Tallahassee, FL – On February 12, over a dozen students of Florida A&M University gathered at the university’s iconic Eternal Flame to stand up against the consolidation of numerous degree programs, including the university’s Black history programs.

The rally was one of FAMU Students for a Democratic Society’s first actions on campus. FAMU, a public historically Black college (HBCU), has seen an upsurge in the student movement after constant attacks on the student body and Black history by the state’s Republican establishment.

One of these most recent attacks was aimed at the African American Studies programs, and it follows a pattern of consolidations, terminations, and removal of humanities programs in states across the country.

“Black lives matter! Black history matters!” FAMU SDS President Justin Jordan led students in chanting around the school’s Eternal Flame to oppose the consolidation of African American History programs.

In addition to rallying at the Eternal Flame, protesters also marched through the quad area where students campaigned for positions in FAMU’s student government and SGA, chanting and holding signs.

“Black studies built Black leaders,” one sign read.

“FAMU’s academic diversity matters,” read another.

Students also tried to speak during public comment at the FAMU Board of Trustees meeting, but the meeting was fast-tracked, and only one member of FAMU SDS was allowed to talk.

University leaders told students that the “decision had already been made,” regardless of the lack of public comment or a university forum for students to voice their discontent.

Despite the university’s attempts to sway public opinion, the student body has clearly voiced its discontent with the erasure not only of African American Studies but also of a whole host of other programs, including fine arts, mechanical engineering, environmental science, and many other crucial degree programs.

FAMU SDS’s post informing the student body about the situation has reached over 100,000 people, and FAMU SDS is dedicated to continuing to fight for the students of FAMU.

FAMU has a long history of activism, from Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, who refused to leave their seats on a city bus and launched the famous Tallahassee Bus Boycotts, to the students who formed the Malcolm X Liberation Front. The students are now ready to carry on that legacy of struggle, fighting against repression and an administration more concerned with lining its pockets than addressing student concerns.

FAMU finds itself in a perilous position, with an incredibly unpopular MAGA puppet in office, Marva Johnson, who not only attended a White House “Black History” event, but also proudly went on a trip to Israel with FAMU students during Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. Johnson was on the committee to help organize the ultimately cancelled 2020 Republican National Convention.

For many years, FAMU has been under the gun, from the threats of consolidation with the nearby public predominately white institution in the 1970s, to the abolition and eventual relocation of its law school, to staggering disparities in funding. Still, FAMU has persisted, through bold student struggle.

FAMU’s chapter of SDS plans to continue that legacy of struggle, fighting for bold progressive change on FAMU’s campus!

To get involved, follow @famusdsofficial on Instagram.

#TallahasseeFL #FL #StudentMovement #FAMU #SDS #HBCU #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican

Tallahassee, FL – On Saturday, May 24, a group of students and community members joined to oppose the appointment of Marva Johnson as the 13th president of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU). FAMU is a Historically Black college and university in Tallahassee, Florida.

Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society hosted a rally at Railroad Square near the Rattler statue, FAMU’s mascot. Kajari Sa-Ra, a junior at FAMU led the protest, exemplifying his school spirit and the student body's resistance to Johnson’s appointment. “I like my F in front of my A! My A in front of my M! My M in front of my U!” Sa-Ra chanted, “I love my HBCU, and we will not allow it to be taken! Hands off FAMU!”

Sa-Ra is concerned about potential cuts to curriculum under a Johnson administration, “One of the graduation requirements is that you learn African American history. Things like that being incorporated into the curriculum of the school help us maintain the spirit that a lot of FAMU students have to speak up on these things.”

President Marva Johnson has been criticized for her close affiliation with Donald Trump and Florida Governors Rick Scott and DeSantis, even aiding in failed plans to host the 2020 Republican National Convention in Jacksonville.

“More and more we are seeing education here being treated by Ron DeSantis, the board of governors, and the Republican Party as something that they can buy and influence,” stated Joelle Nuñez of the Tallahassee Immigrant Rights Alliance.

Nuñez continued, “The students of FAMU didn’t want Marva Johnson! Nobody wants to face oppression, and we have to band together more than ever now to show them that we’re not going to stand for this!”

“FAMU cannot and should not be a training ground for an administrator with no academic or collegiate experience. She should be the next CEO of a company and not the next CEO of a university,” said Paul Derevere, of Food Not Bombs and a FAMU alum.

After Johnson’s inclusion as one of the finalists in FAMU’s presidential search, many community members called for the process to be restarted or even halted. Despite those concerns, and over 17,000 alumni, students and community members signing a petition opposing her candidacy, she was confirmed by the FAMU board of trustees in an 8 to 4 vote.

