“There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury.” – Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897), American abolitionist and authorSince he became governor, Ron DeSantis has made anti-Blackness — by way of race-tinged rhetoric, policy, and legislation — one of the major pillars of his administration.He is not alone.A persistent narrative spun by a wide swathe of white Republicans is that white people are under attack and suffering harm because of reverse discrimination. The clamor is that white Americans are now the most disenfranchised group in the United States.The narrative is of rampant anti-white racism, the difficulties and challenges whites encounter in all aspects of their life, and the jobs, housing, and other opportunities denied them because unfair laws, policies, and programs are skewed to benefit African Americans, Latinos, Native American, and other non-white people. All this noise is disingenuous.Since each man came into office, both the DeSantis and the Trump administrations have partnered on a sardonic crusade, labeling DEI programs as indoctrination and discrimination while forcefully dismantling affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in government, education, and commerce.Republican operatives have unleashed a groundswell of recrimination that has deepened the already profound racial divisions that have sadly become a routine feature of life in the United States.Yet this entire premise of Black people being afforded an unfair privilege is built on a centuries-old lie.Slavery is America’s Original Sin, the perpetual stain that DeSantis, Trump, and other apologists spend inordinate time trying to convince us that none of it really happened. Yet for the more than 400 years since enslaved Africans have been in this country, the dominant majority has erected physical, social, political, psychological, economic, and other barriers to any Black progress.Confrontation between integrationists and segregationists at a whites-only beach in St. Augustine, June 25, 1964. Still from FHP film. (Via State Library and Archives of Florida)StruggleIt has been a monumental struggle all these years for African Americans to move past the obstacles set in their way including chattel slavery, Jim Crow, de jure and de facto segregation, and redlining.The Florida American Civil Liberties Union notes that “throughout his tenure, this governor has used the power of his office to subjugate and control the lives of Black people in Florida. But slavery is over, and we’re not asking for our freedom anymore. We’re taking it.”DeSantis and his administration, the ALCU said, are “on a crusade this election season to stop progress and keep in place coercive and unfair laws that control the bodies of Black people in Florida.” If they prevail, “the lives of people who are historically the most impacted by these policies will continue to be at risk: Black people.”The ACLU adds, “The administration of Gov. DeSantis has demonstrated a disdain for Black people and their lives in Florida. His actions as governor demonstrate that under his governance, the lives of Black people are expendable.”The anti-DEI campaign has targeted Florida’s public schools, teachers, universities, professors, and businesses. To wit: Florida’s 12 public universities have been prohibited from using state or federal funds for DEI programs, following legislation signed by the governor and reinforced by the State Board of Governors.Recently, Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier launched yet another legal fusillade at what’s left of Florida’s already weakened DEI programs.In what might be the coup de grâce, Uthmeier released a legal opinion declaring that many of the established DEI and affirmative action measures in Florida’s public and private sectors constitute unlawful race‑based discrimination under federal and state law.“Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a formal opinion finding that dozens of state laws requiring race-based preferences, classifications, or quotas violate the Equal Protection Clause and Florida’s Constitution. Relying heavily on the Supreme Court’s holding in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the opinion states that Florida will not defend or enforce statutes that mandate race-based decision making,” according to CWC, “a national association of employers committed to effective labor and employment law compliance and the sensible regulation of the U.S. workplace.”The CWC report notes that “these letters do not change federal law, but they reflect an increasingly aggressive enforcement posture by state officials and reinforce heightened scrutiny of race conscious policies following [the] Harvard [ruling]. It would not be surprising if other state attorneys general weigh in, either echoing these concerns or offering a sharply different view, adding to legal and political uncertainty for multi-state employers.Republicans, MAGA — perhaps most Americans — love to brag that the U.S.