FLORIDA, LOVELY FLORIDA

There are few places people like to shit on more than Florida. Florida jokes are low-hanging fruit that aren’t in any way enlightening, and never authored by the person spouting them. They are old prejudices, intentional prejudices – some of the same prejudices fostered in the Jim Crow era to get whites hating Blacks and poor whites, and to ensure the poor whites felt that the Black population was a direct threat to their livelihood. Undermining prejudices to foster suspicion and to keep the poorer, working people from uniting. (PLEASE read The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Van Woodward, I BEG you!) 

Florida people are our people. Yes, they are being shit on and exploited by truly repellent, greedy billionaires and scumbags who are trying to establish a tight hate precedent there so they can strengthen it everywhere throughout America. You know, abortion bans and anti-trans legislation to attack and end bodily autonomy for pretty much everyone who isn’t a white male; voter suppression, LGBTQIA oppression; deep racism, anti-Indigenous practices and land grabs and destruction, and on and on and on. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. Shit, maybe you support it? I have no idea. When we disregard, slander and write off an entire state of human beings, powerful living land and dynamic-as-fuck nature, we are “that guy” AKA “The Man”. We are not “just kidding”. Florida is a fucking wonderland filled with incredible people; some very shitty, but most just trying to fucking live. Just like in your state. There are insatiably greedy rich people in EVERY state, and chances are really good that even those are doing something really shitty in Florida, Texas, West Virginia or Arizona (The most shit-on states) remotely. 

I am biased, and maybe you’d even call me “sensitive” to this because I grew up in a city everyone shat on. The things people mocked us for weren’t true at all. It was just shit they heard. Most people who ever mocked my town to my face had never even been there. People took for granted that they could let us know we were trash people. We were poor and forgotten or exploited, mostly all three. Why am I getting so worked up about this? Every time I go to Florida on tour I have THE BEST shows and meet incredible people. They do not resemble the hick/rube/backward stereotype thrust upon them at all. Yeah, I’m sure there are some that do because there are people who match that stereotype in every state. Every. State. I am sure I have matched it myself. 

On this trip I met a young man who is training to be a smokejumper because he loves the wilderness of his home state and wants to help protect it. I met another driving an Uber who is also a freestyle rapper, who wants to help spread the knowledge of how vibration in music and sound soothes people and helps them communicate on a peaceful, meaningful level. I met a woman who volunteers for local concerts helping out with organization and ground transportation who has four kids, the oldest is trans. She loves her kids so much and supports them all. She has spoken in public (though she is terrified of it) to stop books from being banned at her kids’ schools and to promote education, understanding, acceptance and love. As the mother of a trans youth in her region of Florida, she feels absolutley fucking alone, like she is the only mom on Earth dealing with this because she is isolated and there is no support system for her. There are a few organizations holding on tight who can help her kids, but she is uncertain of their future. She is afraid but not giving up. What could change if the rest of us backed her up? Everything.

I remember living in Cocoa Beach Florida as a little girl. I remember burning my feet on the sand. I remember my little saltwater sandals and my rosy pink sunglasses. My favorite thing were the Atlantic Ghost Crabs. They were scary with their pincers and floaty eyes but I was obsessed with them. They were pale yellow and ran sideways in little gangs. Their eyes looked like cartoon exclamation points. I loved them so much I’d chase after them for hours. I remember sunrises and sunsets that stretched forever.

Which people in your own community do you look askance at that you could revive your stance on to something better or more compassionate? 

Here are some very brave organizations hanging in there that I met on my trip to Florida. What if we help them out a bit? Even if it’s an “I’m rooting for you! We SEE you! Thank you!” message. :) 

House of Prism

Metro Inclusive Health

Zebra Youth (sometimes referred to Zebra Coalition)

Little me “Lookin’ for crabs”