The Jacksonville Progressive Coalition led a protest in Hemming Park Friday against the policies of Republican State Attorney Angela Corey.
Protesters in fatigues and black shirts gathered in Hemming Park.
Some held signs calling for Corey’s resignation because of her affinity for the death penalty and adult sentencing of juveniles. Biko Misabiko raised a Pan-African flag.
“The flag that was designed to unite all Africans and African diasporas. So, this is what we’re initiated by and this is what we believe in and what we’re uniting on,” he says.
Misabiko said he’s outraged by recent police killings of unarmed black men. It hit particularly close to home in May when his friend, Vernell Bing Jr., was shot and killed after a high-speed car chase with police. The FBI is reviewing the case.
Nearby, Gary Snow, wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap unfurled three flags of his own: a Donald Trump campaign flag, an American flag, and a blue and black flag in support of police.
A conflict broke out when a protester approached him.
Snow said he’s a recent Jacksonville transplant from Chicago. He said the protesters should be more focused on shootings not involving police.
“Eighty percent of people killed in Chicago are African-American. Seventy percent of the homicides go unsolved because the community doesn't want to cooperate with the police officers,” he said.
But FBI statistics show white people are just as likely to kill other white people as black people are to kill other black people.
