Speaking about the movement to get justice for Alexander, Octavia Littlejohn, an organizer with the New Jim Crow Movement and the Southern Movement Assembly in Jacksonville, stated, “I truly believe it helped Marissa's case...I pray she gets her freedom soon and very soon.”

Alexander, 32, discharged her licensed firearm when her husband attacked her at home just a week after giving birth to her daughter. The jury ignored her claim to self-defense against domestic abuse and found her guilty after deliberating for only 12 minutes. Under Florida's racist mandatory minimum laws, Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Alexander's case drew national attention in the wake of the not guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman, the white vigilante who murdered Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American. After shooting Martin, Zimmerman was not arrested by police and a nearly all white jury found him not guilty of second-degree murder, sparking nationwide protests. Many protesters contrasted Alexander and Zimmerman's treatment by the legal system to highlight the racist nature of the criminal injustice system.

State Attorney Angela Corey, who was widely criticized for her lackluster prosecution of Zimmerman, prosecuted Alexander and sought the maximum 20-year sentence for her conviction. Several progressive and civil rights groups in Jacksonville have demanded that she resign for targeting Alexander and disproportionately prosecuting African American youth.

Protests in Jacksonville by the Southern Movement Assembly, the New Jim Crow Movement, Florida New Majority and others helped bring attention to Alexander's case. Shortly after the Zimmerman verdict, more than 500 people in Jacksonville marched to the Duval County jail, where Alexander was held, and demanded her release.

In late July, protesters with the Southern Movement Assembly walked 126 miles from Jacksonville to Sanford to demand the release of Alexander and the resignation of Angela Corey.

Littlejohn, one of those who participated in the 'Walk for Dignity' to Sanford, states, “We stood for what we believe in, and we didn't let anybody or anyone – not even Angela Corey – defeat us or scare us away. I feel we got what we wanted and justice will be served for her.”

Groups in Jacksonville and across the country plan to ramp up the pressure to free Alexander as she faces her new trial.

Reflecting on this people's victory, Littlejohn added, “Marissa will be very pleased in our hard work and dedication. Our voices were heard. We overcame all obstacles, even if it meant for me being in the media and speaking on the truth, not giving a damn what the jurisdiction said about her. We fought for her freedom and her rights.”

#JacksonvilleFL #OppressedNationalities #Racism #TrayvonMartin #GeorgeZimmerman #MarissaAlexander #InjusticeSystem #NewJimCrow #SouthernMovementAssembly

Sanford, FL – Defying rain, hateful counter-protesters and the Florida summer heat, more than 70 people on the 126-mile Walk for Dignity held a rally at the Trayvon Martin memorial in Sanford on July 27.

Protesters came from across Florida and other Southern states to demand the resignation of State Attorney Angela Corey and the immediate release of Marissa Alexander. Alexander is an African-American woman who got 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot in the air to fend off her abusive husband. Both Alexander and Zimmerman were prosecuted by Corey’s office.

The Walk for Dignity began on July 22 in Jacksonville, Florida. It spanned five days and passed through Saint Augustine, Bunnel and Daytona Beach before arriving in Sanford, where the Zimmerman trial took place.

“The march showed how we lead as a collective and how we can create systems to look out for each other as we walk our streets,” said Estefania Galvis, an activist who walked all five days to Sanford. “The people who walked are affected by the same oppressive system that put Marissa Alexander in prison. The people who walked identify Angela Corey as the representative of the judicial system incarcerating Black and Brown people. The long walk shows that we will do anything – march, scream, walk in the heat or rain – to demand justice, dignity and a new system for our communities.”

Organized by the Southern Movement Assembly, an alliance of activist groups around the South, and anchored by the Jacksonville-based New Jim Crow Movement, the walk brought together protesters from many states. Members from Project South, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Southerners on New Ground, the Ordinary People Society, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Coalition for Justice for Trayvon Martin, Alternate Roots and several other organizations walked or joined the assembly along the way.

The Walk For Dignity arrived at the Hickory Avenue Church of God in Sanford, which opened their doors to the scores of protesters to sleep, eat and hold assemblies. Throughout the walk, many African American churches provided food, shelter and supplies to the walkers. In Saint Augustine at the end of the first day, the walkers stayed at Saint Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. rallied with civil rights protesters against segregation in 1964.

The walkers spent the afternoon of July 27 going door-to-door in Sanford’s predominantly African American neighborhoods talking with the people about their struggles. Many spoke about their experiences with racist police officers, while others spoke about relatives victimized by the criminal injustice system. Organizers from the Southern Movement Assembly invited Sanford residents out to the church to speak with others about their experiences.

“It’s a new thing for me to get involved, and see what it takes to get organized,” said Moses Daniels, a longtime resident of Sanford, who came out to the assembly after an organizer invited him on his doorstep. “I see things going on in Sanford, and I hear us all talk about it, but when it comes to doing something – to stand our ground – I didn’t know what it takes to stop the attacks.”

After a short assembly about organizing to fight racism, activists gathered in front of the church to start a mile march into historic Goldsboro to the Trayvon Martin memorial. As the second city after Eatonville founded by African Americans in Florida, Goldsboro was stripped of its charter by whites in the Sanford city government in 1911. The City of Sanford eliminated the Black-owned businesses and institutions of Goldsboro as a part of expanding racist Jim Crow laws. In 1923, whites infamously burned a similar town, Rosewood, Florida, to the ground after African Americans attempted to defend their families from white vigilantes. Today, Goldsboro remains predominantly African American and strongly supports justice for Trayvon Martin.

