Activists and community members gathered to commemorate those lost and work to prevent police killings in the future. Speakers included Delilah Pierre, field director of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Regina Joseph, president of TCAC and the district organizer for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Lee Robertson, communications chair of Graduates Assistant United and a member of TCAC and Timothy White, a long-standing member of TCAC and organizer with the Police Crimes Committee.

Organizers talked about their fears of police persecution and the continuing struggle against police violence in Tallahassee, citing how direct police abuse or police negligence contributed to these issues. White spoke about their experience visiting the family of Raheem Reeder and his mother, Latanya Walkins, as well as his respect for her work in the face of adversity.

“Raheem Reeder got 30-plus people to show out for him with real love. Not every victim gets to have support that strong, or love that sustains their name even in death. So we'll provide support where others can't, in keeping a name more than just a still picture. And I genuinely am pushed, and held steady, by the love Ms. Watkins and her family continue to wield for Raheem's sake,” stated White

After the speakers finished, videos of the Watkins family pledging their support for TCAC and the continued struggle for Raheem Reeder’s life were shown to the audience. Candles and flowers were passed out to the attendees and a moment of silence was held for all victims of police brutality in Tallahassee. The event ended with Joseph and Pierre reciting the famous Assata Shakur chant.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee

“We have to fight every day and mourn every day. I don’t get a day when I can just mourn and not fight,” said Lakey Love, co-founder of the Florida Coalition for Trans Liberation (FC4TL)

Marching from the drum circle at Railroad Square to the Florida Historic Capitol Museum, members of the march eventually reached the Florida Capitol building, where people spoke about the importance of Transgender Day of Remembrance and their own personal history with coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Cas Casanova from Students for a Democratic Society spoke about their personal experience dealing with transphobia and homophobia in their own home, stating, “It makes me cry because I know what they’re feeling. Because I went through the same thing when I was in high school. I was the only gay person I knew who didn’t have accepting parents.” Their feelings echoed the experiences of trans and queer children who face systemic discrimination and alienation even from their own parents. “Waiting till you can escape a toxic situation to finally be who you are is not right.”

Delilah Pierre, field director for Tallahassee Community Action Committee, shared her story of beginning to understand her gender identity and the process of becoming a part of the LGBTQ+ community in Tallahassee. “When I met everyone in the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, and Lakey, and people in the Pride Student Union, and my friends from college, I finally started to not feel alone. I finally started to feel like I had a community. Like I could actually tell people how I felt. And actually, tell people what I faced. I would do anything, to make sure every single trans person in the world has that.”

Members ended the protest with a reading of 41 names of trans people murdered in the year 2021, as well as a moment of silence with candles. Love said: “I wanna remind everyone that we're here to mourn, but we're also here to fight.”

#Tallahassee #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #TransgenderDayOfRemembrance

Tallahassee, FL – On April 20, in less than two hours after the Derek Chauvin verdict was announced, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee gathered at Cascades Park to celebrate this win but also to reiterate the fight for Black liberation is not over. They chanted, “Indict convict, send that killer cop to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell.”

The group played music and passed out pizza to rally attendees.

Trish Brown, stated “History has been made today. With so much wrongdoing and killings by the police throughout history with no Indictments, no convictions, no accountability – officers getting away with murder. It was hard for many of us across the nation to believe that Chauvin would be convicted on all three counts and that George Floyd and his beloved family would get justice. Tears of joy fell down my eyes as I heard the final conviction.”

Brown continued, “But, still what about Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Mychael Johnson, Jamie Johnson, Lil’ Nuke and so many others? Our fight is still not over! Not until we get Justice for all victims and families impacted by brutal and fatal police crimes.”

Protesters also denounced HB1, the Anti-Protest Bill that has been passed and signed by the Governor, and vowed they would continue to fight.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee

Tallahassee, FL – Despite cold weather, concerns about police and vigilante violence, and results of the election still unknown, several Tallahassee organizations came together for the November 4 national day of protest to push for a people’s agenda, community control of police, and to speak out against Trump’s attempts to steal the election. Concurrently with many events across the country, Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), and SDS gathered a crowd of about 50 people in Cascades Park.

Speaker Trish Brown, one of the Tally 19 and a member of Tallahassee Community Action Committee led the crowd in a chant against Trump and his attempts to steal the election. “Robbed! Deprived! Genocide! President Trump has got to fry!”

