Columnist Dissed for Telling MLB to Skip Fla.

A columnist for The Washington Post is being criticized for advocating for MLB teams to leave Florida for spring training because of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' "attack on diversity."

Columnist Kevin B. Blackistone wrote in his Sunday column, "Baseball can no longer ignore Ron DeSantis's culture wars," that MLB teams that play their spring training games in Florida "should consider making the annual exercise an all-Cactus League affair," meaning that the teams would play in Arizona instead.

Blackistone criticized DeSantis for calling "a new Advanced Placement high school course in African American studies 'indoctrination,'" as well as DeSantis' dismissing its "educational value" and his threat to "replace the nonprofit College Board that approved it."

Blackistone also accused DeSantis of maligning critical race theory by turning it "into a boogeyman for white citizens who believe they are losing this country that wasn't theirs in the first place."

The columnist also attacked DeSantis for both Florida's mandate that "schoolbooks be age-appropriate and 'suited to student needs'" and the state's law that prevents schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity unless it is "age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate."

Teams "could collectively, or through MLB's front office, let their displeasure with DeSantis' leadership, with its hints of the troubling days of yesteryear, be known," Blackistone wrote, acknowledging that his idea probably would not occur anytime soon.

As of Wednesday, the column has nearly 2,000 comments, many in disagreement:

• "I hope baseball doesn't give in to the woke mob," wrote one commenter.
• "DeSantis is not against diversity as the racist author writes. He supports meritocracy and not this equity BS and handouts to unqualified people of any color. Earn your way, prove your worth, and don't expose kindergartners and first graders to sex," wrote another commenter.
• "What an unbelievably ignorant column," stated another.
• Another commenter wrote, "I'm not sure the baseball players want kindergarteners to learn about gender changes instead of their ABCs. Maybe a reporter should ask them."
• "Enough of the boycott nonsense from sports social justice warrior journalists like this guy. Most Americans want their sports to be free from athletes, teams, and leagues becoming political activists — they watch sports to GET AWAY from the endless political & culture war strife," said another.

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