October 23, 2020
DELIVERED VIA EMAIL
Governor Ron DeSantis
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32309
GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com
Re: Ocoee 1920 Election Day Massacre Proclamation
Dear Governor DeSantis:
We write to ask you to honor the lives lost in the 1920 Ocoee Election Day Massacre by adopting the attached Proclamation. We were pleased to see broad bipartisan support for HB 1213, Education Instruction of Historical Events, as demonstrated by the bill’s unanimous passage this past session, and we are grateful for your signing this bill into law. As you know, HB 1213, among other things, requires that the Ocoee Election Day Massacre be taught in our public schools to ensure that Floridians understand the violence inflicted upon Black Floridians who tried to exercise their right to vote in 1920. A Proclamation honoring the lives lost in the 1920 Election Day Massacre will acknowledge Florida’s past role in one of the worst election day racial violence incidents in the country and will demonstrate the state’s present commitment to ensuring that this will never happen again.
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