On Friday morning—outside of the Tampa Municipal Office Building on Jackson Street and down the street from Tampa Police Department headquarters—Joneshia Wilkerson spoke at a press conference where Black Lives Matter activists and advocates reasserted calls to have Mayor Jane Castor and the Tampa City Council remove Tampa Police Chief, Brian Dugan, (#DumpDugan).
Wilkerson, 23, is a Black Army Reservist who filmed TPD officers pointing a gun in her direction as she sat, pulled over in a friend’s vehicle on June 18. Wilkerson, a veteran and single mother, provided an update on her current situation.
“At this moment I am homeless,” she said on Friday, adding that she’s been staying at hotels and at times sleeping in her car.
TPD came under fire for publishing Wilkerson’s personal information publicly. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has called for an investigation into TPD for this act, which has resulted in Wilkerson receiving death threats and harassment. Wilkerson disclosed today that she was assaulted recently at a gas station and had to be hospitalized for two days.
She said she’s received support from groups like Black Lives Matter Tampa and Dream Defenders; there’s also a GoFundMe to help Wilkerson with lawyer fees and moving, but she’s still struggling with the aftermath of recent trauma and pre-existing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“My life has been in complete shambles,” Wilkerson said at the press conference. She fears for her life, her childrens’ lives, and faces constant fear of harassment and violence for—as Jae Passmore put it—having “the audacity to film the police”.
Passmore is a former Hillsborough County Commission candidate and National Guard veteran who suffered a concussion and injuries to her hip and right leg after being struck by a truck in South Tampa’s Hyde Park on June 21.
Wilkerson said TPD has not taken the initiative to apologize or check in on her after putting her life and livelihood at risk by publishing her personal information.
Multiple speakers at Friday’s rally reasserted a message that’s been circulating on the social media pages of Tampa activists: “This is not a moment, this is a movement.” Speakers recalled past movements for Black lives, the need to be an inclusive movement for LGBTQ and disabled populations.
“Resistance is not easy, but it must be done,” said clinical mental health counselor, Risasi Milima, Ed. D, referring to oppressive and violent practices that undermine activist movements and disproportionately harm marginalized populations. Milima, who works for the Federation of Families Hillsborough, called on State Attorney Andrew Warren to drop all charges against young protestors, and like others, expressed dissatisfaction with the steps Mayor Jane Castor’s taken to rebuild community trust and reform existing structures for police accountability.
“This press conference is about saying, ‘No More’” Passmore stated. “We will not stop protesting until we get justice.”
What justice means for the Tampa Bay community and what that looks like varies depending on who you ask. There are many local activist groups and organizations that have released their own lists of demands for Mayor Jane Castor and the Tampa Police Department, including Black Lives Matter Tampa, the Black Collective Movement (BCM), and Tampa Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Not all of these organizations were involved in the organization of Friday’s press conference.
What’s clear, however, is that the “moment” of protests that came in the wake of George Floyd’s murder is not the beginning nor end of Tampa’s racial justice movement. The movement to hold elected leadership accountable and address the pervasive forms of oppression that undermine the safety and wellbeing of Tampa Bay residents continues on.
Many of the speakers at Friday’s press conference also renewed calls for Mayor Castor and Tampa City Council to remove Chief Dugan.
Council, however, has no power to directly remove the chief. In Tampa, the mayor is the chief law enforcement officer in the city, above the chief—she appoints or removes the person to that position, and on June 25, Ashley Bauman, spokesperson for the City of Tampa, told CL in a text message that, "Dugan is the chief at TPD and there have been no discussions about a change at the top."
Despite recent bias workshops, Dugan has come under harsh fire from activists and community members, who have been calling on Castor to fire him for over a month. From saying George Floyd, a Black man choked to death by Minneapolis Police in May, “had to get murdered” for people to come to Citizen Review Board meetings, to disparaging local protestors on local and national television, activists are fed up with Dugan’s conduct as Tampa police chief.
Under Dugan’s watch as Tampa Police Chief, use of force by TPD officers has increased 24%. Since 2017, the department has also seen a 223% increase in the use of chemical agents such as pepper spray.
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This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 6, 2020.