Author Archives: admin

by Joe Courter

In honor of Stetson Kennedy’s 102nd birthday, the Civic Media Center will have a potluck dinner on Saturday, October 6, at 6pm, followed by a program called Voicing the Un-Voiced Stetson: Readings of Unpublished Pieces from the Papers of Stetson Kennedy. Sandra Parks, Stetson’s wife, came to the CMC and suggested the reading of recently found writings of the famed anti-racist, civil rights and environmental author and activist.

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By Joe Courter

Radical Rush, the progressive tabling fair coordinated by the Civic Media Center, will take place this fall during the first week of October. 

Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 1 and 2, Radical Rush will be held at UF’s Plaza of the Americas, and Wed., Oct. 3, it will be at Santa Fe College’s NW campus in the Oak Grove.

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Joseph Welch [W], WWII vet, Gainesville area civil rights worker and school teacher, was interviewed by Ryan Morini [M] in April, 2013.

This is the 49th in a series of transcript excerpts from the UF Samuel Proctor Oral History Program collection. Notes in [square brackets] by SPOHP; interpolations in {curly brackets} by Iguana.

Transcript edited by Pierce Butler.

W: I’m from a family of two children, my sister and I. June 16, 1922, I was born here in Gainesville.

M: What part of town?

W: Porters Addition. My mother and grandmother was a seamstress. My father was a minister, in theory. But he was a womanizer who ran around a lot. As a result, he and my mother separated when I was a year and six months old. My mother was pregnant with my sister. He’s dead now – but he never laid eyes on my sister in his life. He hadn’t laid eyes on me since I was eighteen months old.

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by Joe Courter

Well the primaries are behind us now, and Florida has become much more exciting and prominent with the upset victory of Andrew Gillum for Governor, who will face off against Ron DeSantis, who tied himself closely to Trump. Gillum’s populism and positive energy will hopefully be contagious and help Democrats all down the ballot. And we really need it

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By Marc Grobman

Peace and civil rights movements activist David McReynolds, who died August 17 at age 88, was known for his vigorous dedication and leadership, and long-time activism. Example: He was arrested for resisting the draft—in the early 1950s.

Web obituaries abound on Dave’s life and accomplishments. But they probably don’t illustrate his skills in cooking and in humor.

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by Gia Del Pino – Community Organizer

Over this past year we have seen nationwide attacks on our communities. Under the Trump administration, arrests have risen more than 40 percent and deportations from the interior of the United States have spiked 34 percent.

In January, ICE fanned out to 98 7-Eleven stores in 17 states including Florida, which was the largest operation targeting employers.

In March, ICE arrested 271 immigrants across the state of Florida, including neighboring counties such as Volusia and Duval.

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By Sarah Goff

The Repurpose Project (1920 NE 23rd Ave.) is excited to announce we are expanding our hours of operation. For years we have gotten requests to stay open later and offer Sunday hours from customers who work 9-5 jobs so that they can shop at our store. We are thrilled to finally be able to offer these extra hours. We will now be staying open until 7pm on Tues-Sat and on Sunday from 12-5pm.

Our new hours are: Tues-Sat: 10am-7pm, Sunday: 12-5pm and Monday: closed.

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by Fiona Llama

On June 25 in Manhattan, the anticipation was building. I waited in my holding area for the New York City based company with which I was marching. It was just outside a lovely Asian restaurant that the company had rented out for a few hours on the corner of 16^th Street and 9^th Avenue.

About 200 employees and plus ones had turned out for the annual LGBTQ Pride March. Those most closely involved insist on calling the event a March as it is intended to continue to raise awareness about the need for Gay Rights and, therefore, acts more as a protest march than a celebration parade.

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By Jacob Kovach

Alachua County residents will have easier access to early voting options with the addition of three new early voting sites for the 2018 General Election.

The Legacy Park Multipurpose Center in Alachua, Melrose United Methodist Church and J. Wayne Reitz Union will be used for 2018 General Election early voting.

Both the Legacy Park Multipurpose Center and Melrose United Methodist Church were used as 2018 Primary Election early voting locations. The J. Wayne Reitz Union, located in the center of the University of Florida’s campus, was added as a location following a ruling from a federal judge allowing the selection of locations on college or university campuses.

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by Joe Courter

Boy oh boy, the circus really rolled into town in January 2017. The press is just wearing itself out chasing after all the flim-flammery. The cast of clowns, Sean Spicer, the Mooch, Kelly Ann Conway. And all those irresistible tweets, just guaranteeing multiple minutes of the news cycle every day. And then central casting came up with a great line-up of a sort of villainous side show, you can almost imagine the midway barker trying to lure you in, come see the hyper-moralistic vice president Pence; the secretary of education Devos, who knows nothing of public schools; the anti-science Sec. of Interior Zinke; the Sec. of Energy who wanted to eliminate Dept. of Energy Perry and good old boy Sessions as Attorney General.

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By Gainesville IWOC

On August 21, prisoners from groups including Jailhouse Lawyers Speak and the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) indicated that dozens of facilities in at least 17 states have initiated actions based on a common set of 10 demands, covering basic human rights issues such as fair access to the vote, the court system, paid labor, parole opportunities and real rehabilitative programing, rather than the current system of warehousing people indefinitely.

The focused days of action are anticipated to continue until September 9. The chosen dates signify a remembrance of prisoner activist George Jackson’s assassination and the Attica uprising, which occurred respectively in 1971, the first event sparking the other.

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