Although the polls seem to be in Biden’s favor, the importance of counting all the ballots and defeating Trump’s attempts to stop counting and steal the election cannot be understated. Even when Trump is defeated, the fight will be far from over. Regina Joseph, a Tally 19’er, president of Tallahassee Community Action Committee and district organizer for FRSO, said, “Voting is not the end all be all! The fight for CPAC and police accountability will be far from over.”

Backed by signs reading “CPAC now” and “Black lives matter,” Delilah Pierre, vice president of Tallahassee Community Action Committee and FRSO member led the crowd in another chant, calling for community control of the Tallahassee police department. “TPD kills while on patrol! What do we want? Community control!” the crowd chanted.

“Fighting against police violence and political repression are far more extensive issues than just defeating Donald Trump. We have to make sure people have their right to protest and elect the representative they choose to uphold. But we have to work beyond that to ensure real democracy – and especially accountability —from the Democratic Party and all our politicians,” said Pierre.

Even facing political repression, jail time, and violence from police and white supremacists, Tallahassee continues to fight for CPAC and stand up against Trump and his administration. Activists and organizers are preparing for the continued fight against racist and political repression under either a Trump or Biden presidency in 2021.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee

Tallahassee, FL – Community activists gathered in front of city hall September 19 for a protest calling for the formation of an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), and demanding that State Attorney Jack Campbell drop the charges against the #Tally19 – arrested for participating in a protest on September 5 to condemn a grand jury decision that condoned three recent police murders of civilians.

Saturday’s action was organized locally by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) with the support of Tallahassee Dream Defenders, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, More Than A Name, and Florida Planned Parenthood PAC. The action aligned with a national day of protest initiated by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) in response to escalating repression of protest in Tallahassee and elsewhere.

Giant banners that read: “Black lives matter,” “Community control of police,” “CPAC now” and “Drop the charges” offered a visually striking backdrop for, and reflected the messaging of, speakers, chant leaders and singers at the midday action.

This year Tallahassee has seen the appointment of killer cop Lawrence Revell to chief of police; the killing of three civilians by Tallahassee Police Department in the span of two months; subsequent grand jury decisions to hold none of those officers accountable; and brutality and repression put on full display by at least five local law enforcement agencies and used against protesters on September 5, and since.

TCAC member Satya Stark-Bejnar said on Saturday, “We need CPAC and not a toothless review board. We need community control of the police because communities are people, and people deserve a meaningful say in how they are policed!”

Speaking on the need for community control of the police, longtime community organizer and recent city commission candidate Trish Brown declared, “I’m tired of the police policing the police, because all it’s doing is killing us! I’m tired of my Black city officials and my Black religious leaders turning a blind eye to what’s going on in the Black community, which is constant racial profiling and now repression for protesting it!”

Tesia Lisbon, an organizer with More Than a Name, called for “CPAC now!” and, citing the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., implored city officials, local clergy, and people watching at home to, “Come sit at the table, come hear what we have to say, because the few are fighting for the many.”

Organizers and attendees drew encouragement from one another locally, and in the knowledge that people in dozens of cities were united in simultaneous protest against police aggression, even in the face of escalating political repression.

Local media may have downplayed attacks by law enforcement against local BLM protests, but this local repression is gaining national attention. At a September 19 protest in Chicago, a huge crowd could be heard chanting in solidarity, “Tallahassee 19, drop all charges!”

Ben Grant (he/him) is a Tallahassee, FL activist.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee

Tallahassee, FL -The Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) hosted an online training and workshop, July 30, over Facebook Live on the topic of community control of police. The event was led by experienced anti-racism leaders who are active in the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR), and also founding members of their local organizations: TCAC and the group that inspired TCAC’s own founding, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC).

“NAARPR, JCAC and TCAC all have political repression and police overreach central to their origin stories,” noted Tallahassee Community Action Committee member Satya Stark-Bejnar.

“Founding members of each organization recognized that state repression through law enforcement and the judicial system, while astonishing on a case-by-case basis, can and must be expected systemically, and that durable, organized bodies – that know to expect this – are better suited to respond to cases of repression, violence and overreach as they arise than individuals going it alone, spontaneous, surprised and starting from scratch,” continued Stark-Bejnar.

