Darkness and Light: A beacon of hate unites a community and reveals the darkness of politics
A beam of light momentarily turned downtown into a beacon of darkness, as antisemitic actors projected a cross and swastika across the face of the CSX building on Jan. 14. But the actors’ intended goal of hate appeared to have had the opposite effect, as the city of Jacksonville immediately rallied behind its Jewish brothers and sisters, passing an emergency bill at the Jan. 24 city council meeting.
The legislation, originally penned by Council Member LeAnna Cumber, prohibits messages from being projected onto a building without the owner’s approval and consent. Regardless of the content, the light violators could be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days of jail time and a $2,000 fine.
“We know this won’t be the thing that stops hate, but it will make it that much harder,” said Adam Chaskin, CEO of the Jewish Community Alliance during a press conference. “I am very proud that the city of Jacksonville stepped up with this legislation.”
At the press conference, attended by fellow Council Members Michael Boylan, Matt Carlucci, Randy DeFoor and Reggie Gaffney, Jr., Cumber cited six separate incidents over the past six months as the impetus behind the bill.
“Antisemitism is as old as time, but we must find every legal avenue to stop it. We need to be the leader in the state and in the country to stop these messages. Let me be clear, these are not isolated incidents,” she said.
“We look at combating hate and bias like an octopus with numerous arms,” said Mariam Feist, CEO of the Jewish Federation & Foundation of Northeast Florida. “Elected officials passing a bill like they did, is one of those. It makes a very strong statement: There is legal, punitive action if one does this.”
Feist insisted that the community is indeed coming together to combat bias and hate at its roots, noting that David Miller, on behalf of the Miller family, made a $1M grant to do so. Since the inception of the Together Strong Community Fund, businesses like Florida Blue, Vystar, Haskell, Baptist Foundation, the Jaguars Foundation, and CSX have all invested, as well as other philanthropists.
While the passing of the bill was expected to be the highlight of the city council meeting, public commentary from some showed frustration over feeling like the problem had been ignored for other communities. The verbiage in the bill was intentionally content-neutral in order to protect all marginalized communities, as well as the central, protected tenet of free speech.
“This legislation is the perfect intersection of what is right and what is constitutional,” said Council Member Randy DeFoor.
The bill also became a sort of political football, shining light on procedural issues for the council, especially in light of the upcoming mayoral race. Two identical and competing pieces of legislation were presented to the Office of General Counsel (OGC): Cumber’s, 2023-0048, as well as 2023-0044, introduced by Council Members Terrance Freeman, Ron Salem, Sam Newby, Rory Diamond, Ju’Coby Pittman, Tyrona Clark-Murray and Nick Howland.
Council Member Matt Carlucci drafted a Jan. 23 communication outlining his issues about the filings of the proposals. In it, he alleged that 2023-0044 circumvented the filing process by requesting a pre-number, which has historically never been used for these types of bills. He claimed that the move introduced an “unprecedented” use of authority by Council President Terrance Freeman. Freeman denied any wrongdoing, claiming it is well within the rules to request pre-numbers as they send out the bill for additional support.
Order is important in that the bills are assigned numbers, and thereby voted on, in the order in which they are received. This action resulted in Cumber’s bill being dismissed later in the meeting, despite being submitted to the OGC first.
Carlucci, at the meeting, said, “This is not a political statement. If we file a bill and someone jumps ahead of us, that is not right, that is not fair. Council rules, traditionally, have always said first-in-first-out. I have never, ever, seen such behavior in all my life. There comes a point where we need to give credit where credit is due.”
Council Member Joyce Morgan echoed that procedures “…do matter. They absolutely do matter.”
Notwithstanding the political drama, most all council members reiterated their support of the bill’s content and intent, passing the resolution 18-1.
By Lindsey Gast
Resident Community News
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