TALLAHASSEE—An unknown individual has vandalized the Florida House office building on the 3rd floor Tuesday afternoon, tearing down a picture that he took issue with.
Rep. Alex Andrade (R) told The Floridian that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) was taking pictures of the wall Wednesday morning where the picture frame once hung.
“It’s another example of the woke left calling our speech violence, while actively engaging in violence and calling it speech,” said Rep. Andrade.
We spoke to the FDLE public information office for comment about the alleged vandalize, but the officer simply said that he could not comment on an active investigation.
During public testimony at Tuesday’s House Education and Employment Committee hearing, one witness, Michael Repper, Jr, who spoke out against the education bill in question, HB 7—Individual Freedom, took issue with all of the historical pictures that depicted plantations hanging on throughout the Florida Capitol.
Oddly enough, Repper, Jr. said he was “stopped dead” in his tracks by a photo of St. Margaret’s Church in Hibernia Plantation on Fleming Island.
“As I was walking through the hallways of my state capitol today, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a photo on the wall of St. Margaret's church at Hibernia plantation on Fleming Island, which was built by my slave-owning ancestors,” said Repper, Jr. I took a picture of it which I have right here on my phone. I'm directly descended from the slave owners who built that church and hangs on the walls of my state capitol.”
“Would I be allowed to tell them that I am ashamed of all of my slave-owning ancestors,” asked Repper.
Repper then went on to say that Republican legislators should be “ashamed of themselves” and then asked, “Can we please get rid of all of the plantation imagery? That is all over my state capitol? It's disgusting. It's all throughout these hallways.”
“Wokeism has no place in the people's Capitol. This is a disgusting act of vandalism,” said Rep. Kaylee Tuck (R) about the act of vandalism
Because police could not talk about the open investigation we cannot confirm who is being investigated, if anyone.