“Our movement is powerful because of our work with families of victims of police crimes, our work with police torture survivors, and our work to make sure that local police budgets don’t just bloat every year,” said JCAC panelist Michael Sampson, who opened the workshop. In addition to fighting for justice around specific cases of police violence, JCAC and TCAC are educating their communities about just how much money law enforcement gets from their cities, roughly 40% and 30% respectively, of the entire municipal budgets of Jacksonville and Tallahassee.

“They spend a lot of this money on surveillance,” said Christina Kittle, also of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, who led the second segment of the workshop. “I learned, from my case, and the four others who were beaten and arrested along with me in 2017, that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office had already spent over $17 million to illegally surveil us, build files on us- Before that [physical] attack was even launched!”

Sampson and Kittle’s workshop segments were followed by Tallahassee Community Action Committee panelists Delilah Pierre, Regina Joseph and Lakey Love, educating attendees about the difference between appointed police review boards and elected civilian police accountability councils (CPACs), the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights (LEOBoR), and introducing community control of police as an umbrella term that has, since the 1970’s included many specific demands that are currently trending around defund police/re-fund communities, and around police training, policy, oversight and accountability.

“I wanted to make sure people understood what community control of police really represented, said panelist Delilah Pierre. “It's more than a simple change in where the police live, or of their tactics. It's more than ‘review,’ and more than the removal of ‘bad apples.’ It's a real movement to change the structure of the police – to put them under the control of a far more democratic process.”

The workshop also focused on building a statewide coalition to tackle these issues, given limits imposed by LEOBoR, a Florida state statute passed in 1973 and strengthened since, which grants special procedures and special rights to police officers, helping them evade criminal conviction for misconduct, brutality and even murder.

At the end of the workshop, panelists fielded questions from viewers: how to become involved in local, statewide and national actions; who are local and state representatives who support CPACs; and how to bring advocates for specific police-related demands into a unified fight for community control of police overall. To expand the reach of the online workshop, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee’s event was co-hosted on Facebook by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, the South Florida Afro Pride Collective, the Florida Coalition for Trans Liberation, and the Florida Peoples Advocacy Center, resulting in a viewership of over 1900 and growing.

Mary Correia (she/her) is an activist in Tallahassee, Florida.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #CommunityControlOfThePolice

Tallahassee, FL – Coinciding with a National Day of Protest initiated by the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (NAARPR), independently-organized actions took place on Saturday, July 18 in Quincy, Crawfordville and Tallahassee, Florida, representing Gadsden, Wakulla and Leon counties respectively.

In Quincy, which recently saw the removal of a Confederate monument, around 30 people attended a “Peace and Prayer for our Community” march in response to recent local gun violence, with the heading, “Black Lives Matter To Us.”

In Crawfordville, Kendra Smith was the lead organizer of a 100-plus person “Let Your Voice Be Heard” consciousness raising march and rally, marking the first-ever BLM action in Wakulla County. “I felt we needed a peaceful protest in Wakulla because racism and discrimination is very much alive here and has been for a while from what I’ve been told by residents who’ve lived here their whole lives. My goal of the protest was to bring awareness to this and to take action and show our community we can protest and stay peaceful despite people saying we won’t.”

Upon announcing the event, Smith received many death threats and threats of violence against the protesters. Attendees from the Tallahassee Community Action Committee provided amplified sound, medics, a lead truck and a relief car, and donated water, masks and hand sanitizer.

At least 100 counter-protesters were present, jeering at the Black Live Matter permitted start point in a Winn Dixie parking lot; then lining the march route with a taunting gauntlet; and finally filling most of the open space in a public park – where the BLM rally had permit access to the central pavilion. Counter-protesters had planted Confederate flags and Trump 2020 flags in the bushes. Within the first few minutes of the peaceful march, sheriffs made an unlawful arrest of attendee Adam Ferguson, who was released soon after law enforcement learned they were being filmed and that Ferguson had already handed his phone off to another attendee. After the event, Ferguson said, “I think it’s important for us to be in Wakulla County because that’s a place where these racial tensions exist but have always been hidden. Being in their face about it for the first time ever is a step in the direction of acknowledging and healing.”

