Tallahassee, FL – On August 4, the city of Tallahassee convened their monthly Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB) meeting. At this meeting, City Attorney Cassandra Jackson reviewed citizen criticism of the board and the barriers set up by pro-police legislation, like the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights and the Tallahassee city charter. Additionally, the public comment portion showed a clear demand for “Community control of the police now.” One of the major breakthroughs of the meeting was the fact that the city commission has not approved the “end-of-year report” submitted in February, which included questions of expanding authority and approving money for citizen outreach.

While the CPRB is the current police review board, it has not answered the insistence for police accountability after the three 2020 police murders in less than three months. The CPRB traces its inception to the George Floyd Uprising of 2020, where citizens of Tallahassee connected the struggle against police brutality in their own city – the police killings of Tony McDade, Mychael Johnson and Wilson Woodard – with the police brutality in Minneapolis. Hundreds flooded the streets of Tallahassee demanding community control of the police through a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC). CPAC completely restructures who the police are accountable to; instead of the police investigating themselves and deciding their own policy, the people of Tallahassee would have the power to decide TPD policy, inform TPD priorities, and fire police officers for misconduct.

Since its creation, the CPRB has faced a multitude of criticisms: the lack of expressed power and autonomy for the board, which allows TPD to reject every effective recommendation; the narrow scope given to the board by the city commission, causing the board members to be unclear of their own duties, powers and responsibilities; and, the lack of outreach to impacted communities, causing the meetings to be largely unattended or known about by the majority of Tallahassee civilians.

These criticisms culminated in a presentation by Delilah Pierre, president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC), on the demand of a Civilian Police Accountability Council to the CPRB members at the July meeting. Pierre said that the way the CPRB has been created makes it so that even if the board does want to change something, they have so little power to do so, adding, “There were 100,000 emails sent to the Tallahassee City Commission about CPAC and they still never discussed that in public.” This presentation not only directly challenged the legitimacy and power of the CPRB, but it also resulted in the investigation of legal barriers to the people’s demands for CPAC, which was the topic of the August meeting.

The August meeting was focused on the legal barriers, both local and state, that stand in the way to actual police accountability. Out of the nine points reviewed by the City Attorney, the majority of them could be summated into two things: Amending the city charter to take powers away from the City Manager; and amending areas of Florida Statute 112, namely the Law Enforcement Officer Bill of Rights.

While, normally, board members are only able to ask questions, the level of involvement and support of the community, publicized by TCAC, pushed the board to vote unanimously to allow citizen questions to the city attorney. This was unprecedented in the CPRB’s history and opened a clear line of dialogue with the community.

While the legal presentation offered insight on the way forward in regards to the grassroots efforts to expand the board’s authority, ideally in the form of CPAC, the board has also shown tensions regarding their limited powers. The responsibility for the board’s recommendations being rejected lies in the hands of Chief of Police Lawrence Revell. Recently, the chief of police rejected the reasonable CPRB recommendations on use of force with batons and on how to act when engaging with mentally ill persons.

A concrete decision on the way to move forward was not offered at this meeting, as motions to send letters to the city commission were withdrawn, but the CPRB is starting to show intense growing pains. The ordinance that created the board has further constricted and defanged the board. While a concrete decision was not reached, this may be one of the most consequential CPRB meetings since its inception.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #CivilianPoliceAccountabilityCommissionCPAC

Apparently, taking credit for the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ activists and community members is something to be proud of as well.

Both pictures used by the Tallahassee Democrat in their article “ Tallahassee receives a 100 score for LGBTQ+ inclusiveness in 2021 Human Rights Campaign report” were taken from a protest held by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee. One of the pictures is of Drag Queen Sassy Black, an incredible performer and member of the queer community in Tallahassee.

Behind her is a sign that says: “CPAC now!” This is a demand for community control of the police, which seeks to create a civilian police accountability council, which would have the power to discipline police officers for misconduct and brutality.

But the article written doesn’t tell you anything about this. It doesn’t quote her. It doesn’t heed or give any credit to the activists they are using the picture of. In fact, the only person receiving credit in this article is Mayor John Dailey.

