What Ron DeSantis' Latest Crusade Is Really About

"Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. For days now, the Florida Highway Patrol has been stationed in the parking lot of an Orlando Dunkin' Donuts. Their mission: Stop chalk-wielding activists from restoring a rainbow crosswalk that, until it was erased overnight by the Florida Department of Transportation two weeks ago, commemorated the 2017 mass shooting at the adjacent Pulse nightclub."

"Since then, four people have been arrested on the rare charge of "interfering with a traffic control device" and charged with criminal felonies, according to lawyer Blake Simons, who represents the defendants. The state claims each chalker inflicted more than $1,500 in damage. "Chalking the crosswalk is obviously protected speech," Simons told me, and added that he was "puzzled" at how the state arrived at those damages for chalk that washed away in the rain."

"The grayscaling has since spread to other Florida cities, which have been directed to paint over roadway designs or forfeit transportation funding. Some, including Key West and Delray Beach, are fighting to keep their Pride-themed intersections. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale this weekend to defend those cities' brightly painted crosswalks. In Tampa, two (white) ministers were arrested for obstructing the demolition of a "Black History Matters" display."

Florida Highway Patrol officers have been stationed at an Orlando Dunkin' Donuts to prevent activists from restoring a rainbow crosswalk that commemorated the 2017 Pulse nightclub shooting after the Florida Department of Transportation erased it. State crews repainted the crosswalk grayscale after a local senator altered the stripes, and four people have been arrested on charges of "interfering with a traffic control device" and criminal felonies, with the state claiming over $1,500 in damage per chalker. The grayscaling directive has spread, with cities ordered to paint over designs or risk losing transportation funding, prompting protests and local resistance to preserve Pride-themed and commemorative intersections.

Read at Slate Magazine