PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arranged to move a group of asylum seekers from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard under false pretenses, many people were shocked. But this is not a new phenomenon in the United States.
During the 1960s, as several Supreme Court decisions were overturning segregation on public transportation, organizations like the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee were testing these laws. Called Freedom Rides, people would travel across the rural South and see if they would be allowed in different facilities — sitting at lunch counters or using water fountains and bathrooms.
At the same time, a group of Black people from the South was sent to progressive cities under false promises of secure job opportunities. These buses, known as the Reverse Freedom Rides, were said to be organized as a way to mock Freedom Riders.
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Last month, DeSantis used state funds to locate asylum seekers, mostly from Venezuela, and distribute fake brochures that promised them at least six months of potential income and housing.
“To see it unfold like this, again, it’s just startling that we’re retreating back to some of the same practices from before,” Timothy Welbeck, director for the Center of Anti-Racism at Temple University, said on KYW Newsradio In Depth.
Welbeck credits it to the white supremacist ideologies used to suppress marginalized people and further establish power dynamics as it equates to whiteness. White people revert back to these ideologies once they feel they are losing their power, Welbeck explained.
“If there are gains that are made, either in reality or by perception, by people of color, then we often will see the same playbook reemerge,” he said.
While probably not what DeSantis intended, migrants were greeted in Martha’s Vineyard with open arms. Faith-based communities and community centers provided them with housing and rallied to help them find the services they were promised.
When these events happen, people need to be vocal about their disagreement, because real people, real families are involved, Welbeck added.
“To be lied to, to be trucked, to be used as political pawns, it should distress us,” he continued. “It should break our hearts and it should compel us to want more for what our nation and what our states are doing to people.”
For more on the history of Reverse Freedom Rides and present-day asylum seekers, listen to the KYW Newsradio original podcast KYW Newsradio In Depth in the player below:
Podcast produced by KYW Newsradio’s podcast team and Matt Leon. Written by Bibiana Correa.