As afternoon storm clouds rolled off Lake Monroe in Sanford, the protesters marched on undeterred. Activists held several banners, reading “Walk for Dignity – enough is enough!” and “We will not be erased,” with the latter bearing the images of Trayvon Martin, Marissa Alexander, Jordan Davis and other youth victimized by the criminal injustice system. Many Sanford residents came outside their homes to watch and then joined the protesters in the streets.

With about a half mile to go, rain began to pour. Despite booming thunder and a constant downpour, not a single protester left the march. Chants of “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Angela Corey’s got to go!” and “Free Marissa now!” grew louder as the march approached the Trayvon Martin memorial. The storm passed and protesters spoke about the significance of the long march. Several Sanford residents spoke about their experiences with racial profiling.

Although every protester was soaked, spirits were high. “We started together, and we finished together,” sang Aleta Alston-Toure, an organizer with the New Jim Crow Movement in Jacksonville. Alston-Toure led a freedom song from the South African anti-apartheid struggle, and others paid tribute to fallen African American leaders like Malcolm X and Ella Baker.

Staff from the Goldsboro Westside Historical Museum warmly received the marchers with shelter from the rain and food. The Trayvon Martin Memorial, a brick and marble formation located at the Museum, was moved from the actual location of Trayvon Martin’s death. Several racist Zimmerman supporters and local police sabotaged the memorial six times, but the African-American community in Sanford united to defend it. Eventually, it was moved to the Goldsboro Westside Historical Museum and cared for by staff.

Activists see the Walk for Dignity and the July 27 march as a starting point for the movement against racism and national oppression across the country, while residents in Sanford felt empowered by the outside support. There is a call for a national march in Washington D.C. on August 24.

“I’m hopeful about the freedom movement in Sanford and everywhere,” said Daniels. “You have to give the movement some structure, so it’s impressive to me to be a part of an organization that seeks to make change happen.”

#SanfordFL #OppressedNationalities #AntiRacism #TrayvonMartin #GeorgeZimmerman #InjusticeSystem #NewJimCrow #SouthernMovementAssembly #WalkForDignity

Jacksonville, FL – Chants of “We all count! We will not be erased!” rang out at Hemming Plaza as over 100 people from across the southern U.S. marched against racism and national oppression on April 28. The protesters marched to the Jacksonville Court House raising banners and signs demanding justice for Jordan Davis, Trayvon Martin, Marissa Alexander and others oppressed by the racist criminal justice system.

The protest closed out a three-day Southern Movement Assembly, bringing together African-American, Latino, labor union and queer activists from around the southern United States. Leaders discussed upcoming projects and the broader struggle against oppression. On April 28, the protesters agreed to a statement about the Assembly’s purpose and united around principles for action.

“There is a 21st Century Confederacy attacking our families,” read the statement, which the crowd repeated together. “We need a decolonization strategy. We commit to our own liberation. We commit to tell our own stories. We commit to unity in our communities.”

The assembly was well attended over the course of the three days. Groups like Project South, Southerners on New Ground (SONG), the New Jim Crow Movement, Dream Defenders, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Black Workers for Justice, Alternate Roots and the North Florida Central Labor Council sent leaders and delegations to the event. People from across the South were represented, including activists from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.

On the first day of the Assembly, attendees heard from several speakers who talked about the history of civil rights struggle in Jacksonville. In the 1960s, civil rights activists staged sit-ins at segregated stores and restaurants in Hemming Plaza – the site of the Assembly’s protest in 2013 – and faced brutal attacks by fascist Ku Klux Klan members, who attacked them with baseball bats and ax handles. These racist attacks continue in the modern day with the murder of Jordan Davis, an African-American youth killed in November 2012 by a white vigilante in a gas station parking lot. Other family members of victimized African-Americans youth spoke at the opening meeting.

The first Southern Movement Assembly was held in 2012 in Lowndes County, Alabama, to unite activist groups working in this historically oppressed part of the U.S. In 2013, the Assembly chose Jacksonville, Florida, as its meeting location because of the riverside city’s legacy of struggle and the increased attacks on oppressed nationalities in recent years.

Day two of the Assembly took place inside a big tent in a park near the Legends Center. Attendees talked about the source of their oppression and ways that the different struggles could work together to strike blows against racism. Most participants in the discussion identified capitalism and white supremacy as the system that oppresses people in the southern U.S. Later in the afternoon, a group of labor unionists and farm workers met together as a Labor Committee and agreed to plan a conference for southern workers in the summer, which would emphasize building rank-and-file power in the workplace. Spirits were high as activists closed out the day with a delicious fish fry.

On the third day of the Assembly, participants took to the streets and marched from Hemming Plaza to the Duval County Courthouse to demand justice for African-American youth and others victimized by the criminal injustice system. At the rally, protesters heard a speech from Shirley Reed, the mother of Travis Swanson, a 17-year-old African American youth arrested at his high school without warrant on bogus charges.

“Protect your children,” said Reed. “You must be on guard, because you don’t know where JSO [Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office] is. JSO is on a rampage and it seems like no one in power is controlling them.” Reed spoke about the larger issues at play in her son’s case, and said, “Black youth are more likely to be stopped, get searched and get profiled than any other people.”

Addressing this ongoing struggle, the Assembly agreed to a mission statement for the next year. The protesters read aloud, “We are building this Southern force to move us towards intervention and prevention strategies to eliminate the rising 21st Century Confederacy that is manifesting in our local cities across the South.”

#JacksonvilleFL #AntiRacism #SouthernMovementAssembly