“It is absolutely shameful that despite thousands upon thousands of FAMU students, alumni, community members, staff and faculty speaking out against the appointment of Marva Johnson, it happened anyway!” SDS Member Lain Dorsey stated.

Before the Tallahassee SDS protest on May 24, FAMU student Elijah Hooks organized a petition and rally opposing her presidential candidacy. A May 14 rally was held at Will Packer Amphitheater and featured FAMU alumni and donor Will Packer himself as a keynote speaker.

Despite this, the university administration and FAMU Police Department prevented the rally from using the amphitheater’s built-in speakers. They had to rely on a small speaker provided by members of Tallahassee SDS. Further, FAMU police and local law enforcement told the event organizers that they could not hand out water bottles to rally goers as they “could be used as projectiles,” on a day exceeding temperatures of 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite following every absurd order by the police, the university administration suspended Hooks, escorting him off campus when he attended the trustees’ vote.

“FAMU administration needs to take their hands off of student activists and allow them to actually protest and express their First Amendment rights! This suspension should be lifted!” declared SDS member Lain Dorsey.

In the face of ongoing attacks on higher education by President Trump and Governor DeSantis, the resistance of the student body remains strong. There is no doubt that the spirit of FAMU and its storied history of student activism will not be stifled. Marva Johnson and state education leaders under the thumb of DeSantis may try, but students are organizing and fighting back.

#TallahasseeFL #FL #StudentMovement #SDS #FAMU

Tallahassee, FL – Tuesday, November 19, Student Activists at Florida State University came together to condemn the institution’s complicity in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Student demonstrators laid themselves along the graveled concrete, just outside one of the campus’s most busy academic buildings and refused to move – symbolizing the 40,000 plus Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023.

The demonstration was organized by the Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in coalition with other community advocacy groups. The turnout was about 30 people, with an even greater number of law enforcement watching from afar.

Throughout the demonstration, student activists held up signs detailing the lives of Palestinian children whose stories had been cut short, while others stood up and spoke against the university’s cooperation with war profiteers.

As soon as the student activists began to lead the crowd in chant, campus police quickly intervened, ordering the demonstration to “quiet down,” lest the FSU students studying inside “be made aware of their university’s complicity in genocide,” as one of the activists powerfully put it.

Eventually it rained. Despite the unfortunate weather, the student activists picked up their things and got together for a final march, solemnly chanting affirmations of Palestinian liberation.

Florida State University (FSU) and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) have a joint engineering school, with long-held ties to weapons manufacturers Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and the Boeing corporation, among others. These corporations sponsor internships, make massive donations to the universities, and often appear as guest speakers on campus in engineering classrooms in the hopes that new talent will funnel into the weapons manufacturing industry. These corporations actively produce and sell the weapons given to Israel, which are then used to carry out the televised genocide.

FSU sophomore JJ Glueck has been organizing with the Tallahassee SDS for the better part of a year now and was beyond enthusiastic to talk about FSU’s involvement with the genocide, and her own, deeply passionate reasons for activism.

Glueck stated, “If you, as a person in Palestine who has experienced genocide, can continue to resist and speak, the least I can do is speak up for them in my own country, playground, and backyard and try my absolute best to demand FSU divest from Israel.

Glueck’s advocacy, and “radicalization,” as she puts it, is anything but new, with roots tracing far back to her youth. Glueck was in elementary school during the Ferguson unrest - a series of large-scale protests against police violence and militarization, sparked by the killing of African American Michael Brown in Saint Louis, Missouri. She witnessed the protests firsthand from her car window.

This experience had certainly taken root in her; by the time she had moved to Florida and the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 had begun, she was out there with the rest of them – organizing and doing the work.

“I saw what police officers did to protesters. I saw it when I was young in Saint Louis, and I saw it again in Florida – I saw what police did to Black people. That was my radicalizing experience.” Glueck’s passion for advocacy didn’t end at racial injustice in America, however. The similarities between the struggles of African Americans in the U.S. and Palestinians in the Middle East were a turning point for Glueck.

“I think back to what I remember of the Ferguson [unrest], I remember seeing that from a car, but also seeing it on the news, and seeing the way the police responded to those protests; seeing the way the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] responds to the people of Palestine, if you take out the headlines, it’s the same god damn thing. It’s so eerily similar, and they’re shooting people in the streets, massive amounts of people, our police don’t look that different - it should terrify all Americans,” stated Glueck.

Repression at FSU

During the wave of pro-Palestinian student encampments across the country, FSU students held their own, only for campus police to relocate the protesters several times, ultimately turning on sprinklers to disburse demonstrators.

Tallahassee’s SDS was then interrupted again by campus police. During SDS’s general body meeting set to discuss tactics on keeping protests safe, campus police arrived and ordered them to relocate from the Landis Green, despite it being designated as a “free speech zone.”

