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).
Tallahassee, FL – The Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) held an online candidate forum July 25 to give TCAC members and the wider public a sense of which local candidates for City Commission might unite with TCAC’s progressive platform on community control of police and other issues. “TCAC does not endorse candidates,” clarified TCAC member and forum moderator Dawn Freo at the start of the event, hosted on Zoom and broadcast on Facebook Live, “We encourage candidates to endorse our policy platform and our demands.”
Tallahassee, FL – On July 25, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) along with concerned parents, teachers, students and allies marched from the Department of Education to the governor’s mansion to demand that Governor Ron Desantis, the Leon County school board and other responsible bodies keep schools closed until it is safe to return to in-person learning. Doctors, nurses and educators emphasized the urgency of the global pandemic and the need for a safe, science-based reopening strategy in the face of rising COVID-19 cases.
Tallahassee, FL – On July 23, The FSU chapter of Students for a Democratic Society held a call-in day demanding the administration immediately remove a statue honoring slave-owner Francis Eppes, and the immediate renaming of several buildings located on campus that are named after slave owners and segregationists. The statue of Francis Eppes, as well as Eppes Hall, B. K. Roberts Hall and Doak Campbell Stadium were the campus buildings included in the demands.
Tallahassee, FL – Coinciding with a National Day of Protest initiated by the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (NAARPR), independently-organized actions took place on Saturday, July 18 in Quincy, Crawfordville and Tallahassee, Florida, representing Gadsden, Wakulla and Leon counties respectively.
Tallahassee, FL – On July 4, over 70 students protested in front of the Westcott administration building at Florida State University to demand the removal of the statue of Francis Eppes, a large Leon County slave-owner who had funded the Confederacy. The protest was called by Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), who also issued demands for the removal of Eppes from the criminology building and segregationist Doak Campbell from the stadium.
Tallahassee, FL – Tallahassee residents assembled at 12:30 p.m. at Cascades Park, June 28 to launch a march to the capitol. Organizers and volunteers with the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) pre-decorated the capitol steps and breezeway with rainbow flags, banners, signs and hand-painted portraits to honor the Black and brown working-class trans women who led the Stonewall Riots in New York City 51 years ago. Organizers distributed masks, water, snacks, bumper stickers and printed copies of Fight Back! to the 150-plus people in attendance. Attendees spread out across the entire capitol lawn to abide by COVID-19 safe-distancing guidelines.
Tallahassee, FL – Tallahassee has been host to months of regular protest since the January 2020 swearing-in of killer cop Lawrence Revell as chief of police. Protests became more frequent after three murders in the last three months by the Tallahassee Police Department, and now daily protests have continued for the past ten days after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and Tony McDade by Tallahassee Police Department.
Tallahassee, FL- For the last two days hundreds of people have been gathering in Tallahassee to demand justice for police crime victims. In just the past two months, the Tallahassee Police Department murdered three people, under the watch of killer cop Chief of Police Lawrence Revell, who murdered George “Lil Nuke” Williams in 1996. On Friday afternoon, May 29, protesters gathered at the capitol in the afternoon and then joined ranks with an evening protest organized by others at the TPD headquarters.
Tallahassee, Florida – A vigil was held May 27 at the Leon Arms Apartments for Tony McDade, who was shot five times by the Tallahassee police. Officers claimed McDade was armed but haven’t provided any video evidence or even the name of the killer. The Tallahassee Community Action Committee called for a protest and vigil.
Demand justice, transparency, community control of police
Tallahassee, FL – A caravan of nearly 20 vehicles circled the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) Headquarters, April 25, to demand transparency and justice for the March 20 killing of unarmed father of four, Mychael Johnson, 31, by Tallahassee Police Department officer Zackri Jones, who is now a two-time killer cop. Officer Jones’ first killing in Tallahassee was in 2015, and he serves under recently-appointed Chief of Police and fellow killer-cop Lawrence Revell.
Tallahassee, FL – Faulkner warned us that the past is not dead; it is not even past. In 1948 Laurie Dozier Sr., with a group of white male friends, started Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH). No Blacks were allowed even though Blacks paid a utilities tax that funded the hospital. Some Blacks who were denied admission died as a consequence.
Tallahassee, FL – On March 20, Tallahassee Police Department Officer Zackri Jones killed 31-year-old Mychael Johnson. Mychael Johnson was the second person shot and killed by Jones, and the first since Lawrence Revell became chief of police in January. Revell’s nomination in November and his later appointment led to protests due to his killing of George Williams, a Black teenager, in September 1996.
Tallahassee, FL – In honor of International Women’s Day, Tallahassee residents attended a panel discussion on the origins and impacts of the socialist holiday.
Tallahassee, FL – Local activists are calling new attention to the long struggle against terrorism by white supremacist law enforcement through a series of direct actions, the latest of which took place January 30 at a “Meet the Chief” meet and greet at a community center in Tallahassee.
Tallahassee, FL – On January 30, members of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus held a press conference in the Florida capitol alongside the family of Jamee Johnson and members of the Tallahassee Dream Defenders.
Tallahassee, FL – Well over 1000 educators, school bus drivers, custodians, counselors and other public school workers, dressed in red, rallied at the Old Capitol Building in Tallahassee on January 13 to demand lawmakers invest in public schools during the 2020 state legislative session. The 60-day legislative session begins January 14 and lawmakers will have a sea of red from the previous day to take with them to deliberation.
Tallahassee, FL – On December 21, over 50 members of the Tallahassee community joined with Jamee Johnson’s friends and family at the Eternal Flame on Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University’s (FAMU) campus to honor the life of the 22-year-old senior who had recently been killed by police.
Tallahassee, FL – Tallahassee’s public housing tenant association is claiming that plans to redevelop Orange Avenue Apartments, the largest public housing community in the city, will result in displacement and that those plans proceeded without resident participation.