In Tallahassee, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) led a march and car caravan to the Leon County Sheriff’s Office to somberly acknowledge a recent local victory – incarcerated people are now permitted to wear masks in their pods and living spaces – and to demand anew that Sheriff Walt McNiel free all people who are eligible for bail or bond to save lives and slow the spread of COVID-19, which is rising locally among civilians of all ages, corrections officers and incarcerated people.

Protesters marching on foot took and held the streets from a nearby community college parking lot to the sheriff’s office. The march was led by longtime activist Trish Brown’s familiar red truck and a giant hand-painted banner depicting the demand, “Free them all,” and followed closely by a protective barricade of car caravan vehicles adorned with handmade signs and window paint.

People marching chanted, “Black lives matter,” “No justice, no peace” and “Free them all!” Honks from the car caravan filled the pauses between the chants as the march arrived at its destination. Attendees spaced out to hear speeches criticizing policing and the criminal justice system, and in favor of community control of police and an urgent, science-based COVID-19 response. Most car caravaners joined the on-foot protesters at the sheriff’s office, while some remained in cars nearby, with AC on in case of heat-related health emergencies.

Tallahassee Community Action Committee President Regina Joseph concluded the action by leading the crowd in a call-and-response recitation of an increasingly well-known quote by Assata Shakur, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains!”

Satya Stark-Bejnar (they/he pronouns) is an activist in Tallahassee.

#TallahasseeFL #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #FreeThemAll #Quincy #Crawfordville

Tallahassee, FL – Tallahassee residents assembled at 12:30 p.m. at Cascades Park, June 28 to launch a march to the capitol. Organizers and volunteers with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) pre-decorated the capitol steps and breezeway with rainbow flags, banners, signs and hand-painted portraits to honor the Black and brown working-class trans women who led the Stonewall Riots in New York City 51 years ago. Organizers distributed masks, water, snacks, bumper stickers and printed copies of Fight Back! to the 150-plus people in attendance. Attendees spread out across the entire capitol lawn to abide by COVID-19 safe-distancing guidelines.

From the massive steps leading up to the Historic Capitol Building, speakers imparted the history of Pride and of Stonewall, including Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson’s long and unfinished fights for justice around housing, police brutality and the criminal justice system, and access to public places. Speakers emphasized that in this moment of broad visibility, people will not be placated by empty gestures that make no material changes to how local policing criminalizes Black, brown, queer, working-class people. Attendees were invited to join the ongoing work of defending the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community with local organizations such as TCAC, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Gender Odyssey, and Dream Defenders. These groups and others, led by working-class trans members of TCAC, recently passed a robust and inclusive city ordinance banning the torturous abuses known as ‘conversion therapy.’ TCAC is in motion to ban conversion therapy at the county level as well, in addition to leading local demands for community control of police through a freely elected Civilian Police Accountability Council.

“A riot is the language of the unheard and Stonewall was a riot!” emphasized event volunteer Laura McTighe, TCAC member, Queer Tallahassee co-founder, and assistant professor of religion at FSU. “These words are more than a slogan. They are a strategy and a call to action. When Delilah Pierre was on the mic, she drew us into the litany of everyday abuses that Black trans and queer people are facing here in Tallahassee, into the great and unimaginable ones. And she opened a portal to us to feel with her the cumulative impact of these abuses. Because the point when our transcestors picked up a brick at Stonewall, it wasn’t in response to a first abuse. It wasn’t even the hundredth. It was the millionth abuse. Enough was enough! And here today, enough is enough. We’ve got our backs, because we really are all we got. That is the revolutionary promise we made at BLM Pride, and we’ll be working to make it reality for all our Black trans siblings going forward.”

Hannah Schwadron, TCAC member, Sunday Collective member, and associate professor of dance at FSU stated. “Yes, Pride, indeed! Pride for this town’s real talk and soul prowess, Pride for Stonewall as a living practice and no small slogan, Pride for the radical care of our Black and trans leaders and the orgs they lead, and pride in amplifying the voices, needs, and demands of the unheard.”

In addition to speakers and chant leaders, the rainbow stage was graced by dance, poetry, song, guitar, and the undisputed highlight of the event, an exquisite drag performance by Tallahassee’s beloved Sassy Black. “Drag is usually done in the dark – at night, indoors, lit by spotlight. To see my own cousin take that stage in public, in broad daylight, and to see them met with absolute love and enthusiasm was beyond beautiful!” said TCAC founding member Trish Brown, who is also running for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 2 on a progressive, BLM, community control of police platform. “I want our city to be as diverse, open, affirming and inclusive as this stage here is today.”

