Rep. Evan Jenne (D-Hollywood) wants the Florida legislature to acknowledge and apologize for the Johns Committee. From 1956 to 1965, the Johns Committee targeted civil rights activists and LGBTQ people, branding them as criminals and communists. Jenne says when the committee first started, it's focus was slowing down desegregation.
"So I think that given the rise of white nationalism and seemingly members of the very body I serve in, the House of Representatives, almost outwardly courting white nationalists, I think it's time that we remember exactly what those feelings have produced in the past in terms of tangible outcomes," Jenne says.
Activists were arrested, and as a result of interrogation and entrapment, suspected LGBTQ professors and students were fired and expelled. Jenne has filed a bill aimed at making amends to people targeted by the committee. He says his bill likely won't pass this upcoming session but says it's still important.
"Because it seems to me, the demonization of minority groups of people has started to become certain politicians' bread and butter. It seems to be their go-to," Jenne says.
Jenne says the committee's history was a dark corner of Florida's past, but it's relevant now more than ever due to today's cultural climate.
"To kind of act as a guidepost to where government doesn't need to go or should not morally and ethically go," Jenne says.
