Tallahassee voting rights panel gives perspectives and how to fight back

Tallahassee, FL – Over 30 people gathered at The Bark restaurant to hear from city commission candidates and local organizers about the attacks on voting rights, and on how we can fight back.

On the panel were city commission candidates Dot Inman-Johnson and PJ Perez. The city commission has had a 3-2 conservative-to-progressive split for eight years, during which the majority has served developers over the people. Three seats are up for election this year, with progressive candidates in each, including Inman-Johnson and Perez, so the balance could swing to progressive control.

Also on the panel were Jackson Vanderley from Tallahassee SDS, Kevin Louis-Jeune from FAMU SDS, Lunchbox from Black on Black Rhyme, and Delilah Pierre with the Tallahassee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Louis-Jeune, a first year FAMU student, spoke to the differences he had seen in town: “Walking around the immediate area around campus, compared to around on campus, is like walking into a whole different city.”

Lunchbox responded to an audience question about what to do when the elections are over, “We vote with our time, we vote with our dollar, we vote with our energy. So besides the election process, which is important, we have the power to have conversations with our neighbors.”

When asked about the effects in Tallahassee of racist redistricting in other parts of Florida, Inman-Johnson said, “When [former representative] Al Lawson’s district was eliminated through gerrymandering, the legislature tried to do a fairer district. Desantis vetoed it and had his team develop the district. It’s important that [Democrat nominee for governor, David] Jolly get elected because it would be a fairer governor who would oversee those decisions.”

Perez kept it simple: “Just do away with partisan gerrymandering altogether, at all levels. That’s what we should all be aspiring to.”

An audience member asked about how elected officials can balance holding their values with making small movements towards progress, especially when more and more Republican voters are moving to Florida. Pierre responded by saying, “There might be more Republican voters moving here, but there’s one unity between Republican voters and Democrat voters: we broke as hell. We ain’t got no money. We have to rephrase the question. It’s not Republicans versus Democrats; it’s the working class versus the billionaires and multimillionaires.”

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