Gun violence leads to call for special legislative session

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

Rising gun violence has infuriated leaders in Tallahassee to the point that they have appealed to Gov. Ron DeSantis to call a special legislative session to address what they are calling a crisis.

A rash of recent shootings in Tallahassee and a racially motivated shooting that took three Black lives in Jacksonville prompted city officials to join Rev. RB Holmes and other pastors to express their outrage at a press conference last Thursday. It is the most recent in a series of demands that Holmes, pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, has made of the governor.

The list of issues that led to calling out the governor includes his stance on diminishing how Black history is taught and DeSantis’ push to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion in colleges. 

 “We do need a special session to revisit this toxic stop woke act,” Holmes said. “It is causing unrest and a lot of confusion; not only as it relates to Black history but as it relates to telling folks what you cannot do and say on college campuses.”

 The call for a special session was supported by County Commissioner Bill Proctor, City commissioners Dianne-Williams Cox and Curtis Richardson. Pastors Judy Mandrell, Kimberleigh Buchanon and Michael Fegins also participated in the press conference. Each lambasted DeSantis for dividing the state with his indecisive narrative on racism.

“We are disappointed that our gathering is to summon our governor’s attention that he might exercise executive privileges to call a special session for a special problem, special crisis,” Proctor said.

The shooting in Jacksonville last month was committed by a 21-year-old White man. He wore a mask and carried a weapon with a swastika on it, launching his attack at a Dollar General store in a predominantly Black community before he killed himself.

Law enforcement in Jacksonville reported that his initial plan was to launch an attack on the campus of Edward Waters University, a historically Black school. However, he was spotted by a campus security guard who asked him to leave after refusing to identify himself.

 He went on to take the lives of two victims inside the store and a third while she was in her car. They were ages 19 to 52.

The Jacksonville shooting suspect reportedly had a history of mental illness and wrote about his hatred for Blacks. However, mental illness was identified as only part of the reason for the shooting spree in Tallahassee.

“A lot of things have not been dealt with from childhood,” said Mandrell, who has led prayer vigils for the Tallahassee victims. “I think mental illness and think of depression, oppression. A lot of these things build up anger in the hearts of the people. It turns to mental illness because our minds start thinking and getting images of things. Yes, I say it does play a part.”

Many of the local shootings involved young victims and suspects. The shootings are a “horrendous, disturbing atrocity,” said Fegins, a millennial and an assistant pastor at Bethel. “It’s necessary for my generation to continue to engage in the struggle and see the harsh reality of racism and divisiveness and how it’s tearing us apart.”

 The shooting in Jacksonville and the ones in Tallahassee have sparked a “sense of urgency to deal with this gun violence,” said Richardson.

DeSantis, who is campaigning for the Republican nomination to run in 2024 for president, gave the impression that he would take action against racist crimes, while attending a vigil for the Jacksonville victims. State Rep. Angie Nixon immediately criticizes the governor, saying he wasn’t sincere in his comments about helping the state’s largest city recover. Dixon represents the district where the attack took place.

DeSantis was also criticized for not calling out the killer as being racist.

“Florida is dark,” Holmes said. “Florida is hurting for real strong leadership.”

That’s one of the issues that members of the Jacksonville clergy and civil rights leaders will discuss at a rally on Sept. 16 in Jacksonville. Holmes announced that it will be led by Bishop William Barber and Bishop Ersell Reed at Bethel Institutional Baptist Church, where Bishop Rudolph W. McKissick Jr. is pastor.

During his comments, Proctor criticized DeSantis style of governance, referring to how he suspended state Attorney Monique Worrell and his effort to stack the state’s judicial system with Republican judges.

What DeSantis is doing is divisive, Proctor said, as he went on to mention a that there is a message in fallen oak tree that split outside the governor’s mansion during Hurricane Idalia.

“I believe the handwriting is on the wall and a statement was made,” Proctor said. “I come to say fret not thyself because of evil doers and persons who have split up the state. That tree fell down and it certainly represents the state of Florida.”

While the other speakers’ remarks were clearly director to the governor, they focused more on the string of local shootings.

Buchanon, pastor of United Church in Tallahassee, said gun violence should be addressed with the same urgency that the government had when the COVID-19 pandemic was prevalent.

“It is past time for us to pour the same time, effort and money into finding a way to neutralize the pandemic of gun violence in our country,” Buchanon said. “If we don’t this pandemic too will claim and keep claiming thousands and thousands of lives. All of us, including our state and our country, must act now.”

The number of political issues facing the state and rising gun violence has put Florida at a cross-road, said Williams-Cox. 

“Either way we chose brings consequences,” Williams-Cox said. “When we chose to use guns to bring down lives, whether the lives are Black lives, White lives, whatever lives, it is unfortunate. We are taking from our community some of the most talented of us all. I wear red today because the blood of my people is crying from the streets and we must do something about it.”