And from the mouths of babes: “I was concerned about everything,” said Knox Lee, age 9, as he took a brief respite in an organizer’s AC-equipped vehicle standing by. “I really wanted to do something, so I asked my dad, what can we do? He said we could come here and so we did. I’m glad we are here. Everyone is so kind! I just want good things for everyone.”

Satya Stark-Bejnar (they/he) is an activist based in Tallahassee, Florida.

#TallahasseeFL #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #Stonewall #Pride #Antiracism #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee

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

Tallahassee, FL – A caravan of nearly 20 vehicles circled the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) Headquarters, April 25, to demand transparency and justice for the March 20 killing of unarmed father of four, Mychael Johnson, 31, by Tallahassee Police Department officer Zackri Jones, who is now a two-time killer cop. Officer Jones’ first killing in Tallahassee was in 2015, and he serves under recently-appointed Chief of Police and fellow killer-cop Lawrence Revell.

The safe-distance caravan protest was organized by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) and attended by local members of Dream Defenders, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Gender Odyssey, New Black Panthers, Students for a Democratic Society, UPS Teamsters, and Young Democratic Socialists for America with the blessing and participation of friends and family of the deceased.

TCAC organizers of Saturday’s caravan protest, have maintained their local organizing during the coronavirus crisis by pivoting from twice monthly in-person meetings to weekly conference calls. They emphasized safety and social distancing in the Facebook event details and over megaphone at the staging ground while cars lined up for the caravan. Attendees wore masks and maintained safe distance from people outside their pre-existing household clusters at the staging area before and after the caravan. They used their vehicles to display messages of solidarity and demands for justice and transparency including: Black lives matter; community control of police; indict killer cops; justice for Mychael Johnson; justice, not just another grand jury; release the March 20 tapes; transparency now, and others.

Consistent with other recent killings by police in North Florida, TPD has yet to release any body cam, dash cam, or other footage related to the killing of Mychael Johnson, and Officer Jones has not been indicted. A grand jury is expected, but timing is unclear because courts have limited functions during the COVID-19 global pandemic, and locals have little faith that justice can be achieved through a grand jury process.

“In Tallahassee, our racist criminal justice system has time and again sided with police when they have killed and assaulted Black people. In Florida, the so-called Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights allows police to investigate themselves and handpick evidence and witnesses. The grand juries are run by prosecutors close to TPD who collaborate to create fraudulent justifications of criminal violence by police,” said Zachary Shultz, local Teamster and UPS preloader who photographed the protest from a sidewalk along the caravan route.

Family members of Mychael Johnson say that they have received no apology or explanation from TPD, only intrusive inquiries into Johnson’s character. Mildred Richardson, sister of Mychael Johnson, questioned TPD’s eagerness to emphasize Johnson’s record. “It’s crazy because at the time, before he got killed they didn’t know who he was…they had no clue of who they were even killing… and now, to have them assassinate his character by his rap sheet, I don’t think it’s right. That was my butterfly; he was so free! He was a good person… they took a part of my heart. That’s what they took from his family, from my nieces and nephews. He was special… so sweet; he would give the shirt off his back.” She continued, “Everybody, as a community, we need to stick together, we have to stick together to get something done; we will not make a movement unless we stick together.”

In the interest of sticking together and getting things done, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC), with the participation of the community at large, has already won family-centered (not just police narrative) local news coverage and the release of the names of the involved officers by circulating an initial Fight Back! article, collecting online petition signatures, and initiating targeted call-in and email actions. TCAC is also raising funds for Mychael Johnson’s family so they can recoup their savings that were wiped out by paying out-of-pocket for arrangements, and hire a lawyer to get answers and pursue a wrongful death case against the city of Tallahassee.

