Rick Scott is Uncle Scrooge, Not Martin Luther King

This past weekend, as we celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Floridians were given a glimpse of what could only be considered the Governor Mansion’s twisted sense of humor.

Lt. Gov. Carroll’s statement was laughable at best when she said “I can’t think of anybody currently in my life right now that more epitomizes the values and the vision of Dr. King than Gov. Rick Scott.” We see no reason to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., in this sense, if the only person the Lt. Gov. can find that epitomizes Dr. King’s legacy is a Governor who supports criminalizing immigrants, restricting the access of minorities to the voting booth, erecting additional barriers to increase the number of disenfranchised in Florida, and attacking education, unions, and healthcare.  Maybe the Lt. Gov. needs to extract herself from the enamoring presence of the Governor, and venture out into her own neighborhoods in Duval County, to see firsthand the negative impact Governor Scott’s policies have had on the civil rights and economic conditions of Floridians. She would see how the Governor’s policies have created not an “American Dream” but an “American Nightmare.”

In his MLK message, Gov. Scott said that Dr. King “inspires individuals to make sure every level of government removes every barrier preventing that dream from becoming a reality,” and “when hurdles are removed, people are empowered to achieve everything their hard work, integrity and courage will allow.”  What then was the Governor’s inspiration to extend the waiting period to 5 and 7 years for working people wanting to have their civil rights restored?  What was his inspiration in attempting to degrade our poor by subjecting them to urinalysis?  What was his inspiration to sign HB 1355 into law and restrict minorities, senior citizen, and student access to the polls?  What was his inspiration to push for the privatization of prisons in spite of the threat of union workers losing their jobs?  These are fine words but his record reflects a disturbing trend of erecting more barriers rather than preventing them. If Gov. Scott really wants to speed up the day when the American Dream is possible for every Floridian, then he must take a look in the mirror and realize that it must start with himself, first.

We call on Gov. Scott and the legislature to accept Dr. King’s challenge to make the American dream possible by removing the lifetime civil rights ban on returning citizens whose stigmatization creates barriers from becoming fully productive tax-paying members of society. We call upon Gov. Scott to remove the barrier that impacts 1 million Floridians who have been stripped of their right to vote by the very same Jim Crow that MLK, sacrificed his life, to eliminate. We call on Gov. Scott to adopt an automatic rights restoration policy that will reduce crime, relieve financial burdens on cities throughout Florida, and allow for more spending on education and public safety. We call for policies that would demand that the wealthy 1% in our state pay their fair share so that very Floridian will enabled to experience the dream that MLK envisioned.

The “jangling discord” of our nation cannot be transformed into a “symphony of brotherhood” until the discord being spewed against the disfranchised, immigrants, and workers in our state is promptly halted. If Florida politicians are not willing to halt injustice on their own, then we must turn to the advice of Martin Luther King himself, when he said: “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” The fulfillment of MLK’s legacy depends upon the the 99% becoming more organized and more active. In 2012, One Miami will be organizing to make collective demands in the spirit of Martin Luther King. We encourage you to stay tuned and participate in upcoming actions!