Jacksonville, FL – The civil rights organization Color of Change, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee and the family of Keegan Roberts held a press conference in front of State Attorney Melissa Nelson's office demanding justice, Nov. 1. They dropped off signed petitions from around 60,000 people across the country to the state attorney office demanding the arrest of man who murdered Keegan Roberts – Michael Centanni IV, a white supremacist vigilante. Protesters chanted, “Justice for Keegan,” and “Arrest Centanni now!”
Jacksonville, FL – Around 200 people gathered for six hours at the August 22 city council meeting to speak about removing Confederate monuments and names from public spaces. The week before, in response to the white supremacist terrorism in Charlottesville, Virginia, Jacksonville City Council President Brosche said she wanted to inventory all Confederate monuments, markers, and memorials so they can be moved off public property and into museums or other settings, where they can be “historically contextualized.” When her press release went public, death threats started flooding into her email from Confederate sympathizers.
Face down reactionaries with ‘blue lives matter’ confederate flags
Jacksonville, FL – The Jacksonville downtown Art Walk celebration on August 2 brought out several political organizations including TakeEmDownJax, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) and Veterans for Peace. The groups petitioned and leafleted for the causes of removing confederate names and statues from public view and for community control of the police via the formation of a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council. Around 50 local organizers showed up and were met by two groups in opposition, who were confederate flag supporters and self-proclaimed ‘patriots.’