Paula Hill, great-grandmother, New Black Panther, returning citizen, local Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) chapter leader and TCAC member is angered but not surprised by TPD’s latest killing. “I told people months back this would continue, even get worse if they put killer cop Lawrence Revell in as chief of police. We know him. He and his Alpha Squad terrorized our neighborhoods back in the 90s. Revell shot and killed Lil Nuke (George Williams) right after telling his mother that her son would come home in a body bag, and let me tell you – that killer cop has been rewarded ever since. You think he’s gonna keep a leash on his department when it comes to killing Black people? Obviously not. Jones needs to be indicted; Chief Revell should be removed; and that corrupt-as-hell city manager, Reese Goad that installed him, can go, too.”

Hill is not alone in her concerns about police ability and willingness to police themselves, and many share her distaste for the city of Tallahassee’s management of its police department. TCAC, along with other groups and individuals including at least one city and one county commissioner, vigorously protested City Manager Goad’s opaque selection process last winter that resulted in Revell’s appointment as police chief, have consistently demanded the removal of both, and are part of a growing movement calling for community control of police through the formation of elected civilian police accountability councils; entities that would have the ‘teeth’ to investigate and discipline (up to and including firing) officers who misuse their badge and endanger the public.

Regina Joseph, TCAC president, summed up the protest’s purpose, “We are here to demand justice for Mychael Johnson, yet another unarmed Back man killed by police. Police try to be gatekeepers of information, of answers, using the excuse of ‘ongoing investigation’ to give only radio silence. We are here to open those gates with a flood of media attention and demand answers, demand the release of the tapes, demand the indictment of Officer Zackri Jones, and build long-term for community control of police.”

Police did not interfere with the caravan protest, and there were no arrests.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #MychaelJohnson

Regina Joseph of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) shared a short video on the history of the day and facilitated a panel of five leaders representing over ten active local organizations.

The panelists were all people of color, ranging in age from 20 to 55: Valentina Beron, FSU student and organizer with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Veg FSU; Delilah Pierre, FSU graduate, member of Gender Odyssey, TCAC’s Outreach Coordinator, and Poet leading the Tallahassee Writers Collective; Marie Rattigan, FAMU graduate, Students for Bernie organizer, and Dream Defenders Coordinator; Katherine Draken, FSU graduate, UPS Teamster, and member of TCAC; and Paula Hill, local Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) Chapter Leader, Returning Citizen, New Black Panther, and great-grandmother.

Each panelist shared their personal and organizational history of organized resistance – local, statewide, and national, and spoke on a range of questions and ideas, including how to combat racism, sexism and other bigotries within activist spaces.

“You gotta check those homophobic and transphobic comments [that you hear] in your spaces... and study! You gotta read!” Delilah Pierre asserted.

Valentina Beron spoke to the multiple challenge’s women and queer and gender nonconforming survivors face when speaking up against their abusers and attackers. Not only do police and even close friends and family fail to believe survivors, “Institutions coddle abusers and people who sexually assault,” and added they “don’t face any repercussions, and it’s very difficult for victims to see this happen. That’s why I’m so proud to work with Students for a Democratic Society.”

Survivors told their stories of being assaulted on campus and SDS not only took them seriously but made it their campaign for the whole year. As Beron listed the organizations co-sponsoring to organize a march in April on the topic, Dream Defenders’ Marie Rattigan spoke up to add Dream Defenders to the list. That was the first of a burst of support, cooperation and solidarity to result from the International Women’s Day event. Campus organizers for Bernie Sanders’ campaign from FSU and FAMU enjoyed first contact with one another and pledged mutual support and cooperation; FRRC Chapter Leader Paula Hill assured everyone in the room, “If you’re a woman, gay, transgender, whoever you are, however you present, if you’re out with me, you’ve got protection!”; and all in attendance were invited to an upcoming public hearing on a locally researched and LGBTQIA+ composed Ordinance to Ban Conversion Therapy in Tallahassee.

When asked why it was important to hold an International Women’s Day event, facilitator Regina Joseph answered, “It’s important to have this event to acknowledge the long history of struggle and resistance led by working class and oppressed women. Events like this not only acknowledge the historical truth of this, but literally put center-stage the women and non-binary people who are currently front and center of local organizing work and political struggle.”

#TallahasseeFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #InternationalWomensDay #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Socialism #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee

Tallahassee, FL – On December 21, over 50 members of the Tallahassee community joined with Jamee Johnson’s friends and family at the Eternal Flame on Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University’s (FAMU) campus to honor the life of the 22-year-old senior who had recently been killed by police.