Yes, Mayor John Dailey, supposed hero to the LGBTQ+ community. The same mayor who made it possible for five police organizations to gang up and arrest 18 protesters for fighting for CPAC and accountability in the cases of Tony Mcdade, Mychael Johnson and Wilbon Woodard.

The same mayor who refused to hear debate about CPAC despite the thousands of emails sent to the Tallahassee City Commission. The same mayor who loves the image and appearance of supporting the LGBTQ+ community in Tallahassee, but who sits in silence when actual activists and members of the LGBTQ+ community are being attacked by police violence and harassment.

When it comes to real action taken to protect and defend the queer and trans community, Dailey is nowhere to be seen. Unless, of course, there is a photoshoot involved. This is exceedingly dangerous because it obscures the actual organizers and activists struggling for progressive policies and actions, making it more difficult to recruit people to our work.

Instead, Dailey and the city commission get credit, making it seem like change in our city happens because of their personal kindness and generosity. This is especially evident in the creation of a conversion therapy ban in Tallahassee.

This was a policy created and drafted by Kathryn Lane and Lakey Love- two activists in Tallahassee. Members of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) worked with organizers such as Darwin Gamble and Barry Munroe, Florida State Universities Gender Odyssey and Pride Student Union, the Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society, and the aforementioned Lakey Love – the leader of the Florida Coalition for Transgender Liberation (FC4TL) and a member of TCAC – as well as myself, Regina Joseph, and many others.

We proposed the legislation, created the policy language, and presented it to the city and its commissioners. We thought it would take about three months to get the legislation passed, given the fact that city commissioners seemed receptive to the policy at first. It took over six months due to the city attorney constantly altering the language to be more exclusive to transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.

Yet again, in the article written by Karl Etters of the Tallahassee Democrat: “Tallahassee passes conversion therapy ban,” no credit was given to TCAC or any of the organizations involved in fighting for this ban. The names of Lakey Love and Kathryn Lane – who drafted the language for this entire bill – were not even mentioned.

We’re starting to see a pattern here.

John Dailey and establishment media are totally willing to silence and ignore the actions of activists working to implement change in our city.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the worst instance of John Dailey’s superficial support for the LGBTQ+ community. The worst instance in recent memory is Dailey’s refusal to call out or hold Police Chief Lawrence Revell responsible for attending the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).

We can’t only blame Revell for his attendance at this event. City leadership is totally responsible for allowing this breach of ethics and common decency to be allowed in our city. Revell’s attendance at a conference led by an organization that funds and supports anti-LGBTQ+ policy around the world was confirmed by Deputy Manager Cynthia Barber.

I wonder if the Municipal Equality Index would still give Tallahassee a score of “100” if they knew our city allowed our police chief to go on a paid excursion to an organization that believes such things as (and this is a direct quote): “God is the One who is able to transform lives and heal the scars of painful memories. We want to assure you that any willing person can be liberated from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.”

Revell and the city commission claim that his faith has nothing to do with any anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment – his affiliation with the BGEA was totally personal and faith based. It’s hard to not be skeptical of these claims, however, given the fact that Revell refused to say whether or not he thought being gay was a sin, and is supporting an organization that has donated $96 million into influencing anti-gay legislation worldwide.

Did Dailey admonish Revell for his actions? Did he propose an investigation? Did he do anything to hold him accountable? No, he didn’t. The only ones to speak up against this unethical behavior were City Commissioners Jack Porter and Jeremy Matlow. City Commissioners Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams-Coxs were also complicit in allowing Revell to get away with this breach in conduct. Williams-Cox even said, “We did not sell our souls and ourselves to these positions. We are public servants. And even public servants need time off. We do have lives outside of this.”

To add insult to injury, the city commission issued no formal apology or criticism even after the Department of Justice threatened to investigate Revell. Despite Revell’s claims of being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and never discriminating against his own officers, proof surfaced that a former employee had alleged she was being discriminated against by Revell for her sexual orientation.

Once again, John Dailey said nothing. It seems that LGBTQ+ rights are something he only pretends to care about when it personally benefits him.

