Tallahassee, FL – Tallahassee has been host to months of regular protest since the January 2020 swearing-in of killer cop Lawrence Revell as chief of police. Protests became more frequent after three murders in the last three months by the Tallahassee Police Department, and now daily protests have continued for the past ten days after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and Tony McDade by Tallahassee Police Department.

TPD’s recent killings robbed Tallahassee of 31-year-old, Black, unarmed, father of four, Mychael Johnson on March 20; 69-year-old white man Wilbon Woodard on May 19; and 38-year-old Black trans man Tony McDade on May 27.

For ten days and counting, Tallahassee residents have organized two to four independent, often simultaneous, and mostly spontaneous protests on any given day.

Regina Joseph, president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) expressed complex feelings about the upsurge of local protests, “A lot of these are actual protests against police brutality, both local and nationwide, and I am encouraged when people take to the streets. I do feel some kind of way, though; some of these events don’t mention the three people that local police killed since March alone. Some even promote forgiveness, and hugging cops, before any material changes to policing have been made. That is out of touch and premature, and it’s dangerous to the movement. We need community control of police, not photo-ops with killer cops.”

Many local actions indeed centered on well-known but far away police killings, and they varied greatly in vision. The largest local actions this week (organized by th Tallahassee Community Action Committee) focused primarily on local police killings and a set of demands issued to the Tallahassee Police Department, the Tallahassee city manager, Mayor Dailey, the Tallahassee city commission, and the local State Attorney Jack Campbell.

TCAC’s demands have been affirmed by a series of high-volume call-in days, social media blasts and emails sent to these officials and entities by over 120,000 civilians. TCAC organizer Lakey Love said, “The refusal to include public comment in local commission meetings is illegal, COVID-19 or not, and their refusal to even acknowledge those 100,000-plus emails – the biggest outpouring of unsolicited public input on a single local topic [transparency and justice for civilians killed by local police] to date – is unconscionable.”

During the Wednesday, June 3, protest outside Tallahassee City Hall, an elected official proudly announcing the formation of a toothless Police Review Board was shut down by the horns of hundreds in a nearby car caravan and a thousand people chanting, “No fake review board; we demand community control of police!”

The June 3 and June 6 protests were a combination of car-caravan and street marching in-person rallies with hundreds of on-the-ground attendees protected from agitators and law enforcement by brightly vested safety marshals, red masked medics, and car caravans.

Posters and banners on display at Wednesday and Saturday’s events reflected TCAC’s demands: Release the Names (of TPD killer cops); Release the tapes (body cam, dash cam); Fire Revell/ Revell step down; Indict killer cops; Community control of police; and CPAC Now.

Black speakers at these events emphasized the white supremacist origins and practices of policing in the United States; the exhausting and often deadly intersection of Blackness, queerness, poverty, police brutality, and inadequate mental health access; and the proven power of organized masses to demand and achieve history-shifting material change.

TCAC organizers distributed masks to attendees on Wednesday and Saturday, and a local chapter of Food Not Bombs supplied snacks, prepared meals, water and tent shelter for protesters outside the TPD Headquarters on Saturday.

On Saturday, June 6, after having blocked off TPD Headquarters for hours with 1000 people on foot and hundreds in procession in a follow-up car caravan, protesters moved to take and hold a long stretch of nearby N Monroe Street for the conclusion of the event. Halfway between TPD’s current headquarters at Lake Ella and TPD’s soon-to-be headquarters at a condemned mall, TCAC President Regina Joseph and fellow founding member Patricia “Trish” Brown stood atop Trish’s big red truck and led the soaking wet crowd in protest songs including Step by Step the Longest March and Ella’s Song: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest Until It’s Won.

The June 3 and June 6 protests organized by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee saw considerable traffic disruption efforts by police but suffered no arrests and no serious medical emergencies. Nonetheless, TCAC maintains a reserve of recently donated funds for bail and other organizing-related expenses and a supply of first-aid materials donated by community members. TCAC continues to promote online fundraisers for the families of Mychael Johnson and Tony McDade. Later this week, TCAC will co-host a COVID-19 Unemployment Justice event and a remembrance of the 2016 massacre at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub.

#TallahasseeFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #JusticeForTonyMcDade #TallahasseePoliceDepartmentTPD

Tallahassee, FL- For the last two days hundreds of people have been gathering in Tallahassee to demand justice for police crime victims. In just the past two months, the Tallahassee Police Department murdered three people, under the watch of killer cop Chief of Police Lawrence Revell, who murdered George “Lil Nuke” Williams in 1996. On Friday afternoon, May 29, protesters gathered at the capitol in the afternoon and then joined ranks with an evening protest organized by others at the TPD headquarters.

Protesters demanded justice for African Americans across the country who have been slain by police, including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Tallahassee locals Mychael Johnson and Tony McDade. They demanded the release of local law enforcement tapes; the release of the yet-unnamed involved officers' names and their indictments; and the departure of Lawrence Revell from the helm of TPD. They chanted “Black lives matter,” “I can’t breathe,” “Justice for Mychael Johnson” and “Say his name, Tony McDade!”

