The Latest Mass Shooting in Florida Was Racist. What Role Do State Politics Play?
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2023
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
All of the victims were Black and the white gunman left behind racist, hate-filled letters.
The Justice Department is now investigating this shooting as a hate crime.
A big part of the conversation now is what role state politics play in crimes like this.
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has loosened gun laws in recent years and put restrictions on how race is taught in public schools.
NPR's Juana Summers talks with Mutaqee Akbar, president of the Tallahassee branch of the NAACP, about how much responsibility lies with politicians.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This isn't political. |
| 0:01.8 | Pass has already said it's not about Democrats, |
| 0:04.1 | it's not about Republicans, |
| 0:06.1 | but we have three people that are dead. |
| 0:08.8 | AJ Laguerre Jr. 19, Gerald Dishon Galen, 29, |
| 0:14.4 | and Angela Michelle Carr, 52. |
| 0:17.6 | These were the three people who were killed in a mass shooting |
| 0:20.2 | at a dollar general in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday. |
| 0:24.3 | On Sunday, Democratic Florida Senator Tracy Davis |
| 0:28.0 | spoke to a crowd at St. Paul AME Church for a vigil. |
| 0:31.8 | Dead because they are black, shopping in their community, |
| 0:41.6 | gunned down because they were black. |
| 0:47.2 | The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office identified the shooter |
| 0:50.0 | as a 21-year-old white man who left behind racist, |
| 0:53.7 | hate-filled letters. |
| 0:55.5 | Sheriff T.K. Water said the gunman texted his father |
| 0:59.1 | and told him to use a screwdriver to enter his bedroom |
| 1:02.4 | where the father found a suicide note |
| 1:04.4 | and other ratings on his computer. |
| 1:06.8 | The manifesto was quite frankly the diary of a madman. |
| 1:10.7 | He was, I mean, he was just completely irrational. |
| 1:16.1 | The gunman attempted to drive through Edward Water's University |
... |
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