[OK, still don't know why Blogger's not letting me put pictures in my posts, but here's a link to the website where I got the picture . . . ]
Over on Facebook, I've been following Upworthy for some time now, and I ran across a quick article there about a map prepared by the Southern Poverty Law Center, showing by state the number of hate groups they're tracking. On the map, you can zoom in and see little icons for the various groups, in roughly the locations they're active. I posted a copy of this map to my wall on Facebook, and among those who liked/commented on this was my pastor, who asked, "Wow . . . what's going on in Florida?" (BTW, Florida has 58 hate groups, according to the SPLC.)
Having lived in Florida for 5 years, more specifically in Jacksonville, I think I can comment on what's going on in Florida.
A lot of what you're seeing are echoes of slavery. And the reaction to those echoes that still sound in our national consciousness.
You see, the northern Florida area around Jacksonville is where the term 'cracker' was coined, and in that area is not a pejorative term. You see, it refers to the old-time white settlers in that area, and is in fact a term of pride, of belonging to that area, much in the way that 'jayhawker' refers to someone from Kansas. Despite it's nearly universal status as a racial epithet elsewhere, 'cracker' is a term of some pride, at least in some circles, in northern Florida.
All of which wouldn't mean much. Except that even today, nearly 150 years after emancipation, Florida is still a racial powder keg.
There weren't many Civil War battles fought in Florida, and there's only one of any real significance that I know of, the Battle of Olustee. You see, when the Union established a blockade of southern ports, in order to ease the burdens on the fleet, the Union Army and Navy combined to occupy as many southern ports as they could, which meant that they occupied Fernandina, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine fairly early in the war.
As the war progressed, the Union noticed that they didn't see very many Florida regiments in the Confederate Army, and took that to suggest that Floridians weren't very ardent secessionists, not being in the realm of 'King Cotton' like many of the hard-core Confederate states. It was believed that with only limited support for the Confederacy, that perhaps Florida would be willing to return its allegiance to the Union, more so than the other Confederate states.
Well, this was a miscalculation of epic proportions. In fact, based on a percentage of total population, Florida supplied more troops to the Confederate Army than any other state in the Confederacy. Floridians were, in fact, very ardent secessionists, which the Union Army discovered in February of 1864 when it moved to seize a key railroad junction west of Jacksonville, near Lake City.
Once the Union troops left their enclave in Jacksonville and moved inland, the Florida irregular militia came pouring out of the woodwork, and what they lacked in military professionalism they more than made up in determination to drive off the hated Yankees, which they did in short order.
Fast forward a hundred years, and take a look at Martin Luther King's efforts for civil rights in St. Augustine. In 1963 and into 1964, Dr. King tried to make headway with non-violent action for civil rights in and around St. Augustine. However, there was a problem with non-violence, or more specifically a lack of acceptance of non-violence. Determined to not die like Medgar Evers, some leaders in the civil rights movement called for and participated in violent counter-actions against the KKK, sometimes driving the KKK from their neighborhoods with gunfire. Things were rapidly spinning out of control; some members of the NAACP were removed from their posts, the KKK kept up their attacks, and the local law enforcement frequently sided with the KKK, in turn further escalating the conflict. Eventually Dr. King returned to Alabama where, despite an equally-determined foe in the local KKK there, non-violence was much more a viable option.
It seems that Floridians, native Floridians, know how to hate, and practice it often.
You see it in their most-extreme 'stand your ground' law. If anyone feels as if they're threatened, for any reason, they can use deadly force. Contrast that to Oklahoma's 'stand your ground' law, which is far more limited: If one is in one's residence, and a person tries to illegally enter one's residence, one is authorized to use deadly force. Now, 'residence' can mean a hotel room, a cabin, even a tent, as long as that's where one is living at the time. The Oklahoma 'stand your ground' law goes back to the old saw about how 'a man's home is his castle', and is far more circumspect than Florida's version, which is something that wouldn't have held up even in the days of the 'Wild West'. This is how George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin; under Florida law, approved by the Florida legislature and signed into law by either Jeb Bush or Charlie Crist (I don't remember who was governor at the time), Zimmerman was justified in using deadly force to kill Martin because Zimmerman merely 'felt' that he was threatened. We may not agree (and I do not), we may not like that particular law, but that's what the government of the Great State of Florida has on its books. And so far the people of that state have not seen fit to get their elected leaders to change it, either.
And today Jacksonville is a powder keg of racial tension. Jacksonville has Florida's highest murder rate, with more murders per capita than even Miami. But there's little to no justice. While I was there, it seemed that the only murder cases that attracted sufficient law enforcement resources to result in an arrest were those involving whites or at the very least either politically-connected minorities or were so heinous they could not be ignored. 'Run-of-the-mill' murders, especially those involving minorities, were just left alone. I know; I had co-workers who lost family members, or friends of their families, in just exactly these circumstances. In short, there is no justice there.
Exacerbating the problem is the local law enforcement's harassment. That's a strong word, and it applies here. What I'm referring to is traffic stops. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office would typically pull a car over for speeding, or perhaps a seat belt violation, and the deputy would be rude--but with the dashcam running. They'd do whatever they could to try to get the driver to react, to act out, and especially to lay even one finger on the deputy--because that constituted battery of a law enforcement officer, which is a felony, and all caught on the dashcam. So what had been just a routine traffic stop turned into a felony conviction. And cops (and police departments) are as big into stats as the NBA All-Stars. And felony convictions, and a good solid felony conviction rate, are great things to brag about within the law enforcement community. It also means good, solid funding, too.
All of which add up to a great big picture of hate. With roots in the past of slavery, the inequality and injustice of the distant and more-recent past, and the denial of justice in the modern day, Florida (despite it's name, meaning 'flowery land) has more than its fair share of haters.
