Jacksonville, FL – On Jan. 29, over 250 people came out to Hemming Plaza in Downtown Jacksonville to demand that Confederate monuments honoring white supremacists and slave holders be taken down and the renaming of schools named after Confederate generals.

Jacksonville, FL – Two things stood out to me while assembling my list of the year’s top movies. First, it’s remarkable how many science fiction and horror movies I watched this year. Practically every film I liked presented a dystopian vision of the future (or past) or a horrifying situation rooted in the present. No doubt that’s a sign of the times. Between the Trump presidency and the rise of the far right around the world, reality often seems more dystopian and terrifying than anything you’d see at the theater.

#WalkingWhileBlack is not a crime

Jacksonville, FL – Around 25 members of different civil rights organizations spoke out at the Jacksonville city council meeting, Dec. 12, to demand an end to the racial profiling and the racist ticketing policies of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Members of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), the Northside Coalition, the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition, UNF Students for a Democratic Society as well as the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference spoke out at city council, saying that #WalkingWhileBlack is not a crime and demanded a halt to the pedestrian ticketing program run by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

Jacksonville, FL – On Dec. 2, over 45 people gathered at the University of North Florida in the Student Union Building for a panel hosted by the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network (JPSN). The panel was focused on explaining the Balfour declaration and its ramifications. The Balfour declaration was a statement the British government issued in 1917 announcing support for building a Zionist state in Palestine.

Jacksonville, FL – On Dec. 4, Yemen’s Houthi movement reported they had killed former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in a military operation just outside of Sanaa, the capital. Both Saleh’s own party – the General People’s Congress – and Saudi media confirmed Saleh’s death.

Jacksonville, FL — On Nov. 20, University of North Florida (UNF) students took a stand against white supremacy, the KKK and neo-Nazis on their campus. Students came out at 8:30 a.m. on a cold Florida morning to demand that administration takes a stance against white supremacy on the UNF campus. The event was put on by UNF Students for a Democratic Society (UNF SDS) and others. Approximately 120 progressive student, alumni, faculty and community members gathered in front of Hicks Hall and marched to Alumni Hall where a conduct hearing for a neo-Nazi was being held.

Jacksonville, FL – On Thursday night, Nov. 9, the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network (JPSN) protested in Jacksonville outside of an event celebrating the creation of the apartheid state of Israel, and which hosted the grandson of the first prime minister of Israel, Alon Ben-Gurion.

Jacksonville, FL – The Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) has been busy organizing this year against the city’s $4.4 million budget proposal to add 100 new cops to ‘fight crime.’ This plan leaves out any training or accountability for the already existing officers guilty of misconduct on the force – and there are too many of those to count in the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO).

Jacksonville, FL – On Oct. 21, the family of Keegan Roberts as well as members of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee gathered at the site of where Keegan was killed by racist Michael Centanni IV, to demand justice.