Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon (D) slammed the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis (R), in emotional remarks after a white man shot and killed three Black people in what officials described as a “racially motivated” attack in Jacksonville on Saturday.
“Look, at the end of the day, the governor has blood on his hands,” Nixon, who represents a district that includes the site of the deadly Dollar General store shooting, told MSNBC on Sunday.
“He has had an attack, an all-out attack on the Black community with his anti-woke policies, which we know very well was nothing more than a dog whistle to get folks up and riled up in the way in which it just happened yesterday. As I listened to him for the first time with that statement, my blood is literally boiling,” Nixon said.
The lawmaker criticized DeSantis, who has condemned the attack, after he said “targeting people due to their race has no place in the state of Florida” at a press conference on Sunday.
DeSantis has come under fire for backing efforts to loosen gun restrictions, gone after what he describes as “woke” policies, and supported controversial standards for teaching Black history in his state.
Nixon noted that she and other Black lawmakers have “repeatedly” warned the GOP presidential candidate about his rhetoric.
“This is absurd, it’s ridiculous. He is one of the causes to this. This is an agenda that he has been pushing since he has gotten into office,” said Nixon, who referred to the governor’s “monkey this up” remark when he ran against 2018 Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum, who is Black.
“We have Republican leadership across this state who are doing everything to continually attack Black lives. They are doing everything to erase Black history. They are feeding our children propaganda. All that does is lead to the devaluation of Black lives,” she added.
Nixon, who appeared alongside the governor as he was booed at a Jacksonville vigil on Sunday, wrote in a post on X (formerly called Twitter) that DeSantis “needs to apologize for his part” in the attack.
“Gov. DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida are doing nothing but hurting us. And I am angry. I will not continue to sit idly by,” Nixon said in an emotional message.
You can watch more of Nixon’s remarks on MSNBC in the clip below.
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