Joy Reid, a host on MSNBC, claimed on Saturday that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) was endorsing racist stereotypes when he warned would-be robbers of businesses after Hurricane Ian devastated the Sunshine State.
However, when many realized Reid’s criticism contained an implied allegation that was racist, the accusation utterly backfired.
Reid said what?
DeSantis described a statement he observed written on boarded buildings in a community that had been completely decimated by the storm during a press conference on Friday.
“They boarded up every store, and some of them had plywood with the words “you loot, we shoot” written on them,” according to DeSantis. “At the end of the day, we won’t enable lawlessness to profit from this circumstance. Do not assume that you will go take advantage of those who have experienced hardship because we are a law-and-order state and this is a law-and-order neighborhood.”
He warned against looting later in the day and used the Second Amendment in doing so.
In Florida, DeSantis remarked, “I can assure you that you don’t know what might be hiding behind someone’s home.” Given that we are a state that upholds the Second Amendment, “I would not want to risk that if I were you.”
On Saturday, Reid asserted that DeSantis had reverted to his real “form” and contrasted his comments to those earlier made by pro-segregationists.
“Segregationist Miami sheriff Walter E. Headley once said, When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Reid cited this quote. “It didn’t take DeSantis long to get back to his old self.”
How did they respond?
The implication in Reid’s remarks that she made a connection between looters and black people was swiftly exposed by directly linking DeSantis’ cautions against looting to racism.
- “D*mn, you just expected that there would be looting by black people. Sadly, you think so poorly of black people” Barrington Martin II, a black critic, stated.
- “You made the claim that black people are looters, not DeSantis. You are the racist, not DeSantis” Samuel Sey, a black author, stated.
- “Do you mean to claim that only black people steal? It sounds rather racial,” Someone else made a point of it.
- “What about racism? You are the one who believes that the looters would be black,” Added someone else.
In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Reid has been vociferous in her criticism of DeSantis. She even gave the impression that she was looking forward to DeSantis asking President Joe Biden for help.
