Jacksonville, FL – Hundreds gathered Tuesday afternoon, June 27,in downtown’s James Weldon Johnson Park across from City Hall to remember Ben Frazier, a well-known civil rights activist and elder in Jacksonville, Florida who passed away this past Saturday, June 24, after a bout with cancer.

Frazier, founder of the well-known Northside Coalition of Jacksonville (NCOJ) was a force to be reckoned with in Jacksonville. The NCOJ,started in 2016, was vital in the fight for police accountability along with successfully fighting to rename public schools named after confederate generals, and taking down confederate monuments.

Community activists, including those from the Jacksonville Community Activist Committee (JCAC) along with other groups, elected officials, such as State Representative Angie Nixon and Jax Mayor-elect Donna Deegan, all spoke to the crowd about the greatness of Frazier and how much he will be missed.

“Don’t let anyone sanitize the legacy of Ben Frazier,” said Michael Sampson, a leader in the JCAC that worked closely with Ben Frazier and the NCOJ over the past few years. “Ben Frazier fought for civilian oversight of police, fought to take down symbols of white supremacy, fought for economic justice and labor rights. When we fight, we must remember how Ben fought for us so we must continue his legacy by fighting for what he would have fought for.”

Maceo George, another leader in NCOJ along with being on the executive board of the local Central Labor Council and former president of the local chapter of the Letter Carriers said at the event, “I was glad that he would know, that his name would live forever and that's what we're going to do because we're all going to be Ben Frazier, whenever we're out here.”

Groups plan to remember Ben Frazier’s legacy fighting for the racial and economic justice.

His family wrote the following release after his passing, “It is with love and heartfelt sorrow that the family of Benjamin McVickers Frazier, Jr. shares the news of his passing just one day after his 73rd. He was surrounded by family and close friends as he courageously ended his nine-month battle with cancer at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, 2023 at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville.

The family asks for privacy during this difficult time and will announce memorial information when details become available.

Ben was a longtime broadcast journalist who became the first Black anchor of a major news show in Jacksonville. He was also an award-winning civil and human rights leader, a tireless voice for the voiceless even as he underwent cancer treatment. Ben received the NAACP’s Rutledge H. Pearson Civil Rights Award for his advocacy and outstanding contributions to civil rights over many decades.

Ben was extremely proud that he spoke at the United Nations. He talked about it frequently.

He fought for equality among Jacksonville’s citizens, equity in our neighborhoods, and integrity, transparency, accountability and compassion in our government.

He will be missed sorely by family, friends and the Jacksonville community”

#JacksonvilleFL #AfricanAmerican #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC

Jacksonville, FL – Around 80 people gathered at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Jacksonville, November 20 after the acquittal of racist vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse, demanding the Department of Justice file civil rights charges. Organized by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, they were joined by Florida State Representative Angie Nixon (who spoke), members of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, UNF SDS, Take Em Down Jax, Florida Rising, DSA Jax, Our Revolution along with other community members and activists.

The rally was started with chants of, “Do your job, DOJ, don’t let Kyle get away” along with chants of “Indict, convict, send Kyle Rittenhouse to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell.”

This mobilization was one of many mobilizations in over a dozen cities this past weekend called by the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #KyleRittenhouse

Jacksonville, FL – Around 50 community members came together outside of City Hall, October 26, to rally for the re-instatement of the “Safer Together Committee” by the City Council. The rally was led by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) and joined by the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, Students for A Democratic Society, Take Em Down Jax, Florida Rising, and Women’s March Jacksonville.

The rally began at 4 p.m. with the crowd chanting “People! Power!” while various news stations set up to collect footage of the event. Michael Sampson, a leader of JCAC, kicked off the rally by demanding that the city council reinstate the Safer Together Committee in order to continue the work that the people started in 2020, when tens of thousands marched downtown in the wake of brutal police violence. Sampson stated, “The Safer Together Committee was created after the people demanded police accountability.”

​The Safer Together Committee was launched by late Councilmember Tommy Hazouri, in order to address the lack of trust and accountability from the Jacksonville Sherriff’s Office (JSO) after tens of thousands took to the streets, led by the JCAC and its allies. Among other recommendations, a citizen’s review board was proposed in order to increase some community involvement throughout JSO internal investigations. The meetings culminated with a report done by Doctors Tammy Hodo and Brian Van Brunt that delineated the various ways that JSO exacerbated the lack of trust and accountability to the community of Jacksonville.

Councilmember Michael Boylan suddenly resigned after pressure from JSO Sheriff Mike Williams and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the police union that has fought against any police accountability measures. Council President Sam Newby, also pressured by JSO and the FOP, later moved to end the Safer Together Committee.

Immediately after Boylan’s resignation, community members sent a letter to Council President Sam Newby demanding the reinstatement of the committee. The letter was signed by 15 organizations as well as State Representative Angie Nixon and the president of the local NAACP chapter, Isaiah Rumlin.

After the rally, the crowd moved inside council chambers to make public comment in support of reinstating the Safer Together Committee in order to continue the path towards community control of the police.

Monica Gold, an organizer with JCAC, stated that it was “interesting that even a small semblance of transparency and accountability made city council so uncomfortable”. During the rally, JCAC leader Christina Kittle asked the crowd who city council was protecting with this rash decision to end the well-supported Safer Together Committee. She answered her own question with, “they are protecting the campaign donations they receive from the Fraternal Order of the Police.”

​The Jacksonville Community Action Committee will continue to demand reinstatement of the Safer Together Committee as part of their organizing efforts for community control of the police in Jacksonville and across the nation.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #NorthsideCoalitionOfJacksonville

Jacksonville, FL – Around 40 community members, led by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) came out to Jacksonville City Hall July 27 to rally and demand a People’s Budget before the city council meeting started.

The week before, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry released his proposed 2021-2022 budget, which calls for an increase to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) budget by $29 million, bringing their total share of the budget to around $513 million and accounting for nearly 40% of city spending.

Community members from the Northside Coalition, Southern Women Against Gun Violence and representatives from other organizations all came out to speak at the rally and gave public comment before the city councilors.

“We came out to demand our city officials allocate our taxpayer dollars to ending poverty, not more policing,” said Monique Sampson of the JCAC. “We’ve seen JSO’s budget go up every year while the Black community struggles to get roads repaired and septic tanks removed. We have the democratic right to determine how our money is spent.”

Despite the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s consistent increase in funding the previous years, Jacksonville has not experienced a decrease in crime and had an actual uptick in violent crime along with citizen police complaints last year. The JCAC says the People’s Budget aims to address the social issues that contribute directly to crime and poor public health. It includes proposals for investment in living wage job opportunities, mental health services and strengthened city infrastructure. The People’s Budget also contains legislation that activists are pushing for, including marijuana decriminalization, demanding city contracts go to Black contractors equally, and redirecting sheriff’s office funds to helping grow Black small business.

