Atlanta, GA – Over 300 people gathered January 21 at Underground Atlanta shopping center to honor the life of Manuel “Manny” “Tortuguita” “Teran” Paez, demand an end to the building of Cop City and to defend an Atlanta forest.

The Atlanta Police Department is seeking to build a new $80 million training facility that activists are calling “Cop City.” The proposed training facility would require the destruction of 300 acres of forestland in the southeastern part of the city and would be used to train police officers in new innovative ways to oppress and brutalize people. Cop City would be equipped with a shooting range as well as weapons and explosives testing.

Paez, also known as Tortuguita, was occupying the forest to prevent the building of Cop City when they were murdered by Georgia State Patrol on January 18. It’s still unclear what happened that night. Police accounts of what transpired contradict other accounts, but those that knew Paez say they were nonviolent. Given Georgia law enforcement’s track record of lies and cover-ups however, those that knew Paez question the official police narrative.

“Tortuguita was a medic in our collective. They were a forest defender. They were a friend. They were funny. They were kind. Tortuguita was constantly thinking of others. They were constantly trying to protect other people, trying to protect the forest. Trying to protect everyone who was marginalized,” said Bee from Atlanta Resistance Medics.

Before Paez had moved to Atlanta they were an activist in Tallahassee, Florida organizing with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC).

“Manuel Paez was an activist and organizer who fought for what they believed in. They were present for countless protests and events against police brutality and for reproductive rights and LGBTQ justice. They weren’t a person who believed in hurting people for no reason. The real criminal is the police officer who murdered them in cold blood,” said Delilah Pierre, president of TCAC.

Attendants at the protest recommitted to the fight against Cop City and to continue the fight in honor of Manny’s life.

Tortuga vive! La lucha sigue!

#AtlantaGA #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #EnvironmentalJustice #PoliticalRepression #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #Tortuguita #ManuelPaez #CopCity

On Nov. 16th, Florida Police Benevolent Association Big Bend Chapter, which represents TPD officers, called for the removal of Citizens Police Review Board (CPRB) member Taylor Biro. PBA Chapter President Richard Murphy targeted Biro over a sticker on her coffee mug which reads “Abolish the Police,” but has been consistently misreported as saying “F**k the Police”. Murphy decried that her mug promoted an “inappropriate, incendiary, and anti-police message”, and called for her immediate removal from the CPRB.

The CPRB is a City-appointed board of citizens meant to provide community oversight of the Tallahassee Police Department. What each member brings to the table is a unique viewpoint on the actions and functions of policing, and collectively they are integral to establishing community oversight that is otherwise absent. Biro represents the views of many members of our community. The PBA does not get to pick and choose which viewpoints are allowed on the Board simply because they disagree or find them contrary to their goals. To do so would defeat the purpose of the review board.

Over the course of her career, Taylor Biro has been responsible for training hundreds of officers on trauma-informed policing, co-authored a part of a statewide law requiring officers to be trauma-informed and culturally responsive, and wrote the curriculum that FDLE uses on trauma related to sexual violence. She is an extremely valuable member of the board and should not be unfairly removed over political beliefs that many in the community share and want to see represented on the CPRB.

In a city where officers lie about and misrepresent events, attend and speak at anti-LGBTQ+ conferences, and murder with anonymity under Marsy’s law, it is essential to have members who will hold officers accountable for their actions. The Tallahassee Community Action Committee stands in unwavering support of Taylor Biro.

#TallahasseeFL #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseePoliceDepartmentTPD #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

The activists demanded that instead of passing the unjust budget that City Manager Reese Goad drafted, they enact a People’s Budget. Dedicated organizers collaborated for over a year to rework the city budget to remove funding from the city’s police force and instead contribute it to social services, safe and affordable housing, rental assistance, eviction moratoriums, caps on raising the prices of rents, and basic needs for all Tallahassee residents.

They highlighted the fact that the city had still not enacted a $15 dollar minimum wage despite saying it was a goal over three years ago. Organizers also mentioned the lack of money for sidewalks and other infrastructure enhancements in this year’s budget. FSU SDS Activist Jacob Muldoon described how he witnessed someone pushing a stroller in the street on Tharpe Street because “there were no sidewalks on either side of the road.”

Shelby Green, a former candidate for city commission Seat 5, expressed the desire to know why the city of Tallahassee did not have a utility assistance program for residents who struggle to pay their utility bill.

Community members also demanded to know why the budget expands the pay of high-level executives while ignoring the basic upkeep and maintenance of the city.