His life was taken December 14 by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) Officer J. Garriga, who shot Johnson four times during a traffic stop. Police have referred to Johnson’s possession of a legal concealed weapon to justify the shooting, despite acknowledging he had informed them of its presence. The family’s attorney, civil rights lawyer Lee Merrit, called for the release of the unedited body cam footage in a statement on December 16, and has questioned the police narrative, which conflicts with witness testimony.

Family members of Jamee Johnson drove from as far as Gainesville and Tampa to attend Saturday’s vigil, which was called for and planned by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC), with FAMU Dream Defenders co-hosting and mobilizing for attendance.

The vigil opened with music from Kodak Black, one of Jamee Johnson’s favorite artists. Many attendees brought handmade posters, with statements including “Long live Jamee,” “Rest in power,” “Community control of police” and “Black lives matter.”

Through speeches and shared memories, statements, chants and songs, TCAC and Dream Defender organizers – and attendees who accepted the mic – encouraged attendees to channel the energy that fueled them to attend the vigil into organizing for direct-action campaigns, and to win real-world demands for police transparency and accountability. Many attendees signed up to do exactly that.

Led by Regina Joseph of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, the crowd chanted, “Say his name,” “Justice for Jamee” and “People power!”

“Less talk, more action!” Dream Defender Squadd member Marie Rattigan voiced, and the crowd chanted it back.

When asked why Community Control of the Police was emphasized at the vigil, Joseph answered, “It’s important that we make sure no other family goes through this. We need community control of the police through an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council so that there is actual justice for those who are victims of police crimes.”

Organized efforts to demand transparency and justice are already underway, and there is a follow-up Justice for Jamee vigil planned, again at the Eternal Flame on FAMU campus, for Saturday, January 4, 2020.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #FAMU #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee #JameeJohnson

Tallahassee, FL – On October 22, a lively group rallied in the streets of the historic Florida capital city, chanting “Say her name,” “Black lives matter” and “Justice for Atatiana.” The action was a part of the National Day Against Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.

The protest brought attention to a recent case of police brutality: that of 28-year-old African American Atatiana Jefferson, who was shot in her own home by Fort Worth, Texas police officer Aaron Dean.

Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) and Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized the protest event.

When asked about the importance of the protest, vice president of Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society Isa Lenova responded, “It’s important to have events like these, because without them there is no justice for victims of police crimes. We need to bring attention to state violence and prevent it from being swept under the rug as it usually is.”

Speakers at the event stressed the importance of community control of the police. One speaker, Denzel Pierre, will be attending the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression conference in Chicago, which will focus on community control of the police and justice for political prisoners.

Pierre stressed the conference “is a place where young activists can develop and learn about old traditions, and older activists can educate a new generation.”

Speakers for the Chicago conference include Angela Davis and Frank Chapman.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee

Tallahassee, FL – A ‘done deal’ was undone February 20 after months of sustained resistance spearheaded by members of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC).

Last year, the city council tried to slip a $60 million police headquarters into a mostly Black, low-income Southside ‘Weed and Seed’ zone, an area where targeted federal funds incentivize local police to conduct high rates of low-level arrests, further criminalizing underserved communities.

City leaders quietly extracted just enough support from a few real estate agents, multi-property landlords and grant-thirsty heads of neighborhood associations to give the appearance of popular support – but left most Southside residents unaware that the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) headquarters was even on its way to our neighborhood.

The city was already in the negotiations phase to purchase the intended property when County Commissioner and FAMU Political Science Professor Bill Proctor hosted a Community Conversation on the topic, October 22, 2018, correctly suspecting that people “weren’t opposed” because people didn’t know.

At that county-hosted Community Conversation, a longtime city commissioner and friend to the Tallahassee Police Department, Curtis Richardson, asserted for 20 minutes at the start of the conversation, that a meeting of this nature was foolish, that resistance was too late; that the plan was already a “done deal.”

Commissioner Richardson was very wrong. In four months’ time he would not only eat his words, but he, himself would come to call a surprise motion to abandon the Southside TPD headquarters relocation plan, and furthermore, apologize.

In those same four months, Tallahassee residents elected a new mayor, voted out three city commissioners, lost a remaining commissioner (Scott Maddox) to FBI Fraud charges, and saw Maddox’s replacement (Elaine Bryant) not voted in by the public, but appointed by the remaining city commissioners.