As a Black, transgender activist who has been struggling to make Tallahassee a safer place for queer and trans people since 2019, I think it is imperative we give credit to the organizations involved in struggling for progressive change in Tallahassee. Stop saying “LGBTQ+ activists” in articles and start saying “The Tallahassee Community Action Committee, The Florida Coalition for Transgender Liberation, Gender Odyssey, and Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society.”

Stop giving Dailey and opportunistic city commissioners like Dianne Williams-Cox and Curtis Richardson credit for our accomplishments. Start uplifting commissioners who actually support and work with activists, such as Matlow and Porter.

And as for John Dailey, I think that when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights in Tallahassee, he should stick to his strategy whenever supporting them doesn’t benefit him personally.

Keeping his mouth shut and staying silent.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #CivilianPoliceAccountabilityCommissionCPAC #JohnDailey

Minneapolis, MN – On October 8, about a dozen members of the University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society disrupted a meeting of the UMN Board of Regents to demand the implementation of a Campus Civilian Police Accountability Council (Campus CPAC).

“Students at the University of Minnesota deserve agency in regard to our so-called public safety,” said main speaker, Emma Hjelle, who also called for “a CPAC as a means to disarm, demilitarize and defund the University of Minnesota Police Department.”

As the protesters exited the meeting after Hjelle’s speech, they demanded a Campus CPAC by chanting “What do we want? Community control! When do we want it? Now!”

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #StudentsForADemocraticSocietyUOfMN #CivilianPoliceAccountabilityCommissionCPAC

Minneapolis, MN – Nearly 150 people rallied in North Minneapolis, March 25, to launch a massive voter petition campaign to amend the city charter and establish an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission (CPAC).

They began outside the Minneapolis Police Department 4th Precinct building on Plymouth Avenue. Once the site of an 18-day occupation demanding justice for Jamar Clark in 2015, the precinct building is now surrounded by barricades, fencing and barbed wire, like other police precincts and government buildings in the city where killer cop Derek Chauvin is on trial for the murder of George Floyd.

The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J) has been organizing for several years to build support for community control of the police. This start of the petition campaign, politically organized by the new grouping called Minneapolis for Community Control of Police (MCCP), is a major step. Once MCCP gathers the signatures of about 12,000 registered voters, the charter amendment can go on the ballot.

Several movement leaders addressed the media and supporters on the significance of fighting for community control in the city that sparked a national rebellion in response to Floyd’s murder. Emcees Destiny Franks and Sam Martinez kept the energy high with chants between speakers.

After the main speakers, there was the official signing of the first petition. Jamar Clark’s mother, Irma Burns, was the very first person to sign, followed by her husband. Then folks from across the city – Black, native and white, including a union president and a great grandmother – filled in the rest of the page, with the crowd cheering after each signer.

CPAC is community control of police

CPAC – an all elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission – puts the power over police in the hands of those that are most affected by police violence. The CPAC would have hiring and firing power, which would allow them to remove cops with previous records of abuse and violence. The CPAC would also set policy and protocol for interacting with civilians, and any and all complaints would be reviewed to ensure that officers are taken off the streets immediately following an incident. Additionally, because the main goal of a CPAC is to give power to the community, they ultimately decide whether to abolish, dismantle or defund police, not members of city government whose main concern is protecting property and profit over people.

A TCC4J statement notes, “We demand the power to decide who polices our communities and how our communities are policed. We demand the power to get racist and violent cops off our streets – no more serial killers! We've had enough with leaving power in the hands of a mayor and City Council that have failed to hold police accountable. We're done with letting the police ‘police’ themselves – because they just don't. Enough is enough, it's time to fight for community control of police. In Minneapolis, that fight begins with amending the city charter to establish an elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission.”

The crowd then marched a few blocks to the site where Jamar Clark was killed in 2015, where the rally continued, there were homemade cupcakes for all, provided by movement youth, and every Minneapolis resident in attendance clamored for their chance to sign the petition for CPAC.