Michael McLaughin, an activist with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, stated, “This budget might be the aristocrat’s budget or the bureaucrat’s budget, but it is not the people’s budget.” TCAC and the other organizations involved insisted the way to end corruption and mismanagement of funds in Tallahassee is to remove budget-crafting power from the city manager. City budget workshops and meetings should also be accessible to working-class people by taking place at times they can attend.

TCAC President Delilah Pierre and TCAC member Regina Joseph, also called out the commissioners for continuing to not review the annual report from the Civilian Police Review Board that has been available since February 2022. Pierre and Joseph spoke passionately about the commissioners and city manager allowing Police Chief Lawrence Revell to remain in power. Revell sanctioned a training of the Tallahassee Police Department Tactical Apprehension and Control Team by Stronghold SOF Solutions and Eddie Gallagher earlier in 2022.

Gallagher is a former Navy SEAL who has been accused of numerous war crimes including the fatal stabbing of an injured 17-year-old prisoner. Joseph even brought copies of printed photos of Gallagher posing and smiling with the dead prisoner to give to commissioners.

At the end of public comment on the city budget, the commissioners voted three to two to approve the budget. Mayor John Dailey and Commissioners Dianne Williams-Cox and Curtis Richardson voted to approve the budget. Commissioners Jacqueline Porter and Jeremy Matlow voted against it.

Even though the commissioners voted to approve this unfair use of Tallahassee citizens’ money, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee and partners will continue to fight for the reallocation of funds through the People’s Budget. They will continue to call out and seek accountability for police crimes in the community. They will continue to fight for a safer and healthier Tallahassee for all people –not just the powerful and connected.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

TCAC members agitated for changes on a variety of topics related to the budget, including housing, free and accessible public service, healthcare, and ending police brutality. TCAC’s president, Delilah Pierre, spoke on the need for community control of the police and for the city of Tallahassee to take police accountability seriously.

“If we want to transform policing in our city we need community control of the police, and the first step to that is a Civilian Police Accountability Council The city has done a subpar job at best at taking the demands of the Civilian Police Review Board seriously. Despite submitting their annual report in February, it still hasn’t even been reviewed by the city and it’s September. It’s a grave error and a testament to the city’s use of the CPRB as a buffer for police brutality and negligence.”

Jacob Muldoon, a member of Students for a Democratic Society, spoke on the need for affordable housing in Tallahassee. “Although the city of Tallahassee has made claims that they are not a housing authority, the simple truth is that the city of Tallahassee has the power to renovate units such as the unoccupied houses within the Southside and provide them to housing insecure people in our city, which has increased exponentially each year since the start of the pandemic.”

Other organizations also spoke about the city budget. Members of the Capital Area Justice Ministry, a local coalition of churches fighting for affordable housing and gun violence intervention in Tallahassee, came to advocate for gun violence intervention. James Houston, a pastor at Bethelonian AME church, which is a member of the Capital Area Justice Ministry stated “I am personally affected by gun violence. My cousin was killed through gun violence, and it always has been a part of me.”

Despite the requests made by TCAC, the city budget was nearly unaltered from its previous form. The city commission also voted 3-2 to create a Real Time Crime Center within Tallahassee, giving the Tallahassee Police Department more power to surveil the public. Despite questioning from the two opposing city commissioners, the vote in favor does nothing to limit TPD’s power of surveillance.

#TallahasseeFL #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #PeoplesBudget

The City of Tallahassee has no business having any affiliation with this man. TPD’s statement that there is no relationship is contradicted by posts made by Eddie Gallagher and Stronghold SOF Solutions. TPD has not answered any follow up questions or explained how the production of their recent promotional video came about. We have no knowledge of Gallagher or Stronghold Solutions role in its creation. TPD officers have been empowered to patrol our streets without any mechanism for external investigation of their conduct. We do not need these officers to be trained in violence by a bloodthirsty war criminal. We do not need our city to be affiliated with the bigotry, racism and transphobia on display on Eddie Gallagher’s social media.

Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) condemns this horrifying partnership and is disappointed to see yet another decision by Police Chief Revell which undermines public trust. TPD made no public announcement of this collaboration, and it would likely have remained unknown to the very citizens who are subject to policing by TPD officers. We call on City Manager Reese Goad to fire Police Chief Revell, for a public apology and for increased transparency of TPD trainings and expenditures.