Over on Facebook, I've been following Upworthy for some time now, and I ran across a quick article there about a map prepared by the Southern Poverty Law Center, showing by state the number of hate groups they're tracking. On the map, you can zoom in and see little icons for the various groups, in roughly the locations they're active. I posted a copy of this map to my wall on Facebook, and among those who liked/commented on this was my pastor, who asked, "Wow . . . what's going on in Florida?" (BTW, Florida has 58 hate groups, according to the SPLC.)
Having lived in Florida for 5 years, more specifically in Jacksonville, I think I can comment on what's going on in Florida.
A lot of what you're seeing are echoes of slavery. And the reaction to those echoes that still sound in our national consciousness.
You see, the northern Florida area around Jacksonville is where the term 'cracker' was coined, and in that area is not a pejorative term. You see, it refers to the old-time white settlers in that area, and is in fact a term of pride, of belonging to that area, much in the way that 'jayhawker' refers to someone from Kansas. Despite it's nearly universal status as a racial epithet elsewhere, 'cracker' is a term of some pride, at least in some circles, in northern Florida.
All of which wouldn't mean much. Except that even today, nearly 150 years after emancipation, Florida is still a racial powder keg.
There weren't many Civil War battles fought in Florida, and there's only one of any real significance that I know of, the Battle of Olustee. You see, when the Union established a blockade of southern ports, in order to ease the burdens on the fleet, the Union Army and Navy combined to occupy as many southern ports as they could, which meant that they occupied Fernandina, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine fairly early in the war.
As the war progressed, the Union noticed that they didn't see very many Florida regiments in the Confederate Army, and took that to suggest that Floridians weren't very ardent secessionists, not being in the realm of 'King Cotton' like many of the hard-core Confederate states. It was believed that with only limited support for the Confederacy, that perhaps Florida would be willing to return its allegiance to the Union, more so than the other Confederate states.
Well, this was a miscalculation of epic proportions. In fact, based on a percentage of total population, Florida supplied more troops to the Confederate Army than any other state in the Confederacy. Floridians were, in fact, very ardent secessionists, which the Union Army discovered in February of 1864 when it moved to seize a key railroad junction west of Jacksonville, near Lake City.
Once the Union troops left their enclave in Jacksonville and moved inland, the Florida irregular militia came pouring out of the woodwork, and what they lacked in military professionalism they more than made up in determination to drive off the hated Yankees, which they did in short order.
Fast forward a hundred years, and take a look at Martin Luther King's efforts for civil rights in St. Augustine. In 1963 and into 1964, Dr. King tried to make headway with non-violent action for civil rights in and around St. Augustine. However, there was a problem with non-violence, or more specifically a lack of acceptance of non-violence. Determined to not die like Medgar Evers, some leaders in the civil rights movement called for and participated in violent counter-actions against the KKK, sometimes driving the KKK from their neighborhoods with gunfire. Things were rapidly spinning out of control; some members of the NAACP were removed from their posts, the KKK kept up their attacks, and the local law enforcement frequently sided with the KKK, in turn further escalating the conflict. Eventually Dr. King returned to Alabama where, despite an equally-determined foe in the local KKK there, non-violence was much more a viable option.
It seems that Floridians, native Floridians, know how to hate, and practice it often.
You see it in their most-extreme 'stand your ground' law. If anyone feels as if they're threatened, for any reason, they can use deadly force. Contrast that to Oklahoma's 'stand your ground' law, which is far more limited: If one is in one's residence, and a person tries to illegally enter one's residence, one is authorized to use deadly force. Now, 'residence' can mean a hotel room, a cabin, even a tent, as long as that's where one is living at the time. The Oklahoma 'stand your ground' law goes back to the old saw about how 'a man's home is his castle', and is far more circumspect than Florida's version, which is something that wouldn't have held up even in the days of the 'Wild West'. This is how George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin; under Florida law, approved by the Florida legislature and signed into law by either Jeb Bush or Charlie Crist (I don't remember who was governor at the time), Zimmerman was justified in using deadly force to kill Martin because Zimmerman merely 'felt' that he was threatened. We may not agree (and I do not), we may not like that particular law, but that's what the government of the Great State of Florida has on its books. And so far the people of that state have not seen fit to get their elected leaders to change it, either.
And today Jacksonville is a powder keg of racial tension. Jacksonville has Florida's highest murder rate, with more murders per capita than even Miami. But there's little to no justice. While I was there, it seemed that the only murder cases that attracted sufficient law enforcement resources to result in an arrest were those involving whites or at the very least either politically-connected minorities or were so heinous they could not be ignored. 'Run-of-the-mill' murders, especially those involving minorities, were just left alone. I know; I had co-workers who lost family members, or friends of their families, in just exactly these circumstances. In short, there is no justice there.
Exacerbating the problem is the local law enforcement's harassment. That's a strong word, and it applies here. What I'm referring to is traffic stops. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office would typically pull a car over for speeding, or perhaps a seat belt violation, and the deputy would be rude--but with the dashcam running. They'd do whatever they could to try to get the driver to react, to act out, and especially to lay even one finger on the deputy--because that constituted battery of a law enforcement officer, which is a felony, and all caught on the dashcam. So what had been just a routine traffic stop turned into a felony conviction. And cops (and police departments) are as big into stats as the NBA All-Stars. And felony convictions, and a good solid felony conviction rate, are great things to brag about within the law enforcement community. It also means good, solid funding, too.
All of which add up to a great big picture of hate. With roots in the past of slavery, the inequality and injustice of the distant and more-recent past, and the denial of justice in the modern day, Florida (despite it's name, meaning 'flowery land) has more than its fair share of haters.
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