The makeup of the city council was now four-fifths new, leaving only one holdover: Curtis “It’s a done deal” Richardson from the city council that hatched the plan to put the TPD headquarters in Southside in the first place.

Members of Tallahassee Community Action Committee attended that October 22 Community Conversation last autumn, and every city commission meeting since, including their annual retreat in January. TCAC Organizers demanded a halt to the plan and insisted there be more time for input from the community at large. Every time we showed up to oppose the plan, armed with from-the-heart speeches, brochures, and invitations to attend our regular organizing meetings, more and more people united with us, and more and more people we didn’t know personally showed up and articulated their opposition as well.

In January, unable to deny the growing resistance to their predecessors’ plan, the new city commission voted 3-2 to postpone the selection of an architect until after they had hosted some actual community listening events. At the time, only the Mayor John Dailey and Commissioner Curtis Richardson voted to proceed full steam ahead. Newly-elected Commissioners Jeremy Mattlow, a local pizza restauranteur, and Dianne Williams-Cox, a longtime local agitator for social justice, were joined by newly-appointed Commissioner Elaine Bryant in voting to pause the process.

The city hosted back-to-back town hall meetings this week, Monday at the Senior Center in midtown, across from the existing TPD headquarters, and Tuesday at a Community Center in Southside, just ahead of their city commission meeting on Wednesday, February 20.

Both town halls were packed, and attendees were overwhelmingly against having the TPD headquarters relocate to Southside. Some residents even threatened to run candidates against sitting commissioners in 2020 should they continue to ignore and dismiss community demands.

On February 20, the city commission’s agenda (as per the city’s promise) did not include business concerning the headquarters’ relocation to Southside. However, at the close of the meeting, the proposal’s most ardent public supporter, City Commissioner Curtis Richardson, unexpectedly motioned “to abandon” the Towne South Shopping Plaza as the site for a new TPD headquarters, acknowledging that people don’t trust the police and don’t want them in their neighborhood. And, he apologized for having previously trivialized public input.

City commissioners voted unanimously to abandon the Southside Tallahassee Police Department headquarters proposal, directing City Manager Reese Goad to go out and bring back other possible sites and a new process.

Mayor John Dailey said, after the vote, “We’re going in a new direction,” and Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox, a Southside resident herself, stated, “Southside wants economic impact, but not with police leading that impact.”

This is a tremendous win for the people, and a good reminder that elections matter; local elections really matter, and local activism really, really, really matters.

The Tallahassee Community Action Committee, in four months of sustained, democratically-organized resistance, buoyed by a sudden swell of awareness and popular opposition, stopped a “done deal” $60 million police headquarters in its tracks.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee

Tallahassee, FL – Over twenty people gathered at the steps of Wescott at Florida State University, February 18, to demonstrate against Trump’s so-called ‘National Emergency.’

As a result of this National Emergency declaration, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called an emergency action to rally against Trump’s growing anti-immigrant policies, and his plan build a wall to further militarize the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) and Amnesty International also spoke at the rally.

The rally began with chants such as, “No border, no wall, legalization for all,” and “No hate no fear, immigrants are welcome here.”

After several speeches the crowd began marching to the steps of the Old Capitol. They took the streets, avoiding the police barricades and warnings from officers to get on the sidewalk.

When they arrived at the capitol intersection, they continued to block the streets, chanting “Who’s streets?” and “Shut it down.”

When asked about the importance of rallying that day, Katherine Draken responded, “We need to stand in solidarity with refugees fleeing from the destruction and poverty caused by American imperialism.”

This rally was in response to a national call to action by National Students for a Democratic Society to oppose Trump’s wall. In addition to Tallahassee, other SDS chapters participated, including University of North Florida, Salt Lake City and Tampa. Students for a Democratic Society also signed on to the nationwide mobilization led by the Legalization for All network.

At the end of the rally, Students for a Democratic Society Vice President Isabela Casanova urged all those in attendance to continue the fight against Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.

“It’s important to show people who feel endangered by this situation that we find ourselves in that they are not alone, and they have support from us.”

#TallahasseeFL #International #ImmigrantRights #OppressedNationalities #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #DonaldTrump #NationalEmergency #TallahasseeSDS #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommittee