Media exploits racist shooting to tarnish Ron DeSantis and stifle discussion.

A day after a racist psychopath murdered three black customers at a Jacksonville Dollar General store this week, NBC News informs us that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ “policies⁢ toward the Black community” are⁣ coming “under fresh⁣ scrutiny.”

Matt Dixon “reports:”

Florida’s Black community ‍and beyond have been vocally opposed to the DeSantis administration’s focus on wiping out higher education diversity ‍programs, the teaching of institutional racism to public school students, scrutinizing African American history​ courses and drawing a ⁣redistricting map that erased northern Florida’s only Black-performing congressional seat, which included the city of Jacksonville.

What, you may wonder, does that⁤ string of completely unrelated left-wing grievances have to ⁤do with a shooting? Is the‍ claim here that teaching kids 1619-style pseudohistory or funding “higher education diversity programs” would have changed the mind of a suicidal murderer?​ I mean, presumably, the ⁢shooter was in school when the old Florida AP history course was still being taught,‌ when DEI ideologues still had their state-funded jobs, and when Florida’s only “Black-performing congressional seat” was still a⁢ thing.

Of⁣ course, even if the 21-year-old went on a shooting spree because he believed Florida’s new ⁤honors curriculum⁢ was just a clandestine call from DeSantis to engage⁣ in racial violence, it says ⁢nothing about the text ⁢itself. You can ‌read the state’s history standards right here. There is nothing racist about them.

Of the⁣ 13-member committee of scholars who put together Florida’s course, five were African American. There are, as Charlie Cooke at‍ National Review has pointed out, 191 mentions of American slavery and racism. The‍ great evil of ‍American ‍history is given plenty of attention.

This entire “controversy” was ginned⁤ up over a single sentence that contends some ⁤slaves “developed skills which, in some instances,⁤ could be applied for their personal benefit.”⁤ AP’s African American studies curriculum released by the College Board⁢ also says ‍ slaves ⁢learned “specialized trades” during slavery and later used “these skills to provide for themselves and others” once free. Because it is ‌a statement of fact. And statements of ​fact aren’t‍ racist merely​ because they grate against your trendy ideology.

Then ‌again, all of this ​is ginned up.

Take the Associated Press — once the model⁣ of‌ straightforward journalism, now a left-wing advocacy group. “Ron DeSantis scoffed⁢ when the NAACP issued a travel advisory this spring warning Black people to use ‍‘extreme care’ if traveling to Florida,” writes Steve Peoples. “Just three ⁤months‍ later, DeSantis is leading his state through​ the aftermath of a racist attack ⁤that left ‌three African Americans dead.”

Yes, scoffing at the partisans of the NAACP, which engaged in this political stunt for just such ⁣a moment, is the right thing to do. It is preposterous to argue that Florida is an outlier of ⁢any sort when⁤ it comes to violence or‌ racism. Then again, the NAACP’s headquarters are in⁣ Baltimore,⁤ one of the nation’s most dangerous cities for African Americans. Maybe Florida should be the one issuing travel advisories.

Still,⁣ the conceit of the AP piece, as with⁢ so many others like it,⁢ is that Republicans⁢ contribute to violence by virtue of having political opinions. This is not, ⁤incidentally, a standard employed when a trans person massacres kids in a Christian school, a racist murders ⁣five ​white cops, or leftists throw bricks and Molotov cocktails at⁣ people.

Peoples ⁣claims, for‍ example, that Republicans have worked to ⁤appeal to the “GOP’s white conservative base” (you are ‍just automatons ‌defined by skin color these days) by “downplaying the existence ​of racism in America.”

This claim,​ really a lie, is based on⁢ a nonexistent requirement that every American treat the far left’s assertions about racism⁣ as objective truth. It’s tantamount to accusing anyone who disagrees with QAnon of “downplaying⁤ the existence of ⁣pedophilia in America.”

No, people disagree‍ about the scope of a problem. Yet, according to​ the ⁢AP,⁤ if one diverges from the worldview of Black Lives‌ Matter, they are​ in league with white supremacists.

Even criticism of “wokeness” — which, I ⁢think most conservatives view as a catchall for progressive cultural values⁤ — is, according to NBC, an‌ attempt to undermine “people of color” and⁣ other “marginalized communities.” If you disparage wokeness, ‍you are basically buying Klansmen AR-15s, which is very convenient.

Because it’s become so common for the⁣ left to insinuate (or blame) conservatives for inciting violence, we might forget how vile those accusations⁣ can be. But they’re not only contemptible for the obvious reasons. They are meant to shut ⁤you up. No one should let these nuts‍ hinder their ability to ​engage in political disagreements, and no‍ one should let cynical activists masquerading as journalists use those nuts to chill speech, ⁣either.

Which is, of course, the point ⁤of all this.