Black voters remember
By the Honorable Sean Shaw, Senator Shevrin Jones, the Honorable Arthenia Joyner, and Senator Bobby Powell
When Black Floridians need a helping hand, or a seat at the table, or an equal opportunity to build successful careers, Charlie Crist has been there.
As governor in 2009, Crist appointed a second Black justice to the Florida Supreme Court, James Perry. At the time, that appointment helped ensure the court continued to steer a moderate course. During his time as governor, Crist appointed 15 Black judges to the bench.
Crist worked hard to give Black Floridians opportunities to serve throughout state government. More than 21 percent of the new hires to Crist’s gubernatorial staff between 2007 and 2011 were minorities.
As governor and as education commissioner before that, Crist supported additional education opportunities for tens of thousands of low-income students, mostly Black or Hispanic, to attend better schools.
Crist also made a lasting impact as governor by restoring the right to vote, hold office and serve on a jury to more than 150,000 Floridians who had completed their sentences. Now as a candidate for governor, Charlie will honor the intent of the voters who overwhelmingly approved Amendment 4 by automatically restoring civil rights for returning citizens.
Ignoring opposition from other Republicans, as Governor Charlie issued an executive order in 2008 to extend voting hours when he saw long lines at Black precincts in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
As a U.S. House member, Charlie delivered. He helped advance the John Lewis Freedom to Vote Act and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and Charlie fought Trump’s repeal of the Affordable Care Act. He showed up for our community when he fought for access to capital for Black entrepreneurs, Black-owned businesses, and Black homebuyers by defending fair lending and providing record funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund. Charlie was a founding member of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, wrote the bill to expand care for sickle cell patients, and fought the big banks who weren’t giving PPP loans to smaller, Black-owned businesses.
For the last decade, Charlie also has been a steadfast supporter for fellow Democrats as they campaign for public office. In 2012, he vocally backed President Barack Obama’s re-election, and in 2018, Charlie supported State Representative Sean Shaw, the state’s first Black nominee for attorney general.
Unfortunately, Charlie’s competitor for the Democratic nomination for Governor, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, donated thousands of dollars to help elect right-wing Republican Ashley Moody as attorney general.
Nikki’s support helped Moody win and start taking away the freedoms and the progress we thought we had secured. Today, Moody is in court trying to rip women’s reproductive freedom out of the Florida Constitution. For Nikki to attack Charlie on choice when the attorney general she supported is working so hard to erode our freedoms is rank hypocrisy.
In 2016, Nikki actively campaigned for then-State Sen. Manny Diaz, who is now Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hand-picked education commissioner and leading the governor’s efforts to censor history, ban books, attack kids, and politicize our classrooms. Can you think of a single Democrat who would go into a Republican campaign office to make calls to beat Democrats? Maybe this is why Charlie has the support of almost every Democratic legislator who follows Commissioner Fried’s work most closely.
If Nikki Fried wants to campaign for Republicans and pal around with U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, that’s her right. But she shouldn’t base her attack campaign on ancient history and deceptively edited clips when her Republicans are still hurting us today. The last thing Black voters need is Fried lecturing us about what should offend us. We know our history, and we’ve got the receipts.
Black Democratic leaders throughout the State of Florida who have taken a side in the governor’s race are nearly unanimous in saying Charlie Crist has earned our support to be the next governor. That’s not a coincidence. We know our communities. We know our state. And we know that Charlie Crist has what it takes to win and deliver a Florida for all.
