Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

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By staff

Protesters rally outside the Leon County Courthouse in an emergency mobilization against immigration raids.

Tallahassee, FL – On January 28, about 40 members of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC), held an emergency rally at the Leon County Courthouse to demand the city and county stop the arrest and detainment of undocumented members of the community. This emergency action was held a day after multiple confirmed sightings of ICE in Tallahassee, as well as raids in surrounding counties.

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By staff

Activists hold up their fists in front of a government building.

Tallahassee, FL – On Jan. 15, the Tallahassee City Commission held a final public hearing on Ordinance No. 24-O-40, which is for the creation of the Citizens Police Review Board (CPRB). The Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC), along with other community members came out to oppose the dissolution of the CPRB ordinance.

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By Katy Kurzweil

Tallahassee community rallies against Trump’s agenda.

Tallahassee, FL – On Monday, January 20, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) held a rally at the historic capitol to show their unwavering outrage at Trump and the Republican agenda. Around 100 community members attended. They supported the demands, “Unite to defeat all racist and reactionary bills during the legislative session! Say no to SB 54 and all other backwards bills!”

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By Oliver Cheese and Justin Jordan

FSU students march against Trump.

Tallahassee, FL – On January 14, students marched and rallied at Florida State University as part of a national upsurge to resist the right-wing agenda of President-elect Donald Trump. Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led the march across campus as the afternoon’s classes were ending, showing hundreds of onlookers that Trump’s election victory wouldn’t silence the student movement.

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By Logan Michael

Person with red hair and an orange dress speaks while reading off a phone. In the background people are lying on the ground holding signs.

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

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By Oliver Cheese

Tallahassee protest against the genocide in Palestine.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On Wednesday, November 19, students at Florida State University came face to face with the horrors of Zionism when they went to class. Outside FSU’s largest classroom building, 15 members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) from Tallahassee and Jacksonville laid on the ground, standing in for the corpses of Palestinians murdered by Israeli forces. They held signs documenting the names and stories of martyred civilians, while speakers condemned FSU’s partnership with arms manufacturers which supply t state of Israel.

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By staff

Tallahassee, FL – On November 6, community members came together at Tallahassee City Hall to demand the restoration of Tallahassee’s Citizens Police Review Board. The board was created in 2020 but was quietly shut down earlier this year by conservative city commissioners.

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By staff

Tallahassee, Florida protest after election of Donald Trump.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On Thursday, November 7, around 50 protesters joined Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to protest the racist, pro-Israel agenda of President-elect Donald Trump. The students and community members made it clear that the people’s movements would not stand down in the face of Trump’s reactionary repression, and that they would continue to demand an end to all U.S. aid to Israel.

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By JJ Glueck

Tallahassee students condemn Israeli solider guest speaker at FSU.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On October 9, Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society, in collaboration with other local community organizers, held a press conference to condemn Florida State University for platforming an Israeli soldier, Yair Ansbacher. Ansbacher, a Zionist propagandist, was given an opportunity to express his genocidal beliefs while pro-Palestine student activists are repressed.

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By staff

Tallahassee stands in solidarity with Palestine.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On October 7, over 150 community members gathered to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and Palestinian resistance on the anniversary of Operation Al Aqsa Flood.

Jayci Qassis, organizer with Dissenters, started off the event with important historical context for October 7, stating “The Al-Aqsa flood was the result of a culmination; a boiling point of almost a century long existence of living under oppression by the Zionist entity. A year ago today, Palestine brought to consciousness the truth about the over 76 year long occupation that stemmed from the Nakba. We honor the courage and steadfastness of the Palestinian resistance, our brothers and sisters in Gaza and across all of Palestine in their struggle for liberation.”

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By Tavyan Dorsey

SDS fundraising event in Tallahassee, Florida.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On October 4, Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society hosted their annual Halloween Talent Show in an effort to raise funds for travel expenses to the upcoming SDS National Convention.

The event was emceed by Tally SDS member Kingsley Early, who kept the evening light with stand-up comedy between sets. Local artists performed in seven different acts, showcasing their talents in poetry, singing, electronic music, rapping, noise music and songwriting. The event was a success in spite of the spookiest thing student activists are confronting this Halloween: political repression.

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By Regina Joseph

More than 80 community members gathered to defend local LGBTQ business Common Ground Books against potential protest from a far-right religious group.  | Ben Grant/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On August 25, over 80 local community members showed up at Common Grounds Books, a local LGBTQ-friendly bookstore, to support their “Drag Story Hour” event which was threatened with protest by a religious organization, America Needs Fatima.

According to Alex Spencer, the owner of Common Grounds Bookstore, her shop received a threat of protest. In an email, America Needs Fatima reads, “We must peacefully and legally say NO to the homosexual plan to expose young children to indecency, impurity, and unnatural vice.” Drag Story Hour is a monthly event held at Common Ground in which a local drag artist reads storybooks to children.

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By staff

Tallahassee, FL – On Sunday, August 18, about 30 community members gathered at the Florida Capitol building to protest Kamala Harris and her policies regarding the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Protesters held signs within sight of the busy intersection in front of the capitol complex stating, “We won’t vote for genocide” and “Arms embargo now!”

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By Sam Dohler

Tallahassee vigil for Sonya Massey.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Tallahassee, FL – On August 7, a dozen community members gathered at the Smokey Hollow Historic District for a vigil for Sonya Massey and other victims of police brutality. The vigil was hosted by the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC).

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By Thomas Spiers

Participants in Tallahassee candidate forum.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On July 20, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee hosted a forum for candidates running for city commission Seats 1 and 2. The forum was held at the Dr. B.L. Perry Southside Branch Library.

For Seat 1, Jacqueline “Jack” Porter, the incumbent, and one challenger, Louis Dilbert, was in

attendance. Another challenger, Rudolph “Rudy” Ferguson, did not respond to TCAC’s requests to attend.

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By Oliver Cheese

Five young queer and trans people of hold up peace signs and pose smiling. 

Tallahassee, FL – On June 30, two days after the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, students and community members gathered at Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society’s annual pride talent show, one of the longest-running non-corporate pride events in the city. 

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By staff

Activists commemorated the radical roots of the Stonewall riots with a rally at the Florida capitol.  | Ben Grant/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On June 29, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) along with other activist organizations held a rally in remembrance of Stonewall, the 1969 queer uprising that led to the creation of the current LGBTQ rights movement that exists around the world.

Around ten attendees joined together to talk about the history of the Stonewall Riot and the progressive movements that represent the spirit of Stonewall that exist today.

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By Thomas Spiers

Community forum in Tallahassee, Florida.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On the afternoon of June 22, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) hosted a Community Forum at the LeRoy Collins Leon County Main Public Library. About 20 community members came to the event that was held in preparation for the city commission candidate forum which will take place in July.

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By staff

The Riley family and community members outside Tallahassee City Hall. | Cas Casanova/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On June 19, friends and family held a rally at Tallahassee City Hall demanding to overturn the verdict and sentence against Calvin Riley.

Community members joined the Riley family to speak during public comment at the city commission meeting, which apparently was held despite the Juneteenth holiday. Speakers demanded justice for Calvin Riley after he received a conviction and a DUI sentence, despite proof that a police officer planted evidence on him.

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By Thomas Spiers

Tallahassee community members gather to demand justice for Calvin Riley. | Ben Grant/Fight Back! News

Tallahassee, FL – On Saturday, June 1, around 25 community members held a rally at Leon County Courthouse to continue to demand that the false and racist charges against Calvin Riley be dropped.

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