Police presence escalated further after Ron Desantis signed a bill into law banning DEI initiatives in public Florida colleges. SDS held a protest in opposition to the law, only for police to watch from afar in a militarized armored vehicle, as what Glueck described to be an intimidation tactic.

Then, Tallahassee’s SDS was de-listed as a registered student organization after protesting at the university’s board of trustees meeting. The university alleged that the students failed to leave after being asked by police, despite video evidence of the contrary. Tallahassee’s SDS released a statement condemning the university’s decision, alleging that FSU has “shown their fear of the student movement by wielding campus police in cowardice.”

At the time of writing, members of Tallahassee’s SDS are currently undergoing mandatory disciplinary hearings at the hands of the FSU administration. Considering the University of South Florida’s willingness to expel student protesters, these disciplinary hearings aren’t to be ignored, and could have grave, disproportionate consequences for the students activists involved.

Students across Florida have shown their teeth, and university administrations have done the same. If the suppression of FSU students is anything to go off of, life as a politically conscious Florida college student may just get worse – somehow. Only continued activism and organizing can prevent this and build the student movement into an even more powerful vehicle for striking blows against this rotten system.

#TallahasseeFL #Tally #TallySDS #SDS #FAMU #FSU #Desantis #NorthropGrumman #LockheedMartin #Boeing #FreePalestine

The negotiations had been six months in the making. The first offer made by the administration only gave raises to 21 out of 500 FAMU AFSCME employees.

The picket line will take place between 8 and 11 a.m. at the roundabout on Wahnish and FAMU Way.

Local 3343 President Andre Crumity believes the university could do better. “We have to bring awareness to what is happening on our campus. For far too long we have not been recognized – only through lip service, but never through action. We have to demonstrate why we believe that this administration has not been fair to its employees. We want results.”

Last year, FAMU President Larry Robinson’s salary increased from $385,000 to about $419,650.

According to Crumity, some employees have not had raises in almost a decade: “This is going on for too long. This is getting too old.”

#FAMU #AFSCME #Tallahassee #unionStruggle

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 – Around 100 Dream Defenders and community members gathered in Lake Ella Park, Aug. 18, to speak out against the police murder of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The rally also focused on the injustice of police brutality and systematic racism perpetuated by the U.S. The crowd was tired of the criminalization of Black and Brown people.

Dream Defenders President Brian Marshall started off the action, stating, “We must no longer stand for this New Jim Crow system and we must put an end to the criminalization of our youth.” The demonstrators then marched on the Tallahassee Police Department. The crowd was upbeat with their hands up, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot! “ Protesters gathered at the entrance of the Police Department where one by one, protesters voiced their anger with the racist status quo.

The rally not only brought attention to the killing of Mike Brown but also to brought to light to the misuse of police power and instances of police brutality in the Tallahassee community.

Vice president of the Dream Defenders, Regina Joseph, spoke on police misuse of power. She recounted the horrific case of a police shooting at a Tallahassee club. An unarmed teenager, Duane Strong, was killed by a police officer in the parking lot. The officer later claimed Strong attempted to back into the officer’s car. Although there were no grounds for the shooting, the police officer has yet to face any punishment whatsoever. Since 2000, over 24 cases of police shooting have occurred where there have been instances of police brutality or misuse of power, yet no real investigation has occurred.

FAMU Dream Defenders Vice president, Everton Foster, spoke out against the misuse of police power and accountability, stating, “At the root of police brutality problem is power. The American government has given the police excessive weaponry, excessive power and has made them responsible for very little.”

Other protesters brought light to issues regarding the downright racist misconduct used by police. Florida State University Dream Defenders organizer, Shivaani Ehsaan, stated, “ We must stand against oppression wherever it takes place. We are now seeing the violent use of American power both abroad and at home. We must stand with the Palestinian people who are facing the oppression of Israeli bombings done with the help of the U.S.”

The continued uprising in Ferguson and the nationwide actions in solidarity are finally putting the system of the New Jim Crow under trial by the people. Missouri police have resorted to tear gas and jailing protesters. To add another insult to injury, Missouri’s Governor Nixon has gone as far as to call in the National Guard. As a result of this blatant disregard for Black and Brown life, the widespread discontent has now growing.

#TallahasseeFl #TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #FloridaStateUniversity #DreamDefenders #Antiracism #FAMU #FSU #MichaelBrown #MikeBrown

Tallahassee, FL – Around 100 Dream Defenders and community members gathered in Lake Ella Park, Aug. 18, to speak out against the police murder of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The rally also focused on the injustice of police brutality and systematic racism perpetuated by the U.S. The crowd was tired of the criminalization of Black and Brown people.

