It’s the first rule of journalism and politics. Words matter. But you know what else matters a lot racist and divisive policies born of political opportunism, pushed by ambitious governors who think they can get elected president by tapping into the resentment of white people who feel replaced by black and brown people. This is a hard lesson and Florida’s learning it now in the aftermath of a racially motivated attack at $1 store in which three black people were shot and killed. The evidence suggests just for being black, a note AJ Lee Geary Jr, Geralt Deshaun Galleon, and Angela Michelle car all died at the hands of 21 year old Ryan Paul matter who left behind racist manifestos proclaiming that he quote, hated black people. The coward killed himself rather than be arrested. All this happened in Jacksonville, Florida, Florida, Florida. Why Does that ring a bell? Ah, yes, Florida is the same state whose Governor Ron DeSantis is now running for the Republican nomination for president. He’s doing this by promising to be the culture warrior in chief. This is the issue that DeSantis claimed as his own a few years ago. This is what he hoped would be his ticket to the POTUS stance. Unfortunately, every culture war has a racial component. And sure enough, DeSantis has spent the last few years portraying white people as persecuted and put off by quote woke policies centered on race. So if you’re a white person who feels alienated or threatened or even simply left out, by critical race theory, or black history courses or affirmative action, or university departments that promote the unholy trinity, diversity, equity and inclusion Dei, well, DeSantis is your guy. See, but the problem with that political strategy is that once someone likes that fire, there’s no telling where the flames will spread. In the case of the Jacksonville murders, who’s to say that the 21 year old shooter didn’t take DeSantis his words and policies to heart and buy into this racist idea that the tables had turned, and black people were suddenly running the show, and white people were being targeted or treated unfairly. After all, if White people really needed defending and DeSantis was offering himself in that capacity, then it would stand to reason that the shooter might step in and lend the governor hand. What you think this is crazy, right? It’s too far fetched too unreasonable. Really? What exactly is reasonable about the brain of an alien, a 21 year old 21 year old, who has already we know been infected by the virus of racism? Clearly, this is precisely how a lot of black people in Florida see the events in Jacksonville. And what put the state on this destructive path. Recently, DeSantis and his wife, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, attended a prayer vigil in that city for the three victims. The governor tried to speak and condemn the killings, but he was booed and heckled people shouted, you’re not welcome here. And your policies caused this. Eventually DeSantis had to back away from the podium. Did DeSantis anti diversity policies cause the Jacksonville killings? Probably not. Okay, well, did they at least help create the environment, the climate for the killings to take place? Maybe they did. Or maybe they didn’t? We can’t know. But this much is clear. DeSantis is not helping matters. The governor is not bringing fluorines together based on the similarities. He’s only driving them further apart by accentuating and exploiting their differences. It’s like Eldridge Cleaver, the famous Black Panther said back in the 1970s. If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem. Make no mistake. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, along with his ugly and divisive race games are most certainly part of the problem.