State Sen. Lauren Book (D-FL) recently shared a press release regarding her response to the passage and signage of HB 7, commonly known as the “Stop Woke Bill.” The Senate Minority Leader says that the governor has caused the “Erasure of black voices in Florida.”
“Despite the efforts and actions of Florida’s Governor and GOP legislators, Black voices, choices, and history cannot be silenced or erased from our state,” Book stated. “Democrats across the state will continue to fight against Republican efforts to limit our rights and freedoms.”
According to The National Law Review, its purpose is to deem any diversity, equity, or inclusion training unlawful if it includes concepts like “Members of one race, color, sex, or national origin are morally superior to members of another race, color, sex, or national origin.”
It's also designed to stop training that pins responsibility on individuals of a certain race for that race’s past transgressions. The bill is designed to stop the following:
“An individual…bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the individual played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.”
It’s supposed to stop training that promotes “white guilt.”
It’s safe to say that most people believe that white people of today are not responsible for the horrific event known as slavery which occurred more than 100 years ago. But what Book is arguing is that this bill can go overboard. To stop discrimination completely shutting down the topic of race, black history, as she put it, could get lost in the mix. We study history so we don’t repeat it. But does it need to be studied in the workplace? The state legislature does not believe so.