Tesia Lisbon said, “We’re asking the city to release the tapes and arrest Zackri Jones. We have continuously received inconsistent information about body cam footage. We know that the state attorney has the ability to bring justice to the people even during a global health pandemic.”

Chief Revell and State Attorney Campbell refused to address the people who mobilized May 30. The Chief also says everyone deserves their day in court. Unfortunately, he must not feel the same about Wilbon Woodard, Tony McDade, or Mychael Johnson, in Tallahassee, who didn’t get theirs or he would be holding his subordinates accountable.

Chief Revell reports Zackri Jones, two-time killer cop, is on paid administrative leave, feeding his family with the tax dollars of the people in protest today. We will not accept ‘meetings behind closed doors’ offered today.

The May 30 protests saw mostly-spontaneous, simultaneous and independent protests take place at Wescott fountain on FSU’s campus, the state capitol, TPD headquarters, and the Leon County Sheriff department.

The Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) pre-organized a 100-plus car caravan protest led by marchers on foot to the Sheriff’s Department-Leon County Jail as part of a coordinated National Day of Action demanding health safety and justice – the release of prisoners and inmates given the deadly impact of COVID-19 in densely populated settings, an overall end to violence by law enforcement, and for community control of police.

The protest also emphasized recent police killings nationally and locally, and the crisis of perpetual violence and trauma done unto generations Black communities by law enforcement. Protesters chanted “Black lives matter,” “Bring out the sheriff,” and “When Black people are under attack, what do we do? Stand up! Fight back!”

In the middle of the Leon County Jail protest, organizers received word that a truck driver had intentionally accelerated into the crowd of protesters at the police department rally, striking several and injuring at least one.

Hundreds gathered at the jail, swiftly relocating to join protesters at the Tallahassee Police Department. Most joined the in-person protest; some remained in cars, forming a protective barricade between the protesters and traffic, including police vehicles. “An injury to one is an injury to all,” said TCAC member Satya Stark-Bejnar, “Our people got hurt, so we’re here to make sure no one else gets hurt. We’re our own barricade.”

At the police station, protesters demanded that Lawrence Revell meet with them. After two hours of waiting, they were told that he was with his sick wife, socially distancing. The protesters then took to the streets and held all lanes of traffic marching south to the capitol building, barricaded from behind by car caravanners, followed by scores of police vehicles. Rather than take to the capitol steps protesters held a rally in the middle of that intersection.

When asked why it was important to protest, Jesula Jeannot said, “Because we must take up the space. We can no longer stay in a box that wasn’t meant for us anyways. We need to be heard; they need to see us. We are allowed to be angry out loud.” The crowd was encouraged to call the State Attorney Jack Cambpell, whose staff promptly shut down the phone lines.

Some organizers of the protest reached out to city commissioner and Revell supporter, Diane Williams Cox. She promised a thorough investigation and said that the state attorney had the footage of Mychael Johnson’s murder by killer cop Zakcri Jones. She did not echo or affirm the crowd’s demands.

Unappeased, protesters turned north and marched from the capitol to the governor's mansion where they were met with police, sheriffs, SWAT and riot squads complete with guns, shields and vans. An unnamed protester jumped the gate at the governor's mansion only to be swiftly arrested. Protesters eventually moved away from the mansion and south, toward a solid line of helmeted, shield wielding police. Using amplified sound, the Tampa police called repeatedly for the crowd to disperse. The crowd stood defiant and continued to hold the streets until, on their own volition, made their way back to the capitol with a dozen car caravanners holding a buffer line between the tail end of the march and scores of police cars, again following close behind. Protesters again held the intersection in front of the capitol building for another hour.

Thunderstorms appeared to disperse the crowd but the swell of people walking back to their cars reformed as a march and again took the streets at the governor's mansion.

The protest finally died down after eight hours.

When asked about next steps, Deliliah Pierre of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee said, “Organize. Get out into the community and develop a relationship with the people living there, set up meetings, show up in local politics, just do everything you can.”

There are more events planned by TCAC including a Justice for Tony McDade Virtual Press Conference at noon on Monday, June 1, and a Vigil for Mychael Johnson June 5 at 7 p.m. on Blairstone Road and Mahan Drive.

#TallahasseeFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #PoliceCrimes #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #JusticeForTonyMcDade

Tallahassee, Florida – A vigil was held May 27 at the Leon Arms Apartments for Tony McDade, who was shot five times by the Tallahassee police. Officers claimed McDade was armed but haven’t provided any video evidence or even the name of the killer. The Tallahassee Community Action Committee called for a protest and vigil.

Protesters gathered around Leon Arms Apartment playing music and lighting candles in McDade’s memory. People held signs calling for community control of the police and justice for Mychael Johnson, Wilbon Woodard and McDade, the three people killed by the Tallahassee police in only two months.

“We hosted a vigil for Tony because we have to stand for all victims of police crimes and gender-based violence. In two months, three people have been killed by TPD under newly appointed killer cop Chief of Police Lawrence Revell,” said Regina Joseph, president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC). “This affects everyone in not just Tallahassee but the world everywhere. From Minneapolis to Tallahassee police occupation exists and it is up to us to implement a civilian police accountability council where officers don’t get away with indiscriminately murdering Black people.”

#TallahasseeFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #PoliceCrimes #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #JusticeForTonyMcDade