Across Tampa, dozens of Black Lives Matter demonstrations have been organized by activists in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor—two Black Americans murdered by law enforcement officers in May and March, respectively.
In addition to more established racial justice groups in the area, such as Tampa Dream Defenders and the local Black Lives Matter chapter, several activist groups have formed in light of the renewed ire, determination, and passion driving recent protests—demonstrating an ardent fervor comparable to that which drove the mid-20th century U.S. civil rights movement.
One such activist group on the rise in Tampa is the Black Collective Movement TPA (BCM), a group of young and tenacious organizers who oppose systemic oppression in all its forms, including that on the basis of race, class, sexual orientation, ability, and gender identity.
Out of the original eight members, current BCM Tampa members include Leea Gainey (20), Mey Abellard (20), Tori Brown (20), M’Kya Gonzalez (20), Nīa Knighton (24), and KD Edgecombe (22).
The Black Collective Movement (BCM) has become one of the most active local groups in organizing peaceful demonstrations to protest the systemic racism reflected in various U.S. institutions, including its policing system.
The mission of BCM Tampa is to “progress the social and political justice of the Black community in Tampa through activism and legislative work”.
The underlying theme driving its work is Black liberation for all—a goal informed by the strong will and determination of BCM activists to see justice served in all respects, beyond the disproportionate policing and incarceration of Black communities.
The group first came to life through the vision of one University of South Florida (USF) student, who, according to the group’s members, saw a need to increase awareness of the injustices facing Black people in the local community and across the nation in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. All current members of BCM Tampa are either current or former USF students.
The group is most active on Instagram where it does its mobilizing work and posts information regarding upcoming demonstrations.
The group organized a peaceful rally outside of Tampa City Hall earlier this month, as well as the counter-protest to the “Back the Blue” rally hosted in Tampa the second weekend of June. On Tuesday, BCM has plans to be at the Tampa Convention Center when the city’s much-criticized police Citizen Review Board (CRB) meets.
One BCM activist, 22-year old KD Edgecombe later described the “Back The Blue” rally as “traumatic” for him and other Black protestors who became the targets of racial slurs and other forms of hate speech. Emadi Okwuosa, who previously organized with BCM and has since departed from the group, has also spoken about the threatening atmosphere fostered by the Back the Blue rally attendees.
The newly-formed BCM Tampa shares a foreseeable amount of strategic overlap with other activist groups organizing local protests as it concerns their overarching goals of achieving racial justice and demanding police accountability.
However, a notable distinction of BCM Tampa is its unwavering support for the types of demands brought forward by police abolitionists, who seek to ultimately dismantle systems of policing as they currently exist in Tampa and across the nation.
Outside of Tampa City Hall on June 10, the group shared a list of five demands for local government. The first of these was a demand to defund the Tampa Police Department (TPD)—which has a projected 2020 budget of $162.7 million—with the means to abolish it.
BCM’s full list of demands for local government officials, including Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, are as follows:
- To defund and demilitarize the police and thereby reallocate those funds to social programs in the Tampa Bay community, as well as the education and public health sectors.
- To end for-profit prisons and policing, as well as arrest and prison quotas.
- To withhold pensions and paid leave for law enforcement officers who are under investigation, and require that officers—not taxpayers—be held liable for misconduct settlements.
- To establish a third-party investigation service for investigating internal police affairs (presumably disconnected from law enforcement entirely, going further than Castor’s plan to have all internal investigations led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement)
- To charge Tampa police officers who enable police misconduct by means of no intervention accordingly
A far cry from the complete abolishment of law enforcement agencies in a single sweep, arguments for police abolition typically involve a series of actions and reforms. This includes the defunding of police departments with the intention of repurposing those funds to address social and economic inequalities associated with violence and crime.
The BCM’s clear call for defunding the TPD lands the group in stark contrast with some liberal demands coming from others in the community, such as the expanded use of body cameras; a reformation of Tampa’s existing CRB; and ongoing cultural sensitivity and de-escalation training for law enforcement officers.