#DemilitarizeTPD #CommunityControlofPolice #CPACNow #CareNotCops

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #CivilianPoliceAccountabilityCommissionCPAC

Tallahassee, FL – On April 30, Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) hosted a panel discussing Tallahassee’s current city budget and the need for a People’s Budget. The panel was put on at The Bark, a local vegan restaurant in the All Saints neighborhood, and was co-sponsored by the Tallahassee chapters of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

“It’s super important that we let the city know that we’re not just going to be silent in the face of rising rent and inflation and unemployment. In general, it’s really important for people to know that they can make a difference,” said Regina Joseph, president of TCAC and district organizer for FRSO.

The panelists highlighted how the current city budget does not allocate enough resources to take care of the everyday needs of Tallahassee residents, but instead funnels more and more money to the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) with each passing year. For the 2022 fiscal year, TPD received just over $64 million, which equates to roughly 37% of the city’s general fund. TCAC demands that the city reallocate the funding for community support and stop using other city and county funding for TPD.

With the high correlation between poverty and increased crime rates, if the city really wanted to address crime, they would redirect money away from TPD and put it towards solutions proven to reduce both poverty and crime, such as reliable access to affordable housing and public healthcare options. Instead, that money is used to further militarize a police force with things like night vision goggles, urban assault vehicles and a new helicopter.

“The city commission would rather let developers build more student housing and more studio apartments instead of actually allocating money towards housing that working people can afford,” said Isabela Casanova, one of the panelists and a member of SDS.

Casanova added, “The truth of the matter is that people need a place to sleep, and people need a place to call home – to not put affordable housing on their agenda or even on the radar is pretty sad. Working-class people need a cap on rent and to be actually able to afford the houses they are living in.”

Tallahassee’s desperate need for a People’s Budget further reinforces the demand from Tallahassee activists for a Civilian Police Accountability Council, which would put the power of police and their spending in the hands of the city’s residents. If each year TPD is rewarded for their inability to keep Tallahassee residents safe with a larger budget, there will never be an incentive for them to change, so it’s time to take that decision away from the city and give it to the people most affected.

Jordan Scott, the organizing chair for Graduates Assistants United, a union for grad students on FSU’s campus, stated, “The people’s budget gives the ability to seize those resources – that we pay anyway, through taxes- and give it back to things we need, like public transportation. We know that working-class people are the people that make this city.”

#TallahasseeFL #PoorPeoplesMovements #InJusticeSystem #HousingStruggles #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #PeoplesBudget #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

Tallahassee, FL – On February 1 from 8 to 11 a.m., around 20 people showed up to AFSCME 3343’s informational picket line to demand Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) raise the wages of workers on campus.

Members of the AFSCME Local 3343, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Graduate Students United and City Commissioner Jack Porter all stood on the roundabout between FAMU and Wahnish Way, with signs insisting that FAMU’s leadership come to the bargaining table ready to pay up.

“It’s time that we start negotiating in black and white and take care of employees on campus,” said Andre Crumity, AFSCME union president for Local 3343. A senior fiscal assistant at the FAMU Foundation, Crumity has been employed on FAMU’s campus for 15 years. Even though he became AFSCME’s president nearly four years ago, he says he hasn’t seen much change in FAMU’s willingness to pay workers.

“We have a tendency to sweep things under the rug, and that has to stop; there has to be a greater appreciation for the work that we do, and we should be compensated well,” said Crumity.

Staff organizer for ASCFME 3343, Tallulah Thomas, also pointed to the added dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of respect workers were given for their contributions at FAMU, despite the rise in cost of living and the complications brought on by the poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on the university's campus.

“You choose to not recognize them for what they do and the funds they need to be able to increase their salary. Because the cost of living is going up. They are overworked and underpaid,” said Thomas. “If it wasn’t for the people at the bottom who hold the foundation together, the top wouldn’t be able to survive.”

Thomas called out FAMU’s leadership, stating “They only think about themselves, they’re not thinking of others.”

Thomas stated that they are “Making sure these people have a voice at the table, that they are not going unheard.”

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #AFSCME #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #AFSCMELocal3343

Organizations including the Dream Defenders, Planned Parenthood, Florida Coalition For Trans Liberation(FC4TL), Florida Rising and Black Voters Matter issued statements or spoke in support of the removal of Revell and a real response to Revell’s attendance at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) conference from the city manager and city commissioners.

Despite Revell’s claims that he was there as an individual, he appeared in his official uniform and spoke almost exclusively about his role as chief of Tallahassee Police Department. Revell violated the separation of church and state by using his position and title to suggest officers should be Christian, saying “What is it that you want for the men and women that serve your community every day? Hopefully at the very top of that list is for them to know Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.”