Organizers also say the People’s Budget aims to strengthen organized labor through redirecting city funds away from policing to public workers and a creation of a large public works program that would hire workers at a living wage. The People’s Budget contains the push for legislation such as a union neutrality ordinance for any vendor doing business with the city, along with calls for raising taxes on the wealthy to fund development in the Urban Core, Northwest and Out East, three historically Black and underdeveloped areas in Jacksonville.

“In the Black Belt and in cities like Jacksonville in the Black Belt, you’ve seen historic underdevelopment,” said Neal Jefferson with the JCAC. “The People’s budget aims to change that.”

After the rally, around 25 community members gave public comment demanding city council persons hear their calls.

#Jacksonville #AfricanAmerican #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #PeoplesBudget #LennyCurry #BlackBelt

Jacksonville FL – On April 21, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) organized a rally, uniting with the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression call for protests to respond to the Chauvin trial and to demand justice for the countless number of victims of police crimes in Jacksonville and throughout the country.

Jacksonville is one of the many cities that have been plagued with countless murders at the hand of law enforcement.

The day after the guilty verdict, over a 100 people gathered in front of the Duval County Courthouse to demand justice for victims of police crimes. Christina Kittle, an organizer with JCAC, reiterated to the crowd that even with the Chauvin guilty verdict, we still must keep up the fight. She also shared the importance of community control of the police. Charity Baker, the mother of Leah Baker, a 28-year-old woman who was brutally shot and killed by JSO officers, spoke to the crowd and shared her daughter’s story. She also reminded the crowd that the fight for accountability wouldn’t be as prominent without the voice of the people.

The importance of the voice of the people was reiterated throughout the rally. The crowd chanted “The people united, will never be defeated.” Monique Sampson, another organizer with JCAC, emphasized to the crowd that “George Floyd sparked an entire movement. His death was not in vain. The guilty verdict wasn’t the result of the jury being the jury, it was the result of the peoples movement taking the street and changing the tide all over this country and all over the world.”

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #DerekChauvin #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepressionNAARPR

Jacksonville, FL – On January 30, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) organized a protest against Florida House Bill 1 (HB1/SB484): Combating Public Disorder. This bill is a 60-page document that prohibits and criminalizes successful tactics of people’s movements throughout history.

HB1 criminalizes the use of public roads for marches and demonstrations, it revokes bail for protesters, and it stifles people’s budgets. HB1 has been deemed favorable by the Criminal Justice and Public Safety’s Subcommittee and is currently being fast-tracked through the legislature. The bill is currently in the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee in the Florida legislature.

Over 250 people gathered in front of the Duval County Courthouse to express their disapproval of HB1. The action began with the chant: “DeSantis, resign! Protesting is not a crime!” Maria Garcia, a JCAC organizer, explained that if HB1, hypothetically, passed this past summer, then many of Jacksonville’s protesters would have been arrested and jailed without bail. These protesters would still be awaiting their court date.

The JCAC was joined by the following local officials who also opposed this legislation: Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson, Councilman Garrett Dennis, Florida State Representative Tracie Davis, and Florida State Representative Angie Nixon. Angie Nixon said, “This bill is an attack on Black lives. This bill legalizes racism by hindering the freedom of speech for a select few.” Nixon emphasized that this bill is pointed. It is targeted at Black lives matter protesters, and it will cause the most harm to Black communities.

Monique Sampson, an SDS organizer, shouted, “It may seem like Ron DeSantis and his pawns have all the power, but we have the power of the people on our side, and we are ready to fight!”

The JCAC is calling on people to continue the fight by putting pressure on state representatives to “kill the bill”. The JCAC is calling on supporters to use this link to email state representatives in opposition to HB1: BIT.LY/STOPHB1.

You can follow more about the JCAC’s future plans at jaxtakesaction.org.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #PoliticalRepression #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #HB1SB484

Jacksonville, FL – On November 21, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), alongside other organizations and over 250 community members, gathered at the Duval County Courthouse to rally against the repressive and undemocratic legislative proposal by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, as well as the killing of 18-year-old Devon Tillman Gregory by four Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officers: Nicholas McDonald, James Mills, Aaron Roe and Brandon Shea.

In attendance were the family of Devon Tillman Gregory, and the mother of Vernell Bing, who was killed in 2016 by killer cop Tyler Landreville. Tawana Myrick, Devon’s mother, and other family members expressed their anger and pain over Devon being killed by JSO, with over 30 shots reportedly being fired.

Devon Tillman Gregory’s cousin, Tina Rhiles, powerfully reflected that before the killing of Devon, it was easier to show support from a distance, but now that must change, saying, “before this, we were sharing, and were at home. But now we know. Last week we were the people that were at home, and not out here. This week, we are here with you, and every other week, and every other time we will be here.”

The same sentiments were echoed by Ms. Shirley, who directed her words to Sheriff Mike Williams: “Leave our kids alone! Stop taking from us! And Mike I told you, Landreville was gonna kill again and that's what the hell he did, and you still let him come back in our community. But you better get him out of it, we’re tired.”

Speakers also articulated opposition to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ proposal for the “Combating Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act,” which seeks to institute mandatory minimums for protesters, alongside other amendments, including those that seek to retroactively legalize vehicular homicide of protesters.

Christina Kittle with the JCAC encouraged attendees to get ready to go to Tallahassee to protest this legislative proposal, reminding them that “this bill would make everything that we gained this summer, all of the momentum that we got started here in Jacksonville, illegal. So the 74 protesters who were brutalized, gassed and unlawfully detained by JSO this summer would have felony charges, trumped-up charges. The bill would also have made raising bail for them illegal.”

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #PoliticalRepression #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #RonDeSantis

Jacksonville, FL – Over 200 people gathered on the westside of Jacksonville, on the corner of San Juan and Cassett Avenues, to celebrate the life of Devon Gregory Tillman, along with protesting against his death at the hands of the police. Devon Gregory Tillman was an 18-year-old African American worker who was murdered by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office earlier this week during a traffic stop. Police surrounded the vehicle, pulling out Tillman’s two passengers before opening fire. Police fired 35 times into his car.

Devon’s family and community members, including the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, gathered to demand justice and accountability. Michael Sampson from the Jacksonville Community Action Committee started chants with “Justice for Devon” and “Release all the footage.” The family has been calling for the release of all body cam footage from the cops involved in the shooting.

The family spoke about how caring Devon was, how he worked two jobs and loved his family. They vowed to keep demanding answers.

