Despite what you may have seen or heard from multiple media outlets, the Saturday afternoon protest in downtown Jacksonville did not “turn violent”.
Then why the inaccurate headlines and commentary from some media outlets? They are cut from the same cloth as the media that gave us the headline “Negroes Attack White Man And Riot” to describe the events of Jacksonville’s Eastside Riot of 1969. That “riot” began, October 31, 1969, when a white cigarette salesman saw a young black man standing too close to his delivery truck. Thinking the black man was going to rob him the white man started shooting. The black man ran away, the white man followed, still shooting. When he shot into a crowd of black school children he was set upon by a group of blacks who took his gun away and flipped over his truck.
But yeah, “Negroes Attack White Man And Riot”
“RIOTING NEGROES STONE THE POLICE IN JACKSONVILLE”
was the headline when over 200 blacks were arrested for an anti segregation demonstration, March 23, 1964. That demonstration had it’s roots in another false newspaper story, “4 Negroes Attack White Man”. Despite having a 430 man police force Mayor Haydon Burns, a candidate at the time for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, deputized 450 firemen after a televised “get tough” announcement in which he asserted that “illegal” demonstrations would not be tolerated. Eyewitnesses to the event have since come forward to state no police officers were stoned.
The one fatality was a black woman, Johnnie Mae Chappell who was gunned down by 4 white men driving around “looking to get a nigger”.
Ax Handle Saturday, August 27, 1960 happened in and around Hemming Park, when a mob of over 200 angry white men, some affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, attacked young black student demonstrators with ax handles and baseball bats. They attacked the young students for many racist reasons, including not wanting to sit next to a “colored” while having lunch at Woolworths lunch counter.
The conduct of the whites was so bad the Florida Times Union, with no way to whitewash the story, chose not to report on the story, not then anyway. They have since, in more recent years , covered the events extensively.
Northern papers were not as forgiving.
“The whole spectacle was chronicled by several major news outlets including Life magazine. Jacksonville briefly became the face of racial violence, earning the city a national reputation for ignorance and backward thinking that it’s still struggling to shake to this day.”
~The Coastal
Right around the corner from the events of Ax Handle Saturday now stands the Duval County Courthouse. It is only fitting that many of Jacksonville’s protests have involved the courthouse, when blacks account for 17% of state residents, but 39% of people in jail and 47% of people in prison.
Many, unfortunately too many, will read that last line and say “then they shouldn’t break the law” or “they commit more crimes” bla bla bla “black on black crime” You can take comments like that and go out to the pig farm. Pigs like slop.
We had a “get tough” mayor in 1960 with Haydon Burns when he asserted that “illegal” demonstrations would not be tolerated. Last night Mayor Lenny Curry didn’t use Haydon Burns words when he got tough, but the end result was the same, when he imposed an 8PM to 6AM curfew and said “if you are in our streets after 8pm you are subject to arrest by law enforcement. No one may travel upon City streets except for 1st responders, credentialed media, people going to/from work, individuals seeking emergency care or fleeing danger.”
The curfew effectively ended the possibility of additional protest last night, despite the fact that curfew spits in the face of the First Amendment. And yes, a mayor, a governor, and the president can implement a curfew but that is generally reserved for major things.
And when a curfew is enacted it is seldom selectively enforced.
That is why the courthouse plays such an important part in all this. We have another amendment,
the 14th, which guaranteed all citizens “equal protection under the laws”.
Equal protection under the laws. There should also be equal protection when enforcing those laws.
But there isn’t. That’s why white soccer moms are allowed to walk and jog in the street or cross outside of crosswalks between traffic lights without incident, but young black men are stopped and cited, or worse. Selective enforcement of our laws is why blacks account for 17% of state residents, but 39% of people in jail and 47% of people in prison.
White women, with pristine sidewalks in the city’s most affluent areas, are allowed to break the law, while young black men, with crumbling sidewalks, in the city’s poorest areas, are targeted, time and time again.
The same thing happened last night. Mayor Curry’s curfew was a targeted one, and the target was on blacks.
I drove around our city. I drove through Avondale, Ortega, Ortega Forest, Julington Creek, Montclair, Beauclerc, Miramar, Colony Cove, many of the most affluent areas in Jacksonville. They account for 6 of the top ten richest neighborhoods in Jacksonville. They are also some of the whitest neighborhoods in Jacksonville.
I saw no heavier police presence than I would have seen on any Sunday evening drive around town, possibly less of a police presence than usual.
But when I drove into the Urban Core; Downtown, LaVilla, Brooklyn, Eastside, Brentwood and other predominantly African American neighborhoods, there was an extremely heavy police presence.
I fully expected to be stopped by JSO while I made my drive last night. I wasn’t concerned as I have media credentials.
Turns out I didn’t need them, as I also have white credentials. White privilege was my passport for the evening and I was not stopped, not once.
The Mayor and the Sheriff couldn’t come out and say black people stay home, at least not anymore, so they gave a curfew to the whole city, but only enforced that curfew in predominantly black neighborhoods. All that does is widen the divide of trust between communities of color and JSO.
Speaking of trust, and acceptance, many police chiefs and sheriffs have marched with, prayed with, spoke with and listened to protesters, across the nation. I wish Mike Williams had done the same.
Back to Saturday afternoon’s protest. The event, Justice For George Floyd and all Police Victims Caravan, was sponsored by Northside Coalition of Jacksonville Inc.and Jacksonville Community Action Committee.
The event honored George Floyd. George Floyd; handcuffed, laying prone on the ground, three police officers on top of him, one with his knee on George’s neck for nine minutes. He said ‘I can’t breathe” He called out “Mama”. They continued their abuse as the handcuffed man died, and a fourth officer looked on, ignoring George’s pleas for help
The protesters demands included;
1) the release of body cam footage in all cases of JSO shootings especially in the police killings of Jamee Johnson, Kwamae Jones, Reginald Boston and others.
2) the end of excessive force by JSO and community control of the police
3) the release of inmates to stop the spread of COVID-19 and transparency in numbers of those inmates with COVID as well as sanitation reports of facilities
This is what the protest looked like in downtown Jacksonville Saturday. It was powerful, passionate, and peaceful. It began and ended without violence.
The protest began at 3pm and ended at approximately 4:30pm. The folks with the signs, a moving message, and a purpose that should be respected by all, had packed up and left, hours before any violence began, later that night.
They were replaced by unaffiliated groups whose ranks were infiltrated by opportunists, criminals and agent provocateurs, some with connections to the far right.
No evidence has been produced to suggest that any of those who committed acts of violence or destruction of property were connected to the leadership of the protest in any way.
Sunday morning and afternoon, additional protests went on, again, without violence.
One such protest was scheduled for Klutho Park.
Klutho Park is a public park but the protesters were met with a large contingent of JSO who told them the park was closed to the public.
The protesters continued, undeterred, and marched around the perimeter of the park and laid down, prone, on the ground hands behind their back, the same as George Floyd was when he said ‘I can’t breathe” and called out for his Mama, before he died.
George Floyd had three police officers on top of him, one with a knee pressing down on his neck, the protesters did not. George Floyd did not have to die. George Floyd should not have been murdered. The protests are to make certain that no else is murdered in police custody, crying out I can’t breathe! Mama!
