In St. Petersburg on Saturday, organizers for a “March for Political Prisoners” got as far as sign-making then called the action off when it learned that far-fight, pro-police counter-protesters—many from the “Patriot Action Network”—would be around.
In fact, members of the pro-police group continually walked nearby the sign-making to observe protesters, presumably thinking the protesters and children were marchers from a different Uhuru Solidarity Movement “March for Reparations to African people,” where thousands of white people took to the streets in six different cities around the country—including St. Pete—to stand in solidarity with the Black struggle for reparations and justice.
Similar pro-police groups, in past weeks, had hurled racist and homophobic language at protesters, and organizers of the “March for Political Prisoners” did not want to subject any children present to the rhetoric.
But in downtown Tampa on the same day, locals demonstrated in solidarity with Women’s Marches in Washington D.C. and across the country where thousands of people protested just 17 days before Election Day and as Republican senators move to confirm Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. —Ray Roa