TCAC’s president and the district organizer for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Regina Joseph, spoke about Revell’s conduct and pledged to fight for his removal as chief of the Tallahassee Police Department. “We’re gonna make sure that Lawrence Revell is out. And that whoever supports him is out. Until my very last breath, I will fight to make sure these murderous, racist, homophobic cops are out of our community.”

Others spoke not just of LGBTQ+ discrimination but also the racism and profiling they see every day in their own lives. Isabela Casanova, a member of Students for a Democratic Society, pointed out the militarization of the police at their school. “Do you know how fucking sad it is that I walk through the hallways that I work in and the Black and brown kids in my class are afraid of the school police officer? Who is walking through an elementary school fully armed and for what?”

In addition to Revell’s participation in BGEA conference, he was also involved in the death of Tallahassee resident George “Lil Nuke” Williams in 1996, a crime which he was never held accountable for.

TCAC is also demanding the removal of City Manager Reese Goad. He appointed Revell to his position of police chief in 2019 in a completely undemocratic process and is unwilling to hold him accountable.

Speakers reiterated the need for a Community Police Accountability Council (CPAC) and a People’s Budget.

#Tallahassee #LawrenceRevell #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #TPD #BillyGrahamEvangelisticAssociation

“We need to drop the [felony] charges against the #Tally19. It makes no sense. It’s anti-Black and it’s anti-queer and we need this to stop now. We need CPAC now, we need the People’s Budget now, and we need to drop the charges,” said Ariel Ynovy, a leading organizer for Black Voters Matter. Ynovy referenced the People’s Budget, a project TCAC has been working on to reallocate the police budget to other social sectors, and community control of the police.

Alex Carson, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), denounced the Florida State University Police Department for their role in attacking the Tally19, stating, “On September 5, 2020, FSUPD was among the five law enforcement agencies present for the violent ambush of our community members. If you ask FSUPD why they were present that day, standing along cops in riot gear, they will say they were there to keep students safe. As an FSU student who was there, let me tell you, this could not be farther than the truth.”

Others pointed out the hypocrisy of the City Commission in their superficial support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Lauren Brenzel from Planned Parenthood said, “The arrest of peaceful protesters sent a clear message to Tallahassee citizens and citizens all over our state and that was an embarrassing message. But at the same time that we were painting Black Lives Matter in intersections, we were criminalizing defending Black lives.”

Tally19 member Ben Grant talked about his fears and worries about how the charges could affect his future and his life. They won’t just affect him, but his entire family and community. “I worry about if my family will be okay, if going down to a single income, they’ll be able to live. [If we] will we lose our home. If they’ll be able to eat. We have the love and support of our community but that doesn’t pay the bills.”

Students for a Democratic Society, the Florida Coalition For Transgender Liberation, Planned Parenthood, and Black Voters Matter all sponsored and participated in this event.

Speakers reiterated the need for the dropping of all charges but especially an end to the felony charges placed on Ben Grant. TCAC invited members to attend Ben’s pretrial at 1:30 p.m. and his trial, which will take place November 2 or 3 at 8:30 a.m. It will be at the Leon Clerk of Courts Office, Courtroom 2F. No one wearing clothes or apparel supporting the Tally19 or TCAC will be allowed in, and attendees must also wear long pants and professional clothing.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalRepression #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #Tallahassee19

Tallahassee, FL – On June 18, on the Old Capitol Steps, community members and loved ones gathered to celebrate the life of Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Ruth Salau.

The candlelight vigil marked the one-year anniversary of Oluwatoyin’s tragic death. Trish Brown of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee remarked, “Doesn’t seem like it’s been a year. It seems almost like yesterday.”

Community members, loved ones and organizers paid tribute to Salau with a video montage of the slain activist on a ten-foot-tall video wall, her words echoed through the court yard, “ We’re doing this for every Black person, because at the end of the day, I cannot take my fucking skin color off. Wherever the fuck I go, I’m profiled. I’ma die about my fucking skin. My Blackness is not for your fucking consumption.”

More than a year ago, Salau stood at the capitol demanding justice for Tony McDade. She chanted “Black lives matter!”, “No justice, no peace!”, and “Black trans lives matter!” along with others taking to the streets. A year later, the Tallahassee community repeated the very same cries of freedom that Salau spoke.

Delilah Pierre, vice president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, said “The Tallahassee Police Department has the funds and resources to spy on Frenchtown and South Side communities in Tallahassee. Despite their enormous wealth and power, and their claim to be an abiding force for good in Tallahassee, in reality they only use their resources as a means to an end to further criminalize and impoverishe Black communities. The police department was not interested in using their resources and power to search for Toyin, using their helicopters, surveillance systems, and other resources to make sure she was safely returned to her home. Despite constant outreach and investigation from activists, Toyin’s life ended precisely because of a lack of active resources where she could be safely rehoused.”

Regina Joseph, president of TCAC said “We, the community organized a search party for Toyin while TPD was too busy looking for a missing dog. All the clues and information, and the reported whereabouts of Toyin were given to the police. TPD did nothing. They did not want to find a missing activist whose most famous last words commended the Tallahassee police force as a tool to repress Black people.”

The vigil was organized by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, FSU Students for a Democratic Society and Movement 850.

Say her name: Oluwatoyin Salau.

#TallahasseeFL #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #Vigil #OluwatoyinToyinSalau #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

Since McDade’s murder, TPD has used Marsy’s Law as a legal shield to protect their officers from public accountability, refusing to release the names of the officers involved in the shooting.

McDade’s death, occurring just two days after George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis and six days after TPD officers killed Wilbon Woodard, helped spark last summer’s uprising for Black lives both locally and globally. McDade’s name and image appeared in news articles and social media posts, and thousands of people took to the streets of Tallahassee last summer chanting “Black trans lives matter.”

A year later Black and trans people in Tallahassee are still waiting for justice, and still fighting for a world where the police are held accountable through a democratically elected Civilian Police Accountability Council, CPAC, which would have full oversight and authority over TPD policies and budgets.

Speakers at Thursday’s vigil highlighted the correlation between the state sanctioned violence and transphobia he was subjected to, and the systems that overlooked and neglected him despite McDade’s decades-long battle with mental illness. McDade’s tragic death shows the combined violence of white supremacy, transphobia and capitalism. Not only did the criminal injustice system target McDade because he was Black, but it also refused to recognize his trans identity and incarcerated him in a women’s prison for nearly a decade.

Tony McDade’s mother, Wanda McDade, climbed the capitol steps to speak to those in attendance. Wanda McDade expressed that she is not much of a speaker, but because of the love shown to her and Tony by the community, she wanted to say a few words. With tears in her eyes, Wanda thanked TCAC for organizing the event and those who came out to show love and support, and prayed for peace, love and understanding, stating, “Tony loved everyone and would do for anyone, doesn’t matter who you are.”

Delilah Pierre, vice president of TCAC, pointed out the ongoing disrespect by TPD and the media, who continued to deadname and misgender Tony McDade. Delilah spoke specifically of the trauma that Black trans people experience every day at the hands of the police and the community at large: “When I go out somewhere, I look inside of my car and I see what clothes I have. I try to pick out the clothes I think will best disguise me, the clothes I think will best make me seem less threatening to other people, the clothes I think will make me less possible or able to be killed. I have a pocketknife, mace and a taser in my car. I try to protect myself because I know that as a Black trans woman at any time and any moment someone can just decide that they don’t like me. That they don’t like my identity, they don’t like the kind of person that I am and try to kill me, stomp on me, beat me down. That ain’t right.”

Regina Joseph, president of Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) and also one of the #Tally19, made the call for CPAC, and stressed its importance “We need to build a new society, not just in Tony's memory but for everyone else.” She continued, “Be about the work and figure out how we’re going to demand these concrete policies into reality so that another mother does not lose her child.” She closed with a question to the crowd, “What are you going to do after you walk away from this to make sure another Black person isn’t killed by the police? We need community control of the police. CPAC now!”

During the vigil, the people also condemned the actions of TPD for their racist, murderous tactics. Joseph pressed the crowd to remember that it’s important to not let this be just a moment, but part of a movement, exclaiming, “I would be arrested over and over again so Tony’s life would not be taken in vain.” She reminded attendees of the violent arrests made by TPD on September 5, when 19 community members were arrested en route to the capitol in protest of a grand jury’s decision not to indict any of the cops involved in the murders of Mychael Johnson, Tony Mcdade and Wilbon Woodard.

Delilah Pierre called out the inhumane conditions of the prison system, stating the only reason we got to this point is because of a lack of accountability and failure to listen to McDade’s pleas for help. Upon his release, just a few months before his murder, McDade spoke out about his struggles, vowing to take his own life. Pierre explained, “I think Tony was very angry – very, very angry – but you know where that anger came from? I can tell you as a trans person, as a Black trans person, that anger came from fear. From the constant fear of belittlement, the constant fear of death, the constant fear of the way you’ll be treated, the constant fear of not being accepted by anyone in your life. That constant fear that you sit with, that you live with.”

Alongside demands for police accountability and justice, Octavia Thomas of Movement 850 reminded attendees that it’s also important to remember McDade’s life and humanity, stating, “I want us to embrace ourselves in that love that his mother talked about. I want us to embrace that because that is what’s going to move us in the future, if we understand the value of life. If we understand what life truly means when you lose it. Because like Regina said, I don’t want to get desensitized to this.”

#TallahasseeFL #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #TonyMcDade

Speakers took to the mic to say the names of all 49 victims who died, followed by a moment of silence. They also spoke out against politicians for the homophobic and transphobic laws implemented in the five years after Pulse killings. Several speakers put a spotlight on recent attacks by Governor Ron DeSantis on the LGBTQ+ community in Florida. Others spoke about ending all forms of oppression that hurt the LGBTQ+ community.

“I do not know the LGBTQ+ community, nor my own gay identity, without the influence of the Pulse massacre. The only route for true gay liberation is queer liberation. And queer liberation must be political liberation, social liberation and economic liberation. Don’t assimilate, liberate,” said Jacob Muldon, member of Students for a Democratic Society

On June 2, Governor DeSantis vetoed a bill that would help fund Equality Florida to provide mental health assistance to Pulse Massacre survivors. DeSantis’ recent attack went against his previous promise to help support the victims of the Pulse Massacre in Orlando. The day before, on June 1, the first day of Pride Month, DeSantis signed a transphobic bill into law that bars transgender females from playing on public school teams. These attacks against the LGBTQ+ in Florida not only directly impact the survivors and families of the Pulse Nightclub Massacre, but they also impact the lives of countless trans children and young adults for years to come.

TCAC members asked the community to keep gathering to organize and fight for justice and equity for the queer community, and to put pressure on state leaders to show that any repressive attack on the Black, brown, and/or queer community will not go unnoticed.

“Even if we are discouraged by the Pulse Massacre, even if we are discouraged by the hate against our community, we must continue to fight and organize because we can’t do this alone. Your liberation is tied to my liberation,” said Regina Joseph, president of TCAC.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PulseNightclub #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

Tallahassee, FL – On June 3, students at Florida State University gathered to demand an end to the Israeli government's attacks on Gaza. Students connected the struggles against political repression in Palestine to similar struggles facing political activists in Colombia.

The event was hosted by Students for a Democratic Society as well as the Tallahassee Community Action Committee. Attendees held signs saying, “End the Occupation” and “Stop Political Repression”.

Event organizer Katherine Draken said, “We need to continue bringing attention to the struggles of the Palestinian people against Zionism and the violent repression they face on a daily basis.”

Students made plans to continue speaking out against injustice and repression during the upcoming school year.

#TallahasseeFL #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

Trish Brown of the Tally 19 spoke on HB1 and its effect on people living in the city. She also spoke up about her recent harassment by the hands of the Tallahassee Police Department.

This rally came at a challenging time for the Tallahassee community. On the morning of April 9, the community woke up to the news that the Tallahassee Police Department had shot and killed a man the night before. That day, local activists joined concerned citizens from across the state who spoke out against HB1/SB484, only to watch the bill pass its first and only Senate committee. And then the next day, just hours before the April 10 anti-HB1/SB484 rally, several officers from the Leon County Sheriff’s office harassed local activist Trish Brown as she was sitting in her parked car.

Community activists also called for greater accountability for the recent police murder of an unnamed victim. Trish Brown, community outreach coordinator for TCAC was the final speaker. “We will never give up! We must fight at all costs to protect the right to protest.”

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalRepression #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #HB1SB484

“The people are tired of marching while our cries go unheard. The people realize that in order to change the system, we must destroy the system,” said Mutaquee Akbar, president of the NAACP.

Other speakers emphasized previous protests that would have been deemed criminal or illegal due to this bill. Speaker Oz Hernandez, the corresponding secretary for the Leon County Democrats, spoke of his first protest, which was a walkout for Trayvon Martin, a Black youth murdered by George Zimmerman in 2012. “Instead of pushing for equity, our politicians push for the limitation of our rights. House Bill 1 is not bringing anything new to the table that’s going to help the current situation,” said Hernandez.

