How House Negro politics is blocking Orlando police reform

Remember Stephen, the loyal slave plantation House Negro in the 2012 movie “Django Unchained”?

That role of Stephen the House Negro is being played out in real life by political operative Russell Drake, who is working behind the scenes to block one of Orlando's most outspoken black activists from Orlando City Hall discussions to end police brutality and systemic racism. Drake is the first vice president of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida.

Monday night in a lengthy Facebook thread, Drake wrote that Lawanna Gelzer should be barred a meeting that Mayor Dyer is planning with some of the activists who organized recent massive street protests held after the police murder of George Floyd.

One of the activists T.J. Legacy Cole posted the message: “I informed @citybeautiful @orlandomayor office I will NOT exclude prominent activist Lawanna Gelzer from our police reform meeting. Black women’s voices are so critical to our movement. She deserves to be heard.”

True to the character of Stephen the House Negro, Drake responded: “Suggestion. Bring a different Black woman.”

“I will. But Lawanna will be one of them,” responded T.J., an activist, journalist and host of “The Soapboxx” podcast.

For more than 20 years Gelzer has been a tireless advocate for west Orlando’s black communities – particularly on income inequality, environmental racism, housing, and police brutality. Often, she’s the only member of the public in attendance at City Commission meetings.

Gelzer, a Rollins College graduate who majored in economics is fiercely critical of Mayor Buddy Dyer.

Other men and women on the Facebook thread wanted to know why Drake insisted Gelzer be excluded from the meeting.

“It appears that the city says they’ll meet with protest leaders, just not Ms. Gelzer. If the insistence is to have a Black woman present, bring another Black woman. Does one person stop the momentum?”

“We are not going to allow our city officials to dictate who are good and respectable black folks to listen to. Black women will be there but she (Gelzer) deserves to be there because of her skill set and extensive research. Buddy needs to get out his feelings. He is a public servant. NOT a king,” T.J. responded on Facebook.

Russell Drake does not work for the Orlando Mayor’s Office.

City Hall pissed on Parramore again

Orlando City Hall must think people in Parramore don’t need to pee.

What other reason would there be for leaving Parramore out of the DTO Go Public Bathroom Pilot Program?

The bathroom program is a product of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency to improve life in Orlando’s urban core.

The demographics of Parramore -- a historically black, struggling community -- were used to create the CRA, which is roughly bounded by Westmoreland Drive, Colonial Drive, Gore Street, and Summerlin Avenue.

Yet since late last year when this portable bathroom project was launched it has not been stationed in the Parramore community.

It is mainly located and operated to serve the mostly white patrons of downtown’s nightclub and restaurant district east of Interstate 4.

A city fact sheet on the bathroom project explained: “There is an increasing need to provide public restrooms in the downtown core.”

Asked why Parramore was excluded, even though the community played a pivotal role in the establishment of the CRA, a city spokeswoman responded: “Locations were selected based on feedback from downtown stakeholders, the downtown Clean Team’s general findings on incidents of public human waste, the downtown ambassadors’ general findings of human protein and discussions with an internal Exploratory Committee.”

Most people who live in Parramore have a bathroom in their house. However, Parramore has a large population of homeless people and others who don’t have access to a restroom during the day. The quality of life in the community would benefit from inclusion in the bathroom project.

Excluding Parramore from this program is another example of the city’s racially discriminatory policies and practices that shortchange Parramore where residents are being driven out of the community by gentrification.

Orange County requiring people to mask up

Starting Saturday (6/20) everybody who goes outside on Orange County will be required to wear a face covering to slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings signed an executive order requiring everyone to wear a mask starting at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Demings signs mask order

The mask requirement is a big step backward as Orange County and the rest of Florida had relaxed many of the tough measures imposed this spring when officials issued stay-at-home orders as the deadly pandemic ripped across the nation.

After the orders lifted recently and people ventured out to shopping and work, some people ignored warnings to wear masks.

Now the number of Covid-19 cases is starting to soar again with 3,200 new cases reported in Florida. Nearly 86,000 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Florida resulting in more than 3,000 deaths, 48 deaths in Orange County.

Data shows that this deadly disease disproportionally harms black and brown people, especially those with chronic illnesses. Recently there are reports of between a half dozen to 10 children attending summer recreation programs in Parramore had to be sent home because they had been exposed to Covid-19.

The Demings order requires employees and customers in businesses to wear face coverings if they come within 6 feet of each other. Customers in a restaurant or bar can remove their mask to eat and drink, but they must wear a mask when they enter, and servers must wear a mask.

Additionally, businesses have been instructed to prevent customers from entering unless they are wearing a face covering.

Celebrate Jumeteenth on Friday

Orlando’s Juneteenth Celebration Friday (6/19) is coming right on time and in step with nearly daily demonstrations in O-town to end police brutality and systemic racism.

Activities will kick off with a car caravan and a freedom walk with a rally near the bandshell at Lake Eola at 3 p.m., a block party in the 600 block of West Pine Street near the soccer stadium at 4 p.m., and a free screening of the critically acclaimed film “Just Mercy” in the plaza at Orlando City Hall, starting at 8 p.m.

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

The Orlando event is one of 40 around the country being held Friday by the Juneteenth Leadership Coalition that includes the Arc of Justice; SEIU/32BJ; Until Freedom; The Gathering For Justice; The Indigenous Peoples Movement; celebrities Yandy Smith and Kristen Scott; public officials and activists including Tamika Mallory; Eric Garner’s mother Gwen Carr; the Rev. Mark Thompson, and others.

Only 5% of arrests are for serious crimes

When Orlando officials say the police can’t be defunded they either don’t know what they’re talking about, or they have a vested interest in wasting millions of dollars on ineffective and counterproductive police services.

A report by the highly respected Vera Institute of Justice shows that of the 10 million arrests police throughout the U.S. make annually, only about 5% are for serious crimes, such as rape and murder.

OPD arrests protester for disorderly conduct

Most of the other arrests – 80% -- were for drug violations and offenses such as disorderly conduct.

Arrests for trivial reasons make it difficult for people to get jobs and feed the prison pipeline. No wonder the United States has more people in prison – almost 2.5 million – than any other country.

The arrests for trivial offenses disproportionally occur in black, brown, and poor white communities. The war on drugs is a big part of the problem. Between 1980 and 2016 drug arrests soared by 171%.

The Vera Institute study shows that most of the public has little confidence in police because only 40% of the people victimized actually report crimes to police. The public doubt in the police is apparently well-founded because of the crimes reported to police only about 25% are solved by arrest.

For weeks demonstrators in Orlando and around the nation have been calling on city officials to demilitarize the police, diverting money from law enforcement to address the root causes of crime and other problems with more spending on mental health and other human services.

In Orlando, 31% -- or $163 million -- of the city’s annual budget goes to the police. No other city department or program gets that much money.

During last year’s election, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, and that police association contributed $1,000 – the legal maximum – to get Dyer elected to an unprecedented 5^th term at City Hall.

Mayor Dyer's unholy relationship with Orlando cops

Here are some handy facts you need at your fingertips the next time someone asks why police need to be defunded.

The Orlando Police Department gobbles up 31 percent of the city’s annual budget.

No other department comes close – not even the Orlando Fire Department which only gets 24 percent of the budget, even though firefighters and EMTs save lives every day.

Other city departments – such as recreation and economic development – only get tiny fractions of the budget. To see this year’s Orlando budget, click here.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and the cops are very tight. During last year’s election the Fraternal Order of Police not only endorsed Dyer’s re-election to a 5^th term, but the police group contributed $1,000 – the maximum allowed – to the campaign.

It’s no surprise that Dyer quickly said he doesn’t plan to consider defunding the police.

The Fraternal Order of Police thanked Dyer and helpfully offered to help “review” the OPD use-of-force policy.

OPD probably has the worst use of force policies in the area. Under that policy, simply walking away from an officer or refusing to answer an officer’s question can result in being pepper-sprayed. They can interpret your refusal to speak as “passive resistance”.

To see the use-of-force policy, click here.

In case you haven’t guessed, OPD has a pretty poor record when it comes to the use of force. For details, click here.

