John Raoux/AP
- A white gunman fatally shot three Black people in a racially motivated attack on Saturday.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was booed at a vigil for the Jacksonville shooting victims.
- The governor has been criticized for his pro-gun and "anti-woke" policies.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was booed and heckled on Sunday evening at a vigil for three people killed in a racially motivated mass shooting in the city of Jacksonville.
Footage of the incident shows DeSantis addressing the crowd as they boo, before he stops speaking.
"We are not going to allow these institutions to be targeted by people, we…" he says as he trails off.
At that point Councilwoman Ju'Coby Pittman takes the microphone and tells the crowd: "Okay listen y'all, let me tell you, we finna put parties aside cause it ain't about parties today."
In another video of him being booed at the vigil, a crowd member can be heard shouting "do your job!" and "Jacksonville doesn't want you."
Police said the shooter left behind manifestos detailing his 'ideology of hate'
The vigil, which was attended by about 200 people according to the Associated Press, was held in honor of the Black victims shot by a white shooter at a Florida convenience store on Saturday.
The local sheriff said the gunman left behind several manifestos detailing his "ideology of hate," and that the shooting was motivated by the fact that he "hated Black people," per the New York Times.
The gunman was armed with a Glock and an AR-15, which was painted with a swastika, and were obtained legally, police said, per The Times.
DeSantis has been criticized for his policies that make it easier to carry guns and his "anti-woke" policies, which have involved curtailing diversity programs and limiting teaching Black history. His critics say his policies have increased the racial divide in the state.
Rudolph McKissick, senior pastor of the Bethel Church in Jacksonville, told AP that he believed DeSantis' policies had contributed to the division that led to the shooting.
"This divide exists because of the ongoing disenfranchisement of Black people and a governor, who is really propelling himself forward through bigoted, racially motivated, misogynistic, xenophobic actions to throw red meat to a Republican base," McKissick told AP.
Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat, said about the attack, per AP: "We must be clear, it was not just racially motivated, it was racist violence that has been perpetuated by rhetoric and policies designed to attack Black people, period."
She said: "We cannot sit idly by as our history is being erased, as our lives are being devalued, as wokeness is being attacked. Because let's be clear — that is red meat to a base of voters."
The shooting is the latest racially motivated attack against Black people, following the shooting in Buffalo, New York last year, and another at a church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.
Insider has contacted DeSantis' team for comment.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/zrAFKjT
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