Well, it seems that the remnants of our racist history are coming back to haunt us, yet again. After the popularity of The Travelers’ Green Book, a travel guide published during the segregation era in the United States (1936–67) that identified cities and the businesses that would accept African American customers, it has finally been said that Florida is a dangerous place to visit because the state leader and legislature have made Florida “openly hostile toward African-Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals”, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The hostility is real and palpable. Not just in Florida, because I would like to add Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, both Carolinas, Virginias, and Dakotas, and actually everything below the Mason Dixon Line, and toss in the intense Midwest. Sadly in every pocket of our glorious 50 states there is inherent danger not only for African-Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ but all sensible thinking Americans. Where can I go in this country and feel safe as a gay, black man of a certain age and size? I do not have to talk about the threat that the LGBTQ+ community has been facing everyday since before The Stonewall Riots. Florida’s “DON'T SAY GAY” nonsense has spread like a virus to other states, including TN and their ongoing war on the drag community.
As a first generation American, born to Honduran immigrants, I am also heartbroken about the issues at the border, and outside of donations to organizations like RAICES (Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services), I still feel powerless. If you are a woman in need of an abortion, those states and a few more have made it almost impossible and illegal for many of my sisters to have a safe medical procedure and deal with their own health issues. Add those states to the list, as well.
If I were living in some of those states, I would also have to worry about whether my vote and the votes of a majority can be overturned legislatively or to quote an ex-president," they can be stolen." I am looking at you Georgia, Nevada, and especially the Dakotas. We know what you did to the Native American vote on the reservations, especially those with P.O. boxes. Considering that Mr. Dejoy is still in office with the Postal Service, the states with mail-in ballots need to be alarmed and added to that soon to be growing list.
It has been clear to me that everything about my existence or my various related communities’ existences have been physically or legislatively challenged. Even here in NYC, I had a “moment” with the police because of being Black in the wrong neighborhood. That same police incident happened during Gay Pride Weekend, a perfect opportunity to also be caught wearing something plastered in rainbows, too. As a gay, Black man of a certain age and size, I am well aware of the targets that are placed on my back, but after reading the article about Florida not being safe for African-Americans, I recognized the risks associated with just being me are no longer theoretical. They are very real.
I still have family in Texas. Unless they come to NYC, they will not be seeing me. Why? Clearly, I cannot go home to Texas, because I am a big, smart-mouthed, foul-mouthed, black man with little tolerance for stupidity and bullies. In other words, I am the perfect target for their hatred and their bullets, especially if I forget my “place”. The gun laws give license and freedom to people that think that their Second Amendment right means that they can carry, brandish, and if necessary, shoot a gun (of course, in " self defense"). That means any side comment at a family event can become an altercation that can escalate from a duel to a Massacre in minutes. One accidental bump in a club, with or without an “excuse me”, could possibly mean the end of your life. All of this reflection is simply to keep asking, where can I go to really feel safe?
However, as much as I can talk about Texas (and I can),the great Northeast is not necessarily the utopian dream, either. Have you ever been to upstate New York or small towns outside of Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, or even San Francisco? It’s as red and ass backwards like many places in the south. If the Green Book was still around today, many of those places would make the cut.
Considering how violent our country has become with mass shootings, police shootings, etc., other countries have issued travel advisories to foreign tourists about coming to the United States, and yes, it is embarrassing. However, every person, who gets the opportunity to leave THIS country and see it through the lens of other people's countries, will spend half of their trip simply embarrassed or pretending to be Canadian, or worse be THOSE Americans that embarrass us constantly abroad.
By naming Florida a danger to travel for African-Americans, the NAACP must have a crystal ball and a friend at a printing press somewhere, because I have a feeling that Florida will not be the only state included in The Green Book: 21st Century Edition. I think that I have figured out where I want to go and test my personal safety, Amsterdam.
Even with its problems and its mayor, I choose to stay in NYC. I have no problems flying over the Midwest and the South to get where I need to be, and I can get almost anywhere in The world non-stop from here. So if there is a need to get out of here, I am just that close and ready.
God Bless America?
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