commissioner of the Florida State Board of Education as defendants.

Renee Fargason, a spokeswoman for the Florida Board of Governors of the State University System, said she could not comment on pending litigation. Cassie Palelis, a Florida department of education spokesperson, said Friday: “We do not comment on matters pertaining to pending litigation.”

[…]

The complaint charges that the “Stop WOKE Act” is racially motivated censorship enacted by the Florida Legislature to stifle widespread demands to discuss, study and address systemic inequalities, following the nationwide protests that provoked discussions about race and racism in the aftermath of the 2020 killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

As part of the racial reckoning spurred by their deaths, people across disciplines, including professors and other educators at universities, sought to talk about the importance of racial justice in their work, and a number of departments issued statements that emphasized their commitment to anti-racism in their classrooms, Leah Watson, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Program, said in an interview Wednesday.

“After the ‘Stop WOKE Act’ went into effect, many of those statements were withdrawn altogether,” Watson said.

NBC News has more about this case.

Some wonder how far DeSantis will go.

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