The community speaks out

Several speakers addressed the crowd at the 4th Precinct building and at the closing rally.

Jae Yates, of TCC4J said the group “has fought against police brutality alongside the families of Jamar Clark, Justin Teigen, Marcus Golden and many others fighting for justice for stolen lives. CPAC is a tangible, radical proposition that carries forward the vision of the Black Panther Party of the 60s, a vision where the people have direct control over policing. It is a concrete plan that emphasizes accountability for the families who continue to grieve those stolen from them by police. It gives people the power to defund, discipline and, in the words of Frank Chapman of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, ‘regulate the police out of existence.’ It is the communities that are most affected by police violence that know what we need and what we don’t.”

Yates closed by saying, “While others push for meaningless diversity trainings, name changes and toothless, vague reforms, we fight for true change, aligned with the larger struggle for Black liberation and sovereignty for all oppressed nations. We at TCC4J stand with the National Alliance, the families fighting for justice for their loved ones, and all people who organize for a future free of police terror. All power to the people!”

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME Local 3800 and member of Minnesota Workers United told the crowd, “Hundreds of AFSCME 3800 members live in the neighborhood here, where Jamar Clark was killed, and in the neighborhood where George Floyd was killed by the police. The mere fact that an organization like the Minneapolis Police Federation calls itself a trade union does not make it part of the labor movement. You are not part of the labor movement and not a real union if you defend white supremacy and brutality in your midst.”

Horazuk continued, “We are here to say to the elected and police officials in the city of Minneapolis: You’ve had your chance to hold the police accountable. You have failed. And with each killing by the police, you have failed more and more spectacularly. We’re here today as a union to band with others to demand a Civilian Police Accountability Commission. The time is now for community control.”

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR Minnesota, blasted the city’s weak complaint review process, saying it has gotten “3000 complaints in its eight years. Of those, only 20 officers have faced some form of discipline. That is less than half a percent of complaints. And the majority of people who face police brutality, fear retribution and intimidation from the police, so they never bring forth those complaints, including my own brother who was brutalized by the police, who did not bring forward a case because he feared the police.”

Hussein then went on to acknowledge Jalyne Murray, a Black youth who exposed an incident where police punched and brutalized youth. “That’s what we need. We need people to take back the control. The idea of community control of police has existed for a long time. They have given us, many places across this country, a watered down version, where citizens are not able to fire, where citizens are not able to hold police accountable. Here in Minneapolis, we can start and create the best form of community control of police. That is what we need. This system lives in a closed system. It lives in darkness. It never likes a little bit of light. It does not like transparency. It does not like accountability.”

He mentioned an eight-bill package of police accountability measures that groups have been pressuring for at the state capitol, including one strengthening community control all over the state. “People have been asking, what is the solution? Here is a solution right in front of you: community control of the police.”

Longtime community leader and activist, Samantha Pree-Gonzalez said that the city of Minneapolis budget has “a permanent line item that is funding death in this city, because we know that the cops are going to murder people. We know that someone is going to lose an eye or a limb or some other issue to the point where the city actually funds a permanent line-item for this. What we’re saying is, we don’t want to pay for death. We want to pay for life! It’s time to have control of our communities. Not just police, but beyond policing.”

Travis Jordan and George Floyd were remembered by loved ones Paul Johnson and Cortez Rice, who spoke about these men killed by Minneapolis police. Movement leader Michelle Gross spoke, as did Anti-War Committee member Meredith Aby-Keirstead.

The Minneapolis for Community Control of Police campaign includes Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar and is supported by Black Lives Matter Twin Cities Metro, Blue LIES Matter, CAIR Minnesota, Families Supporting Families, Justice for Marcus Golden, Native Lives Matter, AFSCME Local 3800, AFSCME Local 2822, Anti-War Committee, FRSO Twin Cities, MN Workers United, MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Student Movement Activists of South High, Twin Cities Omega Zuluz (Zulu Union), UMN Students for a Democratic Society, Women Against Military Madness.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TwinCitiesCoalition4JusticeForJamarTCC4J #CivilianPoliceAccountabilityCommissionCPAC