Others agreed that HB1/SB484 were especially offensive considering the high rate of unemployment, lack of healthcare and failing facilities of Florida. Trish Brown, outreach coordinator, talked about the bill’s hypocritical and unconstitutional stance, and stated, “We’re still fighting for our freedom. There’s so many issues we should be focusing on such as rent control, utilities, debt, CPAC and racial equality but yet our leaders focused on fast-tracking this bill.”

After the speakers were done, individuals from the crowd had an opportunity to speak with. Many emphasized how during the house subcommittee for this bill on January 27, politicians gave the public only one minute to talk.

The event was organized by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee. Organizers plan to meet at 400 S. Monroe Street (the Florida Historic Capitol Museum) on March 2 at 2 p.m. to launch a statewide protest against the bill.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #PoliticalRepression #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #HB1SB484

A large banner behind the press conference podium read: “#Drop the charges #Tally1419,” reflecting that on September 5, militarized police arrested and charged 14 protest attendees, and in the days after, also arrested four protesters and issued a fill-in-the-blank warrant that still remains nameless. Two of the three Tallyers initially charged with felonies have since had their felonies reduced to misdemeanors. Some of the Tally19 accepted diversion offers requiring community service. Zero individuals among the Tally19 have had all their charges dropped outright, and Ben Grant still faces a felony charge.

Guest speakers Reverend Lee Johnson, Miami-based Trey John of Dignity Power, and Tallahassee City Commissioner Jeremy Mattlow, followed by several of the Tally19, including Ben Grant, took to the mic for two urgent goals: drop the felony charges along with all the September 5 charges and defeat HB1 and SB484, companion bills that would further criminalize nearly all public assemblies while giving a free pass to reactionaries for intentionally killing protesters with their vehicles.

Speakers pointed out that activists in Florida already organize under threat of mass arrest; already experience criminal and political repression by law enforcement and the court system; and already suffer vehicle attacks by reactionary drivers who consistently enjoy total leniency from law enforcement. Speakers called out Tallahassee’s repeated leniency for drivers of vehicle attacks against Black lives matter marches, and simultaneous criminal and political repression against the Tally19 as specifically inconsistent and unjust, and more broadly as a foreboding test case for the rest of Florida.

Trish Brown, press conference emcee, stated, “We are here to demand that State Attorney Jack Campbell and Assistant State Attorney Kathleen Bogenschutz drop the felony charges against Ben Grant, my friend, my community member, and fellow Tally19er. We need all charges to be dropped against all of the Tally19. And we need the community to stand against Governor Ron DeSantis’ anti-protest bills HB1 and SB484.” Brown is a founding member of TCAC, serves as TCAC’s outreach director, ran for city commission in 2020 on a community control of police platform, and was the first arrestee of the Tally19.

In addition to hosting Tuesday’s press conference, TCAC also joined with other local organizations to call in to State Attorney Campbell and Assistant State Attorney Bogenschutz in a mass appeal to drop the felony charges against Ben Grant. A sample script published by TCAC for the call-in day reads:

“On September 5th, community members gathered to protest the unjust grand jury decision which allowed the Tallahassee PD cops who murdered Mychael Johnson, Wilbon Woodard and Tony McDade to walk free. Heavily armed police, who outnumbered protestors 3-to-1, began to brutalize, detain and arrest protestors, with some of them ending up in the hospital. I am calling to demand that State Attorney Jack Campbell DROP ALL FELONY CHARGES against Ben Grant! Protesting injustice in Tallahassee should NOT be criminalized and should NOT be met with militarized brutality from the police!”

Ben Grant is facing a felony charge of up to ten years and $10,000 in fines. His next pretrial is on February 25 and he goes to trial on March 1.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #PoliticalRepression #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC #HB1SB484 #Tallahassee19

After a discussion of the city’s efforts to invest in Southside, the newly-elected Democratic Socialists of America-backed commissioner Jack Porter asked for clarification as to why the Southside of Tallahassee has been so long neglected by the city of Tallahassee. “What is the assessment of why the desired impact on the Southside has not been achieved in these 20 years with plans? Is it that there was something wrong with the plan? Did we not invest the way we needed to? Or the follow up or the implementation?” Porter added, “I agree with Commissioner Matlow, we’ve got to identify where the breakdown was if we’re going to move forward, which we all agree we need to.”

When City Manager Reese Goad began to offer Porter an answer, Commissioner Dianne Williams Cox, one of two Black people on the Commission cut Goad off saying, “City Manager, I don’t want you to get in trouble, because you got to tell the truth. And the truth is not a nice answer like I know you want to give.”

Commissioner Williams Cox then proceeded to offer a lengthy explanation of how the city has neglected Southside. Although she declared, “In order to fix this, we’ve got to expose it,” and that some people may not find her answer to be “politically correct,” the closest Williams Cox came to naming the actual cause of neglect was, “Because the people who live in, the demographic in that area may not have been looked upon as favorably as others.” Rather than naming and exposing city-level institutional white supremacy, Commissioner Williams Cox seemed almost more interested in jockeying for a position as leader of the city’s efforts to invest in Southside.

It took until the public comment portion of the retreat for someone to ‘expose’ anti-Black discrimination as the reason for the city’s neglect of Southside. Whitfield Leland was first up to bat during the public comment period, and knocked the ball out of the park. Responding directly to Commissioner Porter’s initial question, Leland offered a much shorter and more accurate explanation. “The reason why it didn’t happen with this action plan is because we were Black.”

Leland went on to address affordable housing, which is a major crisis in Tallahassee, and one that many civilians offered public comments about, telling the commissioners they, “need to start seeing housing as a public health issue and a public safety issue,” and that they “should be addressing the root of poverty.” “What is the cause of poverty?” Leland asked. “Lack of access to healthcare, employment, the absence of social services, race discrimination, poor infrastructure, and government corruption,” adding, “We have to prioritize the basic needs and infrastructure people need to survive and strive more than prioritizing convention centers and parking lots.”

#TallahasseeFL #HousingStruggles #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

Tallahassee, FL – On November 19, students from the Tallahassee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a rally in front of the Westcott building on the Florida State University campus to demand community and student control of the Florida State University Police Department (FSUPD) and that the charges against the Tally19 be dropped. The students called for an end to political repression and that FSUPD be held accountable to the community and student body they police.

Students spoke about the increasing budget of both the Tallahassee Police Department and FSUPD as well as the lack of accountability to the community and student body at large. Students also demanded justice for the Tally19, a group of protesters who were arrested on September 5 during a rally to demand justice for those who have been impacted by police brutality. These protesters were arrested by a group of approximately 300 police officers clad in riot gear and many are currently facing charges.

Katherine Draken, member of Tallahassee SDS, said in her speech, “The police will never hold each other accountable, we need an independent board that can hold them accountable and demand real justice for the victims of police violence, that’s the purpose of a CPAC.”

Anthony Suarez, vice president of Tallahassee SDS, also spoke about the lack of police accountability, “When police murder someone they occasionally spend a few months on leave and then go right back to their jobs. We saw this with Lawrence Revell who murdered George “Nuke” William in 1996 and is now the TPD police chief, we also saw this with Zackri Jones, who murdered Mychael Johnson, who promptly went right back to work after committing murder.”

Students continued to speak about other cases of police brutality in Tallahassee and the U.S., ending the rally with a call for students and community members to get involved with local organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society or the Tallahassee Community Action Committee to continue the struggle against police repression and violence.

#TallahasseeFL #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CPAC #TallahasseeSDS #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

Tampa, FL – On September 19, the Tampa Bay Community Action Committee participated in the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression’s (NAARPR) national day of protest with a rally of about 40 members of the community in downtown Tampa. NAARPR’s call to action demanded an end to racist police terror, the withdrawal of federal troops in cities across the country and for community control of the police.

The rally also demanded justice for Jonas Joseph, a Black man shot and killed by Tampa police in April. After being pulled over by undercover police cars, Joseph was shot over 120 times by Tampa Police Department officers, whose first account claimed that Joseph had shot at officers first. Months later, and after multiple changes to their official account, TPD admitted that Joseph had not fired a gun at any point during the incident.

“Tampa has a long history of police brutality, police terror and innocent lives being murdered by a racist system,” said Thi Kim, a Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC) member. “Enough is enough, we are fighting for Black and brown lives, for justice, and will continue to be out here until change takes place.”

Jonas’s family and community activists are also demanding the police release all autopsy documents and footage of the incident. Tampa’s head public prosecutor, State Attorney Andrew Warren, has repeatedly voiced his support for TPD’s official account and stated that no officers will be charged and investigated for any crime. This comes during a period of federal repression towards anti-racist activists.

“TPD continues to change their story and cover up evidence surrounding what is clearly a police murder of Jonas Joseph,” stated TBCAC member Matt Wheat. “We joined NAARPR’s day of protest not only to demand justice for him, but also to stand in solidarity with all activists around the country who are facing harsh attacks just for standing up for what's right.”

#TampaFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #NAARPR #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC