The Gainesville Iguana A progressive newsletter and events calendar March, 2018 Vol. 32, Issue 3 GNV votes March 20 by Joe Courter Eastside High School and minimum Please, if you live in the City of wage work to now being a single Mom Gainesville, do not ignore the with a successful catering business that upcoming election on March 20. Voters pays its workers a living wage. on the Eastside (District 1) will have She has energized a broad coalition two races on their ballot, the rest of the of support in her campaign, stressing City but one race, but who we elect and a balance in where the City puts what they prioritize is important. its resources and development, and Everyone registered to vote can vote in arguing that we need to stop just the At-Large race. It features two can- talking about solutions but start doing didates, the incumbent, Harvey Budd, things directly to help people in need. against challenger Gail Johnson. Her life experience and desire to bring her skills to another level of impact Harvey has a long and solid history in in our community won us over to her. Gainesville. He is an accountant by trade VOTE GAIL JOHNSON. and has been active in the community as a property owner and Plan Board The District One race has three member. He has been on the Commission candidates. Incumbent Charles Goston for one term, during which he has tried and two challengers, Gigi Simmons to be a financial watchdog and seeker of and Tyra “Loudd” Edwards. We feel compromise. He is a good guy and has that either of the women running would served well, but it is his luck in this wave be better than the incumbent, bringing election to have Gail Johnson step in to fresh energy and perspective to the seat, run for his seat. and as often happens in a three-way race, this may come down to a runoff Gail has arrived just as a desire for between him and one of the challengers, by Araceli Cruz change, for women’s and minority thus voter turnout is really important One of the most impactful moments since voices and perspective, has crested. to keep Goston from the 50 percent With long ties to Gainesville, and as the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, + one, as his name recognition and is that of Emma González calling BS on granddaughter to a beloved Gainesville business community money gives him icon Joseph Judge, Gail has gone from politicians and gun laws. The 18-year-old an advantage in this race. senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Both women have brought themselves School is leading the fight against school INSIDE ... up from poverty in Gainesville. Ty has violence and has become the face of a new Editors’ Picks . 2 closer ties to the grassroots struggles, movement of young people demanding From the Publisher . 3 including firsthand experience with change in gun laws. Civic Media Center . 11 homelessness. She has been an active Illustrator Lalo Alcaraz was so moved by Event Calendar . 12-13 citizen both at Commission meetings González and her speech that he created Oral History . .18-19 and as a community organizer. an illustration of her, pictured above. Read Directory . 21-23 Gigi’s path took her into public service more at: https://wearemitu.com/things-that- matter/emma-gonzalez-portrait/ D See ELECTIONS, p.21 Reflection on support forprisoners’ Operation PUSH From the publisher . Subscribe! And a call to action in Tallahassee on March 8 against visitation cuts Marjory Stoneman Douglas would be proud The Gainesville Iguana by Panagioti Tsolkas prisoners. Some carried banners in their Tennessee, fifty years ago, he would most Here’s a big note of appreciation to the brave and powerful students of Marjory is Gainesville's progressive Stoneman Douglas High School. They took the adversity that was thrown at them and newsletter and events calendar In January, activists across Florida local MLK parades or dropped banners certainly have been in Florida supporting off overpasses for thousands to see. the prisoners of Operation PUSH. exemplify the adage of speaking truth to power. Seeing Emma Gonzales speak at that celebrated Martin Luther King Jr’s rally, all that fierce power and raw emotion, I was in awe. Individuals: $15 birthday with a renewed commitment to Others handed out flyer, pasted posters It’s not hard to have imagined him sitting (or more if you can) struggle alongside those among the most and pushed out social media. next to us as we were dragged out of the Likewise seeing Cameron Kasky go face-to-face at the Low/No income: What you can CNN town meeting with Marco Rubio and not back exploited members in our society: the It was said by many, including Angela Florida Department of Corrections lobby Groups: $20 prison slaves. (then falsely accused of “battering” law down; wow. I hope this issue will resonate across the Davis on her visit to Tallahassee, that Gainesville Iguana enforcement officers, leaving a Gainesville country, and not only to the youth. I hope that adults Over 150 organizations across the country had King not been assassinated as he P .O . Box 14712 student activist facing felony charges). recognize that they need to have this young generation’s issued statements of support for Florida joined underpaid workers in Memphis, Gainesville, FL 32604 But could he have imagined that in the back as they fight for a saner future. It is the least we time between the civil rights movement can do, as we are the generations on whose watch this Comments, suggestions, contributions he took part in and today, the slavery he madness has developed. (written or financial) are welcome. To decried as the root of poverty would have I am reminded and have distinct memories of a day in list your event or group, contact us at: actually grown exponentially, as the prison fifth grade when we did a nuclear bomb drill, around (352) 378-5655 population jumped 700 percent? 1961-62. It was not the silliness of duck and cover. No, Joe Courter we instead single-filed to hallways that did not have any GainesvilleIguana@cox .net Under the U.S. Constitution’s 13th Amend- windows and sat silently, backs to the wall, head down to our knees and remained there www .gainesvilleiguana .org ment, every prisoner is a slave, and hun- for about ten or fifteen minutes. facebook .com/gainesvilleiguana dreds of thousands nationwide do the labor of maintaining the prisons, as well That may have been my first taste of what could be called meditation. In that empty silence The Iguana has been published monthly or bimonthly by volunteers See PRISONERS, p. 8 and in the days that followed, I processed whether I’d ever get home if a nuclear exchange happened, and whether I would want to bring a kid into this mad world. I have no idea if for over 30 years . Circulation for others in my generation were affected by that shared experience as I was, but we sure grew this issue is 4,500 . up to challenge the status quo as the counter culture bloomed across the country. Speak up ... Publisher: Another big event for me was a shooting of students my age by National Guardsmen Joe Courter at Kent State in the spring of 1970. Jeffrey Miller, the dead young man on the ground be a nuisance in that iconic photo, was me. He looked like me and was doing what I would’ve been Editors Emeritus: Join a local environmental society, doing that day. I was “woke” that day with a commitment that still burns, that we need Jenny Brown but see to it that it does not waste to fight back, raise awareness and build resistance. Mark Piotrowski time on superficial purposes… For all the kids across the country who have to experience shooter drills, to be herded into Editorial Board: Don’t think it is enough to attend closets or lay on the floor away from windows and wait for the all clear, may their minds Pierce Butler The mother of a Florida prisoner holds her son’s photo up during the Jan. 16 meetings and sit there like a lump…. awaken and, instead of isolation, feel the unity these MSD students are showing us. Joe Courter occupation of the Florida Department of Corrections lobby in Tallahassee. It is better to address envelopes than The MSD students knew this kid, they warned about this kid, authorities were notified Beth Grobman Community activists occupied the FDC lobby for five hours, capturing international to attend foolish meetings . Jessica Newman media attention on the corruption, abuse and slavery that occurs in Florida prisons . about him. We need to do better and deal with these sad and damaged humans in our Photo by Shoog McDaniel . It is better to study than act too midst. Help needs to be available. Production work and assistance: quickly; but it is best to be ready to Stigma needs to be eliminated about getting help. “Mental illness” was a term easily Kaithleen Hernandez act intelligently when the appropriate tossed into the discussion, but that is unfair to those have to deal with issues like Fred Sowder Editors’ picks: News that didn’t fit opportunity arises… depression, OCD, bi-polar, or autism. Maya Velesko Speak up . Learn to talk clearly and Jen Vito D Is being racist, or anti-Semitic, or misogynist, or xenophobic a mental illness? This kid Bots and the Battle for American Democracy - by The Takeaway (PRI) forcefully in public .