Florida Governor Bullies Students Who Wanted to Wear Masks

Florida governor Ron DeSantis looked more petulant than presidential as he walked up to the podium for a press conference at the University of South Florida.  It wasn’t a big surprise when he bullied seven high school students standing on stage wearing masks. 

“You do not have to wear those masks,” the governor said in front of a large group of reporters. “I mean, please take them off.  Honestly, it’s not doing anything and we’ve gotta stop with this COVID theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous.”  He sighed heavily as he began his remarks:

Dawn Marshall’s son Eric was one of the students who removed his mask after DeSantis’ comments.  She told CBS17 in Tampa, Florida, that her son felt pressured because the governor is an authority figure, so he removed his mask.  Marshall added that she’s still angry about it.  “He pretty much said, ‘Take off your mask, it’s stupid. Take off your mask, your parents don’t matter.’ Even though I’m telling you parents matter and he’s telling my minor child to take off his mask. He’s putting us at risk. Oh yeah, I was upset. Very upset,” she said

Kevin Brown Sr., whose son was among the seven students standing on stage, says that despite the fact that the governor’s message was to "stop bullying kids,” that’s exactly what he himself did.   "His mother tells him to wear the mask," he told WFLA. "I tell him it's his choice, so he made that choice and the governor has no right to tell no kid or no one that they can or can't wear a mask. He doesn't have that right."

DeSantis is the one who said he was "taking a stand against critical race theory” in Florida schools and in the workplace by enacting the “Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act," or the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act.”  He also touted his support for the Parental Rights in Education proposal, colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

In addition to suppressing LGNTQ youth in the classroom, the goofy governor seems to be all about preventing people from speaking the truth—from banning American history under the guise of banning critical race theory (CRT), to voter suppression in Black and brown communities, to peddling misinformation about vaccines and masks as mitigation for COVID-19, to ignoring racist Nazi rallies in his state.