To many, these demands might appear reasonable and promising. But not everyone agrees. Many antiracist educators and activists —such as Mariame Kaba, civil rights activist Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and the national grassroots organization, Critical Resistance—have been vocal in expressing their critiques of liberal, reformist approaches to policing.
Why abolitionists believe police reform is futile
According to police abolitionists, demands for things like body cameras, implicit bias training, and even civilian review boards have proven not only to be ineffective for stopping police violence against Black communities and other people of color—but fail more broadly in their assumption that the policing system is “broken” and can therefore be fixed.
Abolitionists challenge this assumption, arguing that the U.S. policing system is not actually broken at all, but is working exactly as it was intended to as a system founded upon racist, anti-immigrant, and colonialist roots.
Retired police major and executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Neill Franklin, stated in The Intercept, “We are still working with a model of policing in this country that was born out of slavery in this country, that was born out of a white supremacy in this country… That’s why reform won’t work and that’s why we haven’t made any traction whatsoever on this issue of race, as we’ve seen with the death of Mr. Floyd.”
Furthermore, as pointed out by sociology professor and “The End of Policing” author, Alex Vitale, the Minneapolis Police Department—not to mention the TPD—had already implemented a number of reforms, including the use of body cameras, deescalation and crisis intervention training, and a diversification of department leadership in years prior to the murder of George Floyd.
Social and racial justice groups that adopt a reformist approach may genuinely be sincere in their goal to eradicate unnecessary police violence. Nonetheless, those that advocate for police abolition—including BCM Tampa—argue that this isn’t enough.
Police abolitionists envision a future where law enforcement agencies are rendered obsolete, through a process of developing an alternative public safety system, and investing in community needs, such as affordable housing, mental health care, public education, and other objectives rooted in social and economic justice.
The Black Collective Movement’s approach to local antiracist advocacy
To enact the scale of change these activists wish to see in the community, BCM Tampa has developed several key objectives within its broader mission, laying out a plan for advocacy opportunities that extend beyond marches and protests.
The group’s six objectives highlight several actionable goals and needs within the community. From members of the group themselves, these objectives include: “Providing platforms for the voices of black individuals to be heard and understood. Creating and increasing awareness of the social, political, and economic disadvantages that black individuals face.
“Providing opportunities to elevate black individuals through [the] funding [of] social programs and hosting community service events. Educating the community on the ongoing injustices surrounding black individuals. Fighting for the legislative changes for the voting rights, prison reform, and defunding the police. In addition, empowering black women and LGBTQ individuals in all aspects.”
The mission of BCM Tampa, and the determination that is evident in the tone of the members who speak at its demonstrations, has garnered a respectable following among those in the Tampa community who join these activists in demanding justice for all.
Depending on the time and day of their demonstrations, as well as other factors that might influence turnout, crowd sizes at BCM-organized events have varied, from crowds of hundreds marching the streets of downtown Tampa, to groups of no more than 20-30 sitting outside of a Macy’s store.
The crowds that show up to these events are multiracial, demonstrating a racial diversity in Tampa’s Black Lives Matter scene. Many are also younger, in their 20s and 30s. However, you’ll also see some attendees who are older or middle-aged, such Marquita Kelly and Roshonda of The Covering Foundation, a local LGBTQ+ nonprofit.
BCM has continued to organize events both on weekdays and weekends to maintain steady pressure on Tampa residents and officials to recognize that their movement is not going away any time soon.
“You cannot just say [George Floyd’s] name and go about your day,” Edgecombe told a small group of protestors at Wiregrass Mall on June15.
The group has reasserted its vision for radically transforming local discussions about race, white allyship, and the eradication of racism that is rooted in various United States institutions—including employment practices, home ownership, education, and the criminal justice system.
“We will start rolling out a schedule of events for the upcoming week so people who are actively participating have ample time to attend,” the group says. “We also are establishing new events such as town halls to gain more insight and allow productive discourse between those who follow us. We have great things planned, follow us and be on the lookout.”
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This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2020.