In case you didn’t realize it, Orlando/Orange County is a police state of sorts. Consider this:

·        Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings is the former Orange County Sheriff. Before that he was the Orlando Police Chief, selected by Mayor Dyer.

·        Congresswoman Val Demings is the wife of Mayor Demings. Before that she was the Orlando police chief, selected by Mayor Dyer.

·        Orange County Sheriff John Mina was former Orlando police chief, selected by Mayor Dyer.

·        Orlando City Commissioner Tony Ortiz is a former Orlando police officer.

Winter Garden bar proudly sports a racist name

The owners of a Winter Garden apparently think slavery was fun. Why else would they name their business “MoonCricket Grille”?

MoonCricket Grille is on Plant Street in the heart of West Orange County’s Winter Garden trendy downtown restaurant district.

A quick Google search shows that Moon Cricket is a highly derogatory name referring to the slaves singing like crickets at night after a long day working in the fields.

The restaurant’s website explains the business’s name this way: “We wanted a name that was catchy, whimsical and unique, and conveying the message of being a fun inviting place to enjoy great food and entertainment.  After months of brainstorming came up with the name ‘The MoonCricket Grille.’  That was it, a fun hoppin' place.  In that same happy whimsical spirit, designed a fun corporate logo with a big smiling Crescent MOON and a CRICKET jumping off the smiling moon's head.”

Joshua Eaton said the name is not whimsical. It’s racist.

Eaton, who is white, started a petition to change the name. On the petition he wrote: “I want to start off by saying Moon Cricket Grille is a great local spot in Winter Garden. Great food, great and friendly staff and a great beer selection. There’s just one problem, the name. I did a little research where they got the name and their site said the just wanted something fun and catchy. I thought cool, but what is a moon cricket, so I googled it. I wasn’t exactly sure what to think once I did that. Moon Cricket is a racial slur used by slave owners to describe slaves that would come out at night and sing slave songs. I don’t want to see anything happen to this bar like what’s been going on currently in our cities, but learning what a moon cricket was I can’t say I’m comfortable with the name or going back there till it’s changed, and I’d like to see some change. This is casual racism, something people have been fighting to end, and changing the name of this place will be a step in the right direction.”

The petition, which is being sent to Winter Garden leaders, has been signed by more than 2,000 people. You can sign by clicking here.

How does the restaurant respond?

Eaton received a text message from the restaurant that reads in part: “I ask every one offended by our name: Are you truly offended by an obscure whimsical made-up name or being guided by a few malicious troublemakers who get their kicks by causing social unrest instead of civility.”

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, activists throughout the nation have been demanding the removal of Confederate statues and other racist symbols.

Three years ago activists succeeded in persuading Orlando to remove a Confederate statue in downtown’s Lake Eola.

West Orange County has a sinister history of racism that includes the 1920 Ocoee Massacre resulting in the deaths of hundreds of black people and the lynching of July Perry.

You decide, is MoonCricket a racist name?

The petition can be found here.

Orlando Mayor Dyer is reluctant to change police

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is preparing to slow walk or minimize any significant changes to the way the city is policed.

Last week Dyer tweeted: “Orlando is committed to action. And as a community, we must continue to engage with each other to make change. That's why I'm joining @BarackObama and @MBK_Alliance to review our use of force policies, engage residents in the process and make any changes that must be made.”

Dyer clearly is pulling a sly political move by aligning himself with President Obama and My Brothers Keep Alliance – an Obama foundation.

But if Dyer attended Saturday’s (6/6) massive rally on the steps of Orlando City Hall, or if he cared what anybody had to say, he would know that changing the OPD use-of-force policy does not begin to address the protestors demands.

Demonstrators in Orlando and elsewhere around the nation are calling for sweeping changes to standard policing, which is an outgrowth of 19^th century slave patrols.

As it is Orlando’s police use-of-force policy is bad, especially for black people and poor people. The existing policy allows an officer to pepper spray someone who responded rudely to a question. To see the use of force policy, click here.

Many of the demonstrators were calling for defunding or dismantling the police. Minneapolis has already officially begun the process of reshaping its police services.

Though that sounds extreme, what the really means is re-imagining the way public safety services are provided, with less need for heavily armed officers.

Does it make sense for police officers dressed and armed like robocop to constantly patrol neighborhoods? Folks in some minority communities complain that they are over-policed by officers looking for the smallest infractions to make arrests or issue tickets.

The over-policing doesn’t make those neighborhoods safer. Instead, it creates hostility and sometimes leads to confrontations that can be deadly for officers and the public

The fire department doesn’t patrol neighborhoods looking for fires. They respond to calls for service. Firefighters are focused on safety and helping people, while police are focused on enforcement and locking up people. Cops are seen as warriors or an army of occupation.

For a domestic violence call, what if the police car the responded contained a police officer, a social worker, and an emergency medical technician? That would include all the services likely to be needed in that situation.

Typically, a police department gobbles up 30 percent or more of the local government’s budget. A slimmed-down police department could be less expensive, more user friendly, and efficient.

Defunding a police department would mean reallocating some of the police dollars for education and social services that could help address the root causes of crime. For more information on defunding police, click here.

Mayor Dyer, however, has never demonstrated that he has an open mind. More likely than not he and his staff will tightly limit any citizen participation in discussions of police services and cozy up to the politically powerful police union.

Currently, local activists are promoting a petition to defund the police. If you want to add your name, click here.

Sign a petition to defund the cops

Activists in Orlando have joined with counterparts throughout the country calling for leaders to defund or abolish police.

You can sign a petition to abolish police by clicking here.

That’s not as crazy as it sounds.

The police are currently organized as a paramilitary force, equipped with weapons to hurt and to kill.

Cops patrol endlessly looking for problems – particularly in black, brown, and poor neighborhoods.

Cops make many arrests for minor issues.

Sometimes when they try to make arrests for minor things those encounters escalate in violence that harms cops and the public.

The police tradition of patrolling reminds us that modern policing grew out of slave patrols.

By contrast, the fire department doesn’t patrol looking for fires. Firefighters wait in a station for people to call when they need help.

Activists want leaders to re-imagine police as helpers – not warriors or an army of occupation.

If you end police patrols you can reduce the number of officers, cut the budget and invest that money into services to make the community better for everybody in every neighborhood.

Typically, the police forces are one of the costliest items in a city's budgets.

Police brutality complaints result in multi-million-dollar payouts to victims. 

Those payouts come from taxpayers, too.

Sign the petition to defund or abolish the police by clicking here.

Orlando resorts to racist South African tactics to end police brutality demonstrations

Orlando has taken a page from the playbook of South Africa’s formerly racist apartheid government to stop police brutality protesters.

The city has imposed a special early curfew on part of downtown and the historically black Parramore community. That curfew starts at 8 p.m. Wednesday (6/3). Curfews were one of the tactics the racist white South African government tried to suppress activists in black townships.

The curfew for the rest of the city and Orange County begins at 10 p.m. The 10 p.m. curfew was re-imposed Sunday by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

The 8 p.m. curfew area is from West Colonial to State Road 408 and Tampa Avenue to Summerlin Avenue. In addition to Parramore, the curfew area includes much of the downtown entertainment and dining area and Eola Heights and Thornton Park.

The new measures were imposed after 4 nights of demonstrations in the wake of the high-profile murder of George Lloyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Demonstrations on Tuesday night that traveled through the Parramore community and ended up at City Hall ended up with tear gas used on the crowd. Those in the multi-racial crowd said the demonstrations were overwhelmingly peaceful. There were a few white males in the crowd suspected to be members of the Boogalu Boys -- provocateurs who stir up trouble so black people will be blamed.

Police said at one point some members of the crowd pelted officers with objects. However, demonstrators said problems really started when police riot squads use barriers, shields and bicycles to trap people trying to leave the events. This controversial tactic is known as “kettling”. Frequently this tactic sweeps up innocent people who weren’t causing trouble. It also violates the 1st Amendment, which guarantees people the right to peacefully assemble to share their concerns with government leaders.

Several demonstration participants – who don’t know each other -- told us that many officers (dressed in riot gear) were needlessly aggressive.