60th anniversary of 'Ax Handle Saturday'

[struggle4progress]

John Haltiwanger Jun 12, 2020, 11:06 AM

President Donald Trump's Republican convention speech is set to take place in Jacksonville in August on the 60th anniversary of a brutal Ku Klux Klan attack on Black activists in the Florida city known as "Ax Handle Saturday" ...

On August 27, 1960, hundreds of white people attacked a predominately Black group of activists sitting at whites-only lunch counters in Jacksonville. The mob, organized by the KKK, included some police officers.

There were already plans and a permit issued for the 60th commemoration of the attack when the Republican National Committee (RNC) earlier this week tentatively said that Trump's speech would be moved from Charlotte, North Carolina, to the Florida city ...

... Trump, who has a well-documented history of racist statements, now has two events on the books that directly coincide with dates and locations intrinsically linked to the country's racist past. And these events will occur amid the backdrop of heightened racial tensions ...

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-convention-speech-to-take-place-anniversary-kkk-attack-2020-6

[struggle4progress]

1. Anniversary of city's KKK race riot

Posted By Colin Wolf on Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 1:38 pm

... Known as “Ax Handle Saturday,” on Aug. 27, 1960, more than 200 white people, including Ku Klux Klan members, chased down Black people in the streets of Jacksonville and beat them to submission with baseball bats and ax handles.

Now ... marking of this horrific occasion will be honored with a convention honoring our county’s biggest bigot ...

... The riot began after the Jacksonville Youth Council and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People organized a peaceful lunch-counter demonstration to protest segregation.

“The attack began with white people spitting on the protesters and yelling racial slurs at them. When the young demonstrators held their resolve, they were beaten with wooden handles that had not yet had metal ax heads attached,” wrote Dr. Ben Brotemarkle, executive director of the Florida Historical Society, for the state archives.

Rodney L. Hurst, who as a 16-year-old in 1960 led sit-ins at “whites only” lunch counters in Jacksonville, wrote about the incident in his book It Was Never About a Hot Dog and a Coke ...

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2020/06/12/jacksonville-is-hosting-the-republican-national-convention-on-60th-anniversary-of-citys-kkk-race-riot

[struggle4progress]

2. White men passed out free ax handles

Published: 6:33 PM EDT June 3, 2020
Updated: 10:08 AM EDT June 12, 2020

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ... “That was a bloody event,” Hurst said. “They were swinging at and beating any black person downtown” ...
Alton Yates also sees the persistence of problems ... “We thought we would not see any of this anymore, that things would begin to heal, that our community would heal, that people would begin to treat others the way they wanted to be treated," he said. "Unfortunately, it just hasn’t worked out that way just yet” ...

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/60-years-after-ax-handle-saturday-jacksonville-civil-rights-activists-reflect-on-current-moment/77-8e438d3e-b93d-4cb8-856a-226395b23652

[Lars39]

3. Stephen Miller strikes again.

[struggle4progress]

7. Yup

[struggle4progress]

4. Not just a moment but a movement

Author: First Coast News Staff
Published: 3:12 PM EDT June 13, 2020
Updated: 11:17 PM EDT June 13, 2020

... Ben Frazier ... told the crowd he's inviting activists from around the country to .. the 60th anniversary of Ax Handle Saturday ...

"Ax Handle Saturday becomes our focal point and rallying cry," Frazier said. "Anybody who wants to stand up for injustice, we're inviting you now to come to Jacksonville, Florida to say hello to the Republican National Convention," he said.

Earlier this week, the charges against protesters arrested at the protest on May 31 were dropped. The crowd Saturday said they want the charges against those arrested on May 30 to be dropped as well ...

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/hundreds-gather-downtown-jacksonville-to-protest-against-police-crimes-racism/77-d3be39dd-8332-493a-a5c7-5b3fa08587e8

[applegrove]

5. And they undo lgbt legislation on the fourth anniversary of the pulse

nightclub shootings. Steven Miller has a sadistic advent calendar of atrocities available to him

[struggle4progress]

6. ... For the third weekend in a row, hundreds of people crowded Downtown Jacksonville

outside the Duval County Courthouse on Saturday afternoon ...

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/06/13/live-group-of-demonstrators-gather-outside-duval-county-courthouse/