Dream Defenders President Brian Marshall started off the action, stating, “We must no longer stand for this New Jim Crow system and we must put an end to the criminalization of our youth.” The demonstrators then marched on the Tallahassee Police Department. The crowd was upbeat with their hands up, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot! “ Protesters gathered at the entrance of the Police Department where one by one, protesters voiced their anger with the racist status quo.

The rally not only brought attention to the killing of Mike Brown but also to brought to light to the misuse of police power and instances of police brutality in the Tallahassee community.

Vice president of the Dream Defenders, Regina Joseph, spoke on police misuse of power. She recounted the horrific case of a police shooting at a Tallahassee club. An unarmed teenager, Duane Strong, was killed by a police officer in the parking lot. The officer later claimed Strong attempted to back into the officer’s car. Although there were no grounds for the shooting, the police officer has yet to face any punishment whatsoever. Since 2000, over 24 cases of police shooting have occurred where there have been instances of police brutality or misuse of power, yet no real investigation has occurred.

FAMU Dream Defenders Vice president, Everton Foster, spoke out against the misuse of police power and accountability, stating, “At the root of police brutality problem is power. The American government has given the police excessive weaponry, excessive power and has made them responsible for very little.”

Other protesters brought light to issues regarding the downright racist misconduct used by police. Florida State University Dream Defenders organizer, Avinash Ramanathan, stated, “ We must stand against oppression wherever it takes place. We are now seeing the violent use of American power both abroad and at home. We must stand with the Palestinian people who are facing the oppression of Israeli bombings done with the help of the U.S.”

The continued uprising in Ferguson and the nationwide actions in solidarity are finally putting the system of the New Jim Crow under trial by the people. Missouri police have resorted to tear gas and jailing protesters. To add another insult to injury, Missouri’s Governor Nixon has gone as far as to call in the National Guard. As a result of this blatant disregard for Black and Brown life, the widespread discontent has now growing.

#PeoplesStruggles #FloridaStateUniversity #DreamDefenders #Antiracism #Tallahassee #FAMU #FSU #MichaelBrown #MikeBrown

The bad legislation went away when Florida Speaker of the House Will Weatherford introduced a compromise. It calls for funding a study into the viability of the joint engineering college. This then passes the buck to the Florida Board of Governors in March 2015. They have final decision on the future of the joint and historical partnership.

Florida State Senator John Thrasher, the campaign co-chair for Governor Rick Scott’s re-election campaign, originally proposed splitting the engineering college. Thrasher attempted to cover his tracks by claiming the discussion would not have taken place if he had not proposed a budget amendment to fund the split.

“Thrasher is a notorious anti-worker and anti-higher education bully, who this session, due to the FAMU and FSU students working together, didn’t get what he wanted,” said Michael Sampson, organizer with the Dream Defenders. “He can try and sum this up any way he wants but he lost this go around and those who wanted to prevent the FAMU-FSU School of Engineering from being split this year were successful.”

Thrasher is rumored to be a finalist for the FSU presidential search. Many view his proposal to split the FAMU-FSU School of Engineering as a power grab by elite FSU interests at the expense of FAMU. This is currently one of the few partnerships between a mostly white university and a historically Black university. Neither FAMU nor FSU administrative leadership were even notified of the possibility of a split of its engineering program before it happened. New FAMU President, Elmira Mangum, said that FAMU by itself didn’t have the means to sustain its own engineering program at current rates of funding from the state legislature.

Florida State University is a predominantly white education institution that continues to grow, often at the expense of the neighboring African-American communities. This move by Thrasher to split away from a joint venture with the Florida A&M University was a move that angered many of Tallahassee’s African americans. Engineering students from the National Society of Black Engineers spoke out with Dream Defenders against the attempted injustice.

“I think that it was a great step,” said FSU Engineering student and former vice-president of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Samuel Ichite. “It’s great to know that the logical step was taken as a result of different people stepping up and standing for what was right. It should never be left up to politicians to determine the fate of our education.”

Tallahassee Dream Defenders, working with organizations like NSBE and the FAMU Student Government Association and other FAMU student leaders, organized to prevent Thrasher’s power play from being successful. However, student activists know they have a long way to go to make sure the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is protected in the future.

“This is a short-term win but we need to keep organizing over the summer and throughout next year to prevent them from attempting to split it again,” said Melanie Andrade, president of the FAMU chapter of Dream Defenders. “We need to make sure we are researching whatever they are proposing and targeting whoever needs to be targeted in order to make sure the FAMU-FSU School of Engineering stays the way it is.”

#TallahasseeFL #AfricanAmerican #FloridaStateUniversityFSU #Antiracism #FAMU