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #DevonGregoryTillman

Jacksonville, FL – On November 4, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), in coalition with other local organizations, continued the fight for community control of the police. This action was a part of a national day of action called by the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression. Jacksonville, along with other cities across the country, joined the post-election protest, continuing to press for community’s demands.

Outside of Jacksonville City Hall, over 100 people gathered with the knowledge that their voices needed to be heard, both, at the ballot box and in the streets. Speakers explained that real police accountability is only born out of community control of the police. Community control would extend real power to the people, rather than leaving them at the mercy of the police.

Sara Tayiba, an organizer with JCAC and the Palestinian Youth Movement, said, “We will continue to fight back as we recognize this reign of repression doesn’t begin or end with Trump. We see it extended through Trump’s allies in Florida with Governor Ron DeSantis, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, and JSO Sheriff Mike Williams, who all actively seek to embolden killer cops while exploiting, oppressing and killing our communities.”

Speakers also denounced the anti-protest bill, being proposed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which would criminalize protests and incentivize racist vigilantism against movements. Ben Frazier of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville called such a measure “draconian” and “racist.”

Duval County voted to defeat Trump, the first time the city has voted against the republican candidate since Jimmy Carter’s election. Protesters chanted, “Hey hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump is ‘bout to go!” along with chants for community control of the police.

You can follow more about the JCAC’s future plans at jaxtakesaction.org.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #NationalAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression

Jacksonville, FL – On September 8, while the Jacksonville City Council met virtually, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee held a press conference outside of city hall demanding the city council reduce Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office proposed nearly half-billion dollar budget and reallocate funding to other public services and Black community investment. Around 30 people representing various organizations attended.

Speakers from the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, Take Em Down Jax, Florida New Majority, Women’s March Jax, the Black Commission and others all spoke in favor of the JCAC-led People’s Budget proposal. The proposal calls for cutting the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s budget in half and redirecting those funds to other city departments such as the departments of public works, parks, recreation and community services and other departments which could create living wage, union jobs and address issues of systemic inequality.

“We cannot continue to be shot in the streets,” said Pat McCollough of Women’s March Jax. “We must stop funding these killings.”

The People’s Budget also calls for People’s Legislation that would direct city officials to make a carve-out in the city’s charter to create a civilian police accountability council; a proposal for a union neutrality ordinance for contractors that gets city contracts to allow their workers the ability to unionize without workplace repression; calls to decriminalize marijuana; greater access to city contracts for small Black businesses and vendors; rent controls to combat gentrification in historically Black neighborhoods like Springfield, and the creation of an Urban Core Development Authority which would direct public and private investment to address community blight and poverty in Jacksonville’s Black neighborhoods.

Currently the city’s pro-police budget is scheduled to be voted on this month, yet activists and community members vow to keep pressuring city council, demanding a People’s Budget and demanding they vote no on any increased funding to the sheriff office.

“The People’s Budget unites all sectors of Jacksonville that have historically been neglected by the city of Jacksonville’s previous budgets,” said Michael Sampson II of JCAC. “For decades and decades, the Black community has gotten little from the city’s budget when it comes to infrastructure and programs, while wealthy Dixie capitalists and developers continue to redirect public money into their coffers. The People’s Budget unites all that can be united against the status quo which is why so many different forces from BLM protesters, city workers to even Black small businesses support it.”

Organizers say their next step is mobilizing for the September 19 Day of Action called by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The JCAC is an affiliate of NAARPR.

To find out more about the People’s Budget, visit: https://jaxtakesaction.org/peoples-budget-now.

#JacksonvilleFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC

Jacksonville, FL – On August 18, Jacksonville held primary elections where movement candidates won big. Angie Nixon, a trade union leader with SEIU and a community organizer, defeated incumbent State Representative Kimberly Daniels in District 14 by a margin of 60% to 40%. Nixon, a longtime supporter of progressive movements here in Jacksonville, spoke at historic massive rallies over the summer organized by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee after the George Floyd rebellion. She pledged her support for repealing the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights, a statewide statute that hinders cities in Florida from instituting community control of the police. Her opponent, a controversial, anti-gay, anti-women’s rights, anti-Semitic pastor, had wide support from the local Fraternal Order of Police, private prisons like GEO group, as well as the backing of the statewide Chamber of Commerce.

Rhonda Peoples Waters, a local African American lawyer, became the first Black woman in Jacksonville history to be elected to a judgeship. Since 2009, Peoples Waters had been selected 13 times by commissions as a finalist for judicial nominations, only to be spurned by right-wing governors. Also supportive of the people’s movement here in Jacksonville, Peoples Waters supports the demands of activist groups like the JCAC and the Northside Coalition, and had substantial backing from the local Black community. She won her race by a margin of 58% to 42%, defeating former prosecutor Erin Perry, who had been appointed to the bench by former Florida Governor and crook Rick Scott in 2019. Perry’s campaign was supported by the local Fraternal Order of Police and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Mike Williams.

In other races across the county, progressive candidates did well. Nicole Hamm, a young African American woman who ran for city council in District 4, a traditionally republican area with changing demographics, won 42% of the vote against two republican candidates, pushing her campaign to a run-off in November. Her opponent, Kevin Carrico, raised substantially more money than her campaign, with backing from many corporate donors and establishment money pouring into his campaign. He’s called for giving police more money as opposed to Hamm, who publicly supported the JCAC’s demands for a People’s Budget and the reallocation of JSO funding into ending poverty and addressing other social ills. Her race in November will be widely supported by the progressive community in Jacksonville.

Candidate Tammyette Thomas defeated her democratic primary challenger by a wide margin in Florida House District 15 and moves to an election in November against republican incumbent Wyman Duggan. Thomas, an African American woman, has also supported calls to repeal the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights and for community control of the police.

“This election yesterday was powerful in terms of the movement now having a real influence on elections in Jacksonville,” said Michael Sampson II of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee. “Having progressive candidates and now elected state reps who support our demands of community control of the police and repealing the law enforcement bill of rights is a game changer in our work in North Florida and is a warning to all the status quo politicians, Black or white, who choose the path of accommodation with the police state as opposed to fighting for the people. We are just getting started.”

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #US #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Elections #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #CommunityControlOfPolice

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

Jacksonville, FL – For the third Saturday in a row, June 13, thousands flooded the streets in downtown Jacksonville to demand police accountability and community control of the police, uniting with the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression’s call for a day of action.

After a historic turnout of 10,000 people earlier this month, and feeling the pressure from the mass demonstrations, Mayor Lenny Curry mandated the removal of Confederate statues across the city and State Attorney Melissa Nelson dropped the charges for the majority of protesters arrested. Also, the state attorney issued a memo saying they’d release the body cam footage sooner with a definite timeline. However, that rhetoric didn’t fool the marchers.

Thousands showed up and filled the streets with chants like “Indict! Convict! Send these killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!”

People marched in the heat and demanded that the government release the body cam footage of those murdered by officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and to implement a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council (JPAC).

“They tried to say they’d release the body cam footage and took down racist symbols of white supremacy to try and appease our movement, but we won’t let them,” said Hakeem Balogun, organizer with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee and an emcee of the rally. “They still have yet to meet the demands of our movement and we aren’t finished.”

Around 4000 people gathered in front of the Duval County Courthouse and listened as speakers clarified demands once again for local elected officials. Representatives from Students for aDemocratic Society at the University of North Florida (SDS), Northside Progressive Coalition, Take Em’ Down Jax and Jacksonville Community Action Committee spoke and echoed the demands for the release of body cam footage and police accountability. Families of the victims of JSO murders were present as well. The mother of Reginald Boston, who was shot and killed by JSO officers in January, spoke and pleaded between sobs for information surrounding the murder of her child.

Organizers led the crowd back to the courthouse after the march, where Reverend Ron Rawls from Saint Augustine, Florida left everyone with a powerful and energizing message, finishing the rally for the day by reminding the crowd that we will win, “by any means necessary.” The demands were from the protest organizers were clear:

1. Drop the remaining charges against protesters from the May 30 National Day of Action

2. JSO and the state attorney release all unedited body camera footage for the community in all cases of police murder and police brutality.

3. The end of all excessive force by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office . Community control of the police through a civilian police accountability council, as well as the slashing of JSO’s budget and that funding redirected back into the community.

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #civilianPoliceAccountabilityCouncilCPAC #NAARPR

Jacksonville, FL – Community activists who led a historic 3500-person protest for police accountability in Jacksonville are meeting brutality with solidarity.

Members of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), one of the main groups that organized the May 30 demonstration, say they have raised about $80,000 from hundreds of small donors for their Community Support Fund. That fund, formed this past weekend, has helped the JCAC post bond for over 30 people arrested during a sweeping police crackdown on protests.

JCAC members sprang into action not long after their event ended in the early evening of May 30. As the enormous crowd of thousands left the protest to return home, about 100 people remained. Some continued to march. Others began walking back to their cars. Before long though, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) moved in, clad in riot gear, and began launching canisters of teargas at the small crowd. Clashes broke out as police beat and arrested dozens of people.

The next day, May 31, smaller protests that were held outside of the Duval County Courthouse and nearby Klutho Park faced similar treatment by JSO officers, who shut down peaceful protests and arrested demonstrators who committed no apparent crime.

In a press conference on the weekend’s protests, State Attorney Melissa Nelson said that nearly 80 people were arrested by JSO over the weekend.

Those arrested ranged in ages from 18 to 80. Although Mayor Lenny Curry and Sheriff Mike Williams quickly blamed ‘outside agitators’ at a press conference hours after the arrests, they admitted two days later that 23 of the 25 protesters arrested on the evening of May 30 were Jacksonville residents.

Mayor Lenny Curry and Sheriff Mike Williams were quick to paint all the protesters arrested as violent.

But video footage of these incidents, along with the actual arrest reports paint a different picture. The vast majority of those arrested were only charged with unlawful assembly, a misdemeanor offense often used by police when they can’t figure out how to criminally charge a protester in custody. Video taken of the May 31 courthouse protest shows police running up to people and initiating contact, punching and kicking one man in particular until he collapsed.

Joshua Parks, one of the founding organizers of the JCAC, argues that rather than keeping the peace, the Jackson Sheriff’s Office actually initiated violence at this weekend’s protests.

“We condemn JSO’s violent crackdown on hundreds of unarmed peaceful protesters on Saturday,” said Parks. “Instead of allowing protesters to peacefully disperse, they arrived with military grade riot gear and began brutalizing innocent people. They fired tear gas on people who were clearly walking back to their cars to leave. We think those officers should be held accountable.”

Meeting brutality with solidarity

Within minutes of seeing images of the brutal police crackdown on May 30, Jacksonville Community Action Committee organizers set up a GoFundMe campaign online to fundraise support for those arrested or brutalized by the cops.

“We know it’s important to stand in solidarity with those whose civil liberties have been violated by the JSO, like the teargas and excessive force used on peaceful protesters,” said Rachel Duff, an organizer with the JCAC. “Our organization fights for freedom for our communities, so when we saw the JSO’s crackdown on Saturday, we knew we had to take a stand.”

The JCAC calls it the Community Support Fund. Duff said that hundreds of people from around the United States have donated to the fund

“It’s been an incredible showing of support from the Jacksonville community,” said Duff. “It shows that people have a high level of trust in the JCAC to use and disperse the Community Support Fund to directly support people in need. We’re an organization of the people, by the people.”

Activists from the JCAC worked through the nights of May 31 and June 1 making contact with family and loved ones of those locked up, posting people’s bonds, coordinating their release and reaching out to legal counsel.

As bonded-out protesters trickled out through the day, one or two at a time, they expressed relief and gratitude for the JCAC’s efforts.

“They have been very grateful that there are people on the ground supporting them,” said Parks. “Not only were their civil liberties infringed upon when they were arrested, but many people were illegally detained after they had posted bond. Upon release people are telling horrific stories of JSO’s brutality and many are traumatized from their relatively short stint in the deplorable conditions of Duval County Jail.”

Double-jeopardy detention and bail manipulation: JSO abusing its power?

In his comments above, Parks was referring to a disturbing, unconstitutional reversal that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office tried on June 1, in which many people who had posted bond were detained without further cause.

As soon as organizers became aware of it, the JCAC launched an emergency call-in campaign to the Duval County Jail. Hundreds of people around the country made calls and demanded jail administration end the unconstitutional detention. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office operators answering the calls became increasingly irritated and juvenile with callers, with some imitating machines or hanging up mid-sentence. Between the public pressure and intervention by some supportive lawyers, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office relented and those people who had met bond were released.

Another equally troubling incident came to light on June 1. JCAC organizers and community activists noticed that bail for certain protesters had inexplicably doubled from the original amount set. For some, bail more than tripled.

“Bail was originally set at $750 for most of them,” recounted Duff. “Then we noticed on the Duval County Jail website that it had risen to $1500. It got as high as $5000. We were posting bond for people, and in the blink of an eye, it would skyrocket upward. And when we posted the new amount, it rose again, like someone didn’t want these people released.”

JCAC acted as whistleblowers on this obvious abuse of the already questionable bail system in Duval County. They alerted lawyers and local news outlets, like News4Jax, which investigated and confirmed the Duval County Jail really was raising people’s bail – sometimes multiple times.

Parks saw this as the latest example of deep, structural problems with the criminal injustice system in Duval County.

“When I became aware that the jail was raising the bond for protesters, I wasn’t surprised,” said Parks. “Jacksonville is run by an oligarchy of corrupt gangsters. It simply made it more evident that the city’s issues span far beyond JSO. There is an entire political regime that must be held accountable for the injustice they inflict daily on the people of Jacksonville.”

Community action

The Community Support Fund’s success thus far is the result of a Herculean effort by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, other community activist groups and supporters from all over Duval County and beyond.

As of the evening of June 4, 47 protesters had gotten bonded out, according to Monique Sampson of the JCAC. The group says they hope to see more protesters released in the coming days and plan to offer additional assistance for those who need it.

“More will get bonded out in the coming days,” said Sampson. “It’s taken days to even get this far because of difficulties identifying inmates arrested at the protest. But this campaign has brought the Jacksonville community together to answer police brutality with solidarity.”

Sampson told Fight Back! that several attorneys had reached out to the JCAC to get in contact with protesters facing charges, with at least one attorney offering to work on ten people’s cases pro bono.

Some local businesses have supported the Community Support Fund too, said Sampson. Bold Bean Coffee Roasters, a Jacksonville-based coffee chain, donated 100% of their profits on June 3 to the fund. Some bars, restaurants and entertainment venues have offered the use of equipment or facilities for future events around police accountability.

Community control of the police and next steps

The JCAC plans to announce future actions in the coming days. As this uprising against police crimes continues across the country, Parks and Duff say the Community Action Committee will continue to fight for both justice and community control of the police.

“It affirms our position that community control of the police is the only way for the people to fight back against the lawlessness of JSO,” said Parks, referring to their call for an elected Civilian Police Accountability Council with the power to investigate police misconduct, subpoena evidence and discipline or fire officers found guilty.

“It’s the only hope that people, especially Black and working-class people, have at living a dignified life. More than ever, the events of the last week show that police relations are not improving but worsening,” Parks continued.

The Jacksonville Community Action Committee has called for a protest outside the Duval County Courthouse on Saturday, June 6, beginning at 2 p.m. and culminating in a march to the state attorney’s office nearby. The protest will call on State Attorney Melissa Nelson to drop the charges on the protesters arrested and brutalized by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office; to release the JSO body camera footage from police-involved shootings, including the six this year alone; to jail killer cops; and to stand up to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s bullying.

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Bail #Antiracism #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #MinneapolisUprising

Jacksonville, FL – Just hours after 3500 people rallied for police accountability in downtown Jacksonville on May 30, the president of the city’s police union took to Facebook and threatened a local teacher and community activist.

The target of these threats was Christina Kittle of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), who helped co-organize and lead the massive May 30 peaceful protest. Kittle also teaches middle school civics in Jacksonville, where she serves as her school’s union representative.

“This is Christina Kittle, one of the organizers of the so-called peaceful protest today in Jacksonville,” wrote Steve Zona, the president of Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 530, above a screenshot taken from Kittle’s profile.

“Christina is a teacher in Jacksonville,” he continued. “I want you [Zona’s Facebook followers] to share this post so Jacksonville can see that she never intended for the protest to be peaceful and she is helping to fundraise to bond out the criminals.”

Kittle had shared a link to a GoFundMe campaign raising bail money for people arrested after the protest. Shortly after most people, including Kittle, had left downtown, police clad in riot gear targeted and teargassed the hundred or so people who remained, including people walking back to their cars. Several protesters were beaten and arrested.

“Help bail out Jax fighters,” wrote Kittle. “JSO is a bunch of cowards. Don’t let them take more of our people.”

In a video made the day before the protest, Kittle explicitly called for a “peaceful protest” and made clear that they were assembling to stop violence.

As president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Zona represents the 1900 officers of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO), along with corrections guards and some staff. His Facebook friends list includes hundreds of uniformed JSO officers and their spouses, many of whom shared his threat against Kittle and commented with additional threats of their own.

“It’s obvious what Zona was trying to say here,” said Joshua Parks of the JCAC. “He was calling for his followers in and around the JSO to put pressure on Christina’s school to get her fired. But he also wanted to paint Christina as ‘dangerous’ and ‘violent’ to his audience of armed JSO officers. Well we all know how police treat Black people, like George Floyd, that they see as ‘dangerous’. That’s why we’re protesting.”

Police union boss incited his followers into a frenzy against teacher

Zona’s followers got the message. Many of his friends made threats of their own against Kittle’s job and more.

Rick Reynolds, who works as a code compliance officer for the city of Jacksonville government, replied to Zona’s post about Kittle, saying, “JSO stay safe and use deadly force if your life is endangered. Load up those extra clips.”

Elizabeth Stevens Crance, from Las Vegas, Nevada, commented on Zona’s post, “Christina Kittle should be charged with DOMESTIC TERRORISM ! Wake up Duval County your Tax $$$$ are paying this terrorist to teach your kids.” She added later, “Maybe she should be charged with inciting all the violence!”

Gary Fiske, a retired cop from the Neptune Beach Police Department in Jacksonville, seemed convinced by Zona’s post that the FOP president would be taking action through the JSO to harm Kittle – something that might qualify as an abuse of power.

“I’m sure Steve will have that info Monday morning and will forward it to the proper personal [sic] about her comments about our police officers” he commented.

Daniel M. Jones, whose profile says he studied ‘Police Academy’ at FSCJ replied to Zona, “Thanks for calling her out…need to get warrants for these people and charge them with domestic terrorism.”

Zona’s post incited Dennis Morris of Jacksonville to openly call for JSO to take illegal action against Kittle. Morris wrote, “JSO step up and do something with her. Make an example out of her so others know what’s coming if they do the same. Enough of this is enough.”

Marcy Farmer Horvat, who disturbingly lists her own occupation on Facebook as “Caring for Elderly and Childcare at Home Healthcare,” took Zona’s post as a cue to call for police to shoot protesters. She wrote, “Police everywhere need to warn them with shots in the air to stop or start shooting them. Maybe this will Make them think twice of these kind of protests.”

CJ Foreman of Jacksonville, FL replied to Zona, saying Kittle “sounds like someone who needs to be fired and ran out of our town.”

Zona’s post so angered Dustin Carmichael of Jacksonville, FL that he wrote “Let them rot in jail!!! Fucking cowards!!!!” and “Fuck that dumb bitch. Hope she gets what she deserves. She don’t need to be teaching kids shit!!!”

As these unhinged and increasingly violent threats continued to appear from his supporters on the post, Zona simply doubled down. He continued accusing Kittle of “inciting violence against JSO officers.”

Over 50 supporters of Kittle commented and asked Zona, along with others, for evidence of Kittle encouraging violence. Zona ignored them and continued to make-believe. “If she was truly against the violence that was seen tonight,” he wrote in response, “she would not have shared that fund nor call the JSO cowards.”

Eventually, Zona’s post was overrun by people pointing out the absurdity of his threats and lack of evidence that Kittle called for any violence at all. Sometime on June 1, he deleted the post. By the end, Zona’s threats and the unhinged comments above had been shared by over 800 people.

“Make believe” Steve Zona’s obsessive history of harassing black women

This isn’t the first time Zona has zeroed in on community activists, union members, political opponents, or even Kittle.

“Zona has been a bully to organizers and others for years,” said Monique Sampson of the JCAC. “He always seems to use whatever power he has to intimidate women.”

In 2017, Kittle was one of five activists who were beaten and wrongfully arrested by the JSO during a protest against President Donald Trump’s April 6 airstrikes on Syria. Police turned the peaceful protest into a vicious display of violence as officers punched, tased and slammed four people, including Kittle, before throwing them in handcuffs. In total, five protesters were arrested and charged with felonies for ‘inciting a riot’. A massive community campaign supporting ‘The Jax 5’ successfully pressured State Attorney Melissa Nelson into dropping the bogus charges.

Zona weighed in publicly, taking the opportunity to attack Jacksonville attorney Leslie Jean-Bart, who is African American, for supporting the protesters’ right to free speech.

Much like in Kittle’s case, in which “Make Believe” Steve Zona falsely claimed she called for violence, the FOP president said of Jean-Bart, “My guess is you would support that [calling for ‘dead cops’] as free speech too and not see a reason to condemn.”

Jean-Bart’s actual comment defending the protesters’ freedom of speech explicitly said she did not see anyone calling for “dead cops” or similar violent threats.

Three weeks later, the Jacksonville city council rules committee yanked Jean-Bart’s nomination to the city’s ethics committee on a 6-0 vote. The sponsor of Jean-Bart, public defender Charlie Cofer, who was endorsed by both the FOP and Jacksonville sheriff Mike Williams, withdrew her nomination.

Reporters like A.G. Gancarski of FloridaPolitics noted Zona’s outspoken disapproval of Jean-Bart’s nomination at the time. Referring to Jean-Bart’s defense of the protesters’ right to free speech, including the phrase “Fuck the police,” he wrote, “If protesters had quoted almost any other late-1980s hip hop song, Jean-Bart likely would be on Ethics as of Tuesday evening.” In other words, Zona using the weight of the FOP and JSO had sunk Jean-Bart’s nomination.

In 2017, JSO officers stopped African American City Councilman Reggie Gaffney, allegedly on suspicions of having a stolen license plate. Gaffney’s fellow city council member, Katrina Brown, also Black, stopped to observe the incident and see if Gaffney was safe. Both council members alleged racial profiling in the traffic stop, which came just a day after both had made critical comments of the massive police budget increase requested by the JSO.

The following day, Zona blasted both Gaffney and Brown on Facebook, saying their actions were “clearly beneath the office of a council member here in Jacksonville. They owe the men and women here in Jacksonville. If they can't muster that up, they're not fit to serve, and they need to resign.”

Zona’s threats scared Gaffney enough into apologizing. Brown did not and refused to vote in favor of the massive police budget hike. Shortly thereafter, Brown and another Black city councilman were arrested on corruption charges. Some activists believe their indictments were politically motivated.

As recently as June 2019, Zona had zeroed in on a rally organized by Kittle against FOP-endorsed state representative Kim Daniels. The rally had nothing to do with police, focusing instead on Daniels’ support for barbaric restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health care.

“If Kittle opposes you,” wrote Zona, “that’s the best endorsement you could ask for.”

More organized crime than organized labor

Zona worked for JSO for 25 years before becoming a Fraternal Order of Police official. In 2013, he was elected to the group’s executive board after disgraced former FOP 530 president, Nelson Cuba, pled guilty to his role in an illegal $300 million gambling racket.

Cuba was one of 57 public officials, business owners and attorneys arrested in March 2013 for operating an illegal network of storefront casinos and internet cafes used exclusively for gambling. Their stated purpose was to generate funds for a Florida-based charity called Allied Veterans of the World. But federal investigators found that of the $300 million raised by the casinos, only $6 million – about 2% – went to the actual charity.

Cuba, along with FOP 530 First Vice President Robbie Freitas, used FOP 530 bank accounts at BBVA Compass and Bank of America to launder $420,000 in revenue from the internet cafes that they owned and operated. While Cuba originally faced additional racketeering and money laundering charges, prosecutors dropped most of his charges before striking a plea bargain that included no jail or prison time.

Zona became president of FOP 530 in 2015. Since that time, he has used the post in much the same way his bombastic grifting predecessor, Cuba, did: as an extralegal bully pulpit to attack anyone calling for police accountability.

Why the FOP never stands with the working class

Although the FOP is legally recognized as a collective bargaining agent, they have very little in common with the rest of organized labor. Most unions do not regularly defend members who have killed or seriously hurt someone. When they do, it’s usually the result of a workplace accident. If a union worker commits a serious crime against people, in most cases their union cannot help them.

The FOP is a different story. Legislation like the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBOR) already gives police an extra layer of due process protection that regular citizens do not enjoy. But cop unions like the FOP add even greater protection for officers who break the law or commit crimes. Because of their unique status as enforcers of the state and its laws, police can operate outside and above the law. Groups like the FOP make this possible, and use every means available, including threats and intimidation, to keep it that way.

Throughout the history of the labor movement in the U.S., police have exercised their role as defenders of private property for the rich. In times of greater labor activity, unions battled police on picket lines when employers called them in to break strikes. Even when the government shut down at the start of 2019, federal law enforcement like Immigration and Customs Enforcement broke with other federal unions and backed Trump extended the shutdown.

At every turn, groups like the FOP prove they have more in common with employers and billionaires than they do with workers. It’s no wonder that officials like Zona feel no solidarity with a public-school teacher and union representative like Kittle. They’re not part of the same class.

FOP 530: Solidarity never!

In Jacksonville, Zona’s FOP has a notoriously transactional relationship with the North Florida Central Labor Council (CLC). While most unions in Duval County belong to the CLC as members and regularly send elected delegates to participate, the FOP makes only the occasional appearance to shake down the organization for money and certain endorsements.

One of the most egregious examples came in 2016, when Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry proposed extending a sales tax to bail out the city's troubled Police and Fire Pension Fund. Jacksonville's PFPF accounts for roughly 20% of the city's annual budget, and the JSO as a whole already accounts for over 36% of every city dollar spent.

“I remember it like yesterday,” said Fernando Figueroa, a Teamster in Jacksonville who attended the Central Labor Council for many years. “FOP officials showed up at the monthly Labor Council meeting to demand their endorsement of the sales tax referendum. There was plenty of debate, and eventually the CLC endorsed the referendum. But after getting what they came for, the FOP left the meeting in-progress. I haven’t seen them since.”

Though Jacksonville hasn’t seen many strikes in recent years, the FOP has done nothing to support labor actions by other unions. They haven’t showed up to support the dozen labor rallies called by the CLC in the last decade. They don’t walk picket lines with workers. At any of these events, the only FOP presence consists of the JSO officers patrolling and surveilling the event.

Police accountability – not threats & brutality

Zona felt enough pressure to take down his threats against Kittle. But after working his followers up into a frenzy against a schoolteacher, the damage may be done.

The FOP president has a pattern of lashing out like this whenever the movement for police accountability is on the rise. The historic 3500-person protest on May 30 that Kittle helped organized through the Jacksonville Community Action Committee sent a sign to Mayor Lenny Curry, Sheriff Mike Williams, and every JSO officer who stormed onto the streets in riot gear later that day.

The crowd demanding police accountability outnumbered every sworn officer on the JSO police force nearly 2 to 1. It was the biggest rally in Jacksonville’s history in at least 50 years. Since it was peaceful, Zona had to find another way to attack the event, and as usual, he fell back on demonizing a Black teacher.

State Attorney Melissa Nelson, who is up for re-election this year, is under pressure to release video and body camera footage from the six JSO shootings this year. Zona knows that if community control of the police becomes a reality in Jacksonville, their days of living above the law are over. If the movement happening across the country is any indication, that day may be coming sooner than he thinks.

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #JacksonvilleFraternalOrderOfPolice #SteveZona

Jacksonville, FL – In an historic mobilization, over 3500 people took the streets in coordination with the National Alliance Against Racist Political Repression national day of action, May 30 to protest against police crimes committed by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO). This was one of the largest demonstrations seen in Jacksonville in decades. The people of Jacksonville were also protesting in solidarity with the uprisings happening in cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, Tallahassee, Tampa, and Los Angeles for African Americans like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. The protests were led by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), The Northside Coalition and other local organizations took part.

Protesters marched on E Bay Street, past the city jail, and took the steps of the sheriff’s office.

Victims of JSO's terror campaign in the Black community were given the platform to speak in front of thousands of eager demonstrators. The families of Jamee Johnson, Vernell Bing Jr, Jalen Mays, Kwamae Jones and Brittany Williams were all present. Jamee Johnson's family pleaded with the community to keep the pressure on JSO to release the body camera footage in their son's murder by JSO. Brianna William's sister spoke passionately about how JSO illegally entered her sister's private property and viciously beat her sister.

The community demands were:

1. JSO release all unedited body camera footage for the community in all cases of police murder and police brutality.

2. The end of all excessive force by JSO. Community control of the police through a civilian police accountability council

3. Public transparency regarding the state of COVID-19 in the city jails and the release of inmates during the pandemic.

An hour after the main protest ended, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office began a campaign of releasing tear gas and shooting the remaining protesters with rubber bullets. Many people were arrested without warning and brutalized.

The JCAC has established a community support fund to support those brutalized by JSO here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/CommunitySupportFund

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #MinneapolisUprising

Jacksonville, FL – Around three dozen cars joined a Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) protest on Friday evening, April 24, calling for a mass release of Duval County inmates in the overpopulated Duval County jail. Along with the JCAC, the New Florida Majority, Dignity Florida, Northside Coalition of Jacksonville along with other organizations and community supporters came out Friday evening for a caravan protest to demand that Melissa Nelson and Sheriff Mike Williams #FreeThemAll. The protesters taped signs to their vehicles that demanded the release of prisoners, to avoid the Duval County Jail becoming a death trap during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The protesters demanded: release all nonviolent offenders and the wrongfully incarcerated; constant testing of inmates and staff in the Duval County Jail; release of all inmates with compromised immune systems and those over the age of 60; release of the steps taken by Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to make sure sanitation of facilities is constantly taking place.

Protesters honked their horns and played protest tunes such as Fight the Power as the cars circled around Duval County Jail numerous times.

“Those locked up are subject to the most inhumane conditions and its impossible for them to practice safe social distancing incarcerated,” said Neal Jefferson, activist with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee. “The state attorney and Sheriff Williams should hear our demands and free them all.”

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #JacksonvilleSheriffsOffice #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #COVID19

Jacksonville, FL – Nearly 100 people gathered to hold a vigil demanding justice for Kwame Jones, January 17. The Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) joined with community members, along with the family and friends of 17-year-old Kwame Jones, at the intersection of 45th and Moncrief. It was an emotional night for many as the community mourns the loss of this child.

Kwame Jones was a 17-year-old who was pursuing his GED. Officer Lawson shot him multiple times the evening of January 5. In 2018, Officer Lawson was accused of failure to conform to work standards and “bias-based enforcement.” He received informal counseling. Jones’s mother was never notified of his death by JSO, and they have yet to cooperate with the family.

Folks gathered in a circle with candles and flyers while some shared poems, personal thoughts and songs. The people chanted “Justice for KK” as well as “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.”

Jones’s death is one of many at the hands of Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, most recently being Jamee Johnson who was shot by Officer Garriga in December 2019. Jamee’s family attended the vigil for Jones well in show of support to the family.

The JCAC and family of Kwame Jones will continue to demand answers, the release of all unedited body camera footage from the night along with continuing to fight for community control of the police through a civilian police accountability council.

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #JacksonvilleSheriffsOffice #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #KwameJones

Jacksonville, FL – On August 2, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) and the family of Jalen Mays held a vigil to remember his life on the three-month anniversary of his death. At the vigil, the protesters chanted, “Justice for Jalen.”

The family has been calling for accountability and transparency since his death on the morning of May 2, at Orange Park Medical Center. His death occurred a day after being detained after what is believed to be a violent arrest by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officers S.R Maddox and M.J Reddish. Those two officers had previously been placed on administrative leave according to JSO but are now back on active duty.

Just weeks ago controversy emerged as the disciplinary records for one of the officers involved was deleted by the JSO. They call it an administrative error.

According to media reports Mays was possibly hogtied, and required placement in the intensive care unit at Orange Park Medical Center. His family says his body had bruises, welts and other effects consistent with trauma.

The JCAC is supporting Jalen’s family’s demands for an independent autopsy as well as the release of convenience store video footage from the arrest and body camera footage from the officers involved. The family is demanding that more funding in the Jacksonville upcoming budget to be allocated to mental health in the city and not towards additional JSO funding.

“When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, they should not be responded to by police. It needs to be responded to as a medical issue,” María García of the Jacksonville Community Action Committee said at the vigil.

#Jacksonville #FL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC #JalenMays #SRMaddox #MJReddish

In 2017 Sheriff Mike Williams and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) received a $4.4 million budget increase to “crack down on crime,” but the returns were insignificant. There was no drop in violent crime. The next year, Williams and the JSO received a $36 million increase granting them approximately 36% of the entire city budget. Not only did the violent crime rate not drop, it actually spiked.

This year, Mayor Lenny Curry’s proposed city budget for 2019-2020 would give JSO an extra $45 million in additional funding for a total police budget of $482 million dollars.

The JSO ranks second-worst in the state of Florida when it comes to solving crime. A staggering 83% of all reported crime and about 70% of homicides go unsolved. Jacksonville indisputably holds the title of Florida’s ‘murder capital' with a rate 51% higher than the national average.

Jacksonville also experiences high police shooting rates, though the number has decreased in the last three years. Ten years ago, JSO officers shot 62 civilians, killing 32 over a three-year period. Within the last three years that number dropped to 23 shootings with 15 fatalities.

There are debates over the reason behind this decrease. Some say new police trainings have been effective. Others, like Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police President Steve Zona, have denounced this, arguing that “while training can affect and produce different outcomes in certain scenarios, we do not believe that is the driving factor in the reduction of officer-involved shootings. The driving factor will always be the conduct and actions of the person who is committing the crime.”

The far more likely factor is the publicity brought to police crimes within the last three years, both nationally and locally. In May 2016, Vernell Bing Jr., an unarmed Black father, was killed by Officer Tyler Landreville in the largely African-American Springfield neighborhood of Jacksonville. State Attorney Melissa Nelson ruled the shooting ‘justified’ in 2017. In July 2019, less than two years later, Landreville made headlines again for shooting another civilian in the same part of the city. Bing’s mother and community activists continue to host public events demanding police accountability.

Countless examples of JSO’s police crimes have surfaced as Jacksonville’s movement for community control of the police grew. JSO made national headlines in the 2017 ProPublica investigation, “Walking While Black,” which exposed rampant racial profiling and police harassment in the city. Earlier that year, an anti-war protest turned into a vicious example of police brutality televised for the entire city to see. The JSO violently attacked and arrested five activists, dubbed the Jax 5 by supporters, charging them with bogus felonies like ‘inciting a riot.’ A mass movement pressured State Attorney Melissa Nelson into dropping all felony charges, aided in large part by graphic video footage, including live local news coverage, of police beating peaceful protesters unconscious. Incidents like these have made police crimes into a major public concern in Jacksonville.

But even though the number of people killed directly by cops has finally started to decrease, the numbers for violent crime in general have not. It raises the question: Do police prevent crime? The numbers suggest not. Crime has social roots like poverty, joblessness and poorly funded public schools. To address those, the Jacksonville community argues for measures like social and economic rejuvenation – not more police funding.

“Crime exists where conditions are desperate,” says Joshua Parks, organizer with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee. “We can’t out-police crime. We need to create better living conditions for the areas labeled high-crime neighborhoods instead of over-policing them.”

Since the 2017 city budget debate, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) has pushed for police accountability and community reform. The organization has hosted vigils and protests with the families of the victims affected by the 23 police-involved shootings, along with events bringing attention to city spending and the nature of policing in high-poverty neighborhoods. The JCAC believes that Mayor Curry’s proposed 2019-2020 city budget is part of the problem – not a solution.

Under Mayor Curry’s proposed budget, the JSO would receive a $45 million increase – the most in the entire budget by far – bringing their total budget to around $482 million dollars. To put this staggering amount in perspective, Curry’s proposed budget allocates just $157 million for public transportation, $35 million for the Kids Hope Alliance, $35 million for public libraries, $48 million for public works programs.

If the city council – dominated by a Republican supermajority – approves the mayor’s budget, it will mark the third consecutive year they have ignored community needs in favor of JSO budget hikes – with no drop in violent crime.

Jacksonville’s high crime areas have common factors: aggressive gentrification by real estate developers, historical remnants of Jim Crow segregation, poor public infrastructure and the highest poverty rates in the city. The zip codes with the highest poverty rates in Duval County – which is consolidated with the city of Jacksonville – cover Springfield (34.91%), Riverside (26.68%), the Northside (25.88%), downtown (21.87%) and the northwest quadrant (19.46%). All of these areas are either now or historically Black-majority, working class neighborhoods.

The JCAC has proposed an alternative to Mayor Curry’s budget. Known as the ‘People’s Budget’, their proposal calls for reducing JSO’s share of the budget to no more than 25%. This badly needed reduction would yield $134 million city dollars for crucial social and economic programs aimed at the city’s multinational working class and Black community. JCAC organizers say that their proposal would do far more to reduce crime by tackling its social roots than another round of failed police budget hikes.

The People’s Budget Program includes plans to invest in the Northside by directing a portion of the extra funds to the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development fund while also relaxing restrictions and lowering interest rates for local Black entrepreneurs looking to develop the historically Black areas of town.

The People’s Budget also calls for creating public works programs through the city’s Parks and Recreation sector and hiring workers at no less than $16 an hour to upkeep and rejuvenate the Northside, providing both living wage jobs and safer, cleaner public spaces for children and families.

It states the need for rent control alongside building up these areas of town to avoid gentrification. While the community wants to see these areas flourish financially, it is also imperative that it thrive culturally and not displace the residents.

The program also calls for overall better quality of life for workers in the city with a call to strengthen unions. It demands the implementation of a union neutrality ordinance for all private contractors doing business with the city, meaning employers must take no position for or against a union if their workers want to organize and collectively bargain. It goes further to include ‘City Dollars for City Workers,’ urging officials to pass a local hiring preference prioritizing local businesses for city contracts while also strengthening public transit for the working class.

These vitalization efforts, again, can only be possible if the police are no longer prioritized over the community. With all JSO assets frozen at 25%, and an extra $134 million put back into the budget, the city can see a People’s Budget. This is why police accountability is the other focus of the proposed People’s Budget Program.

The program also calls for community control of the police, stating that the city council should direct its lobbyists in Tallahassee to push for a carve-out amendment to Florida Statute 112.532, which would allow for the creation of an all-civilian, elected council tasked with investigating complaints and allegations of police misconduct. This Civilian Police Accountability Council should have subpoena power of evidence, the authority to rewrite JSO hiring practices, review and revise police procedures and fire officers found guilty of misconduct.

The Jacksonville Community Action Committee hosts public meetings every third Thursday of the month at the Springfield Wells Fargo Center. The group will be attending city council budget hearings to challenge Mayor Curry’s proposed budget starting August 13. Follow the group on social media to stay updated and learn more details about the proposed People’s Budget Program as well as other alternatives to the bloated police budget.

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Antiracism #PoliticalRepression #JacksonvilleSheriffsOffice #JacksonvilleCommunityActionCommitteeJCAC