Lights!, Cameras!, ACTION!: Using Technology and Social Media to Address Racial Oppression and Persistent Inequality

• In Event: Counter-Hegemonic Epistemologies as Innovation and/or Contestation - II

Abstract

While less visible in the Civil Rights and Race Relations historical discussion than the neighboring cities of Savannah, Atlanta and St Augustine, Jacksonville Florida has a long and often sordid history of race relations, stretching from the pre-civil war establishment of Florida as a state, to the present struggles over Black Lives Matter, and debates over the presence of Confederate monuments. Local historical accounts often focus on great historical figures who overcame the odds (e.g. James Weldon Johnson), or confrontations that made national news, Few of these efforts, however, have created a true counter-narrative to the dominant “Southern Culture” ensconced in the region. Efforts to challenge this Southern hegemony and educate the public about taking down monuments to Confederate Generals, or renaming public buildings, bridges and roads named after “city fathers” who were slave owners, openly racist and Ku Klux Klan leaders, as well as on-going structural inequality in the community is virtually non-existent.

In this paper/presentation, we discuss the development and on-going work of the Race and Injustice in Jacksonville Research Group, a Community -University partnership established to
document the history and the social and economic effects of racism, and address the role of politics in institutional racism. The goals of the Research Group include developing a series of educational and illuminating films, social media outlets to challenge the community to address the long-term impact of the its racial history. By drawing on available technologies, the group is developing a multi-media/technology “portal” to “take ‘em down JAX.”

Authors

• Jeffry Will, University of North Florida

• Monique Sampson, Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives