Alpha Phi Alpha's move out of Florida could be the first of many Black organizations
Alpha Phi Alpha decided to pull its 2025 convention out of Florida in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis' policies — and they think they won't be the last.
Statewide policies under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis prompted the nation’s oldest Black fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, to pull its 2025 convention out of the state as a form of protest. But now, the group’s president, Willis L. Lonzer III, said he thinks his fraternity’s decision may galvanize other Black organizations to ditch Florida for their major events, particularly after the approval of a new educational curriculum that includes points indicating that some Black people benefited from slavery.
Lonzer said officials from each of the eight other Black fraternities and sororities, and leaders of other organizations have reached out to say they stand with the Alphas and are committed to not scheduling any additional events that would bring significant revenue to Florida. Even before the Alphas made their announcement, the National Society of Black Engineers last month pulled its scheduled convention from Orlando, with plans to move it to Atlanta in March for the same reasons the fraternity cited.
“This is a multi-pronged armamentarium that we have to provide to attack racial prejudice and policies that are white supremacist in nature,” Lonzer said. “We have here, a situation where Jim Crow has morphed from what it was 40, 50 years ago. And we’re in the process of developing new tactics to attack this.”
Initially, Alpha Phi Alpha leaders decided not to drop their plans to convene in Florida “as we are not afraid to wade into waters where there’s controversy,” Lonzer said. “We saw in many respects that Gov. DeSantis has continued to push policies harmful to Black people, to brown people and marginalized communities in Florida.”
DeSantis has said Florida is where “woke goes to die.” He doubled down on his comment in January when his administration said it would block a new Advanced Placement African American studies course from being taught in public high schools, prompting some Black parents to say they will teach the history at home to assure their children are well versed. DeSantis also has been vocal about banning the teaching of critical race theory in public schools and about other policies that some consider to be anti-gay or anti-immigration.
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