Thursday on “First Coast Connect,” we were joined by Jacksonville City Council President Anna Lopez Brosche to talk about her proposal to catalogue all Confederate memorials in Jacksonville and remove them from public places (1:32). History professor and author Thomas Graham told us about his new book, “Silent Films in St. Augustine,” (36:17) and organizer Chadwick Harris and Jacksonville Moms Blog co-founder Megan Kilis gave us a preview of Saturday’s Losco BLUE Back 2 School Bash (46:02).
Anna Lopez Brosche On Confederate Monuments
The intense debate over whether Jacksonville should remove its Confederate monuments took center stage at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. An array of speakers showed up to voice their opinion after Brosche announced last week she would introduce a plan to move all Confederate monuments, markers and memorials into museums or other settings. Brosche’s call echoes what other cities are doing after deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this month. A woman was struck and killed there while counter-protesting a march by groups including white supremacists and neo-Nazis, who oppose the impending removal of a Gen. Robert E. Lee statue.
St. Augustine’s Silent Film History
Before Hollywood, when America’s emerging motion picture industry was based on the East Coast, early film stars like Rudolph Valentino, Ethel Barrymore, and Oliver Hardy made movies in St. Augustine. In his book “Silent Films in St. Augustine” Graham tells the stories of the leading film producers and actors of a century ago, who escaped New York winters and kept the cameras rolling in St. Augustine’s sunshine and warm weather.
Losco Blue Back 2 School Bash
School is back in session, and an event to celebrate teachers and students is planned for Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Losco Regional Park, at 1093 Hood St. The Losco Blue Back 2 School Bash will include bounce houses, games, live music, food trucks and ice cream. Harris asks everyone to wear blue as an honor to teachers, and every child who wears blue will be treated to free ice cream. Harris also says the first 33 teachers who RSVP will eat free from the two food trucks.
Kevin Meerschaert can be reached at kmeerschaert@wjct.org, 904-358-6334 or on Twitter at @KMeerschaertJax.
