UNAC STANDS WITH THE JAX5! DROP THE CHARGES NOW!
4/16/17
On April 7, 2017
five anti-war activists were brutalized and unjustly arrested in a violent
attack by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) during a peaceful demonstration
against the United States' war in Syria. UNAC stands unequivocally in
solidarity with the five who were targets of state repression: Dave Schneider,
Connell Crooms, Willie Wilder, Kristina Kittles, and Tom Beckham.
The Jax5, as the
group has come to be known, can be seen in multiple videos being attacked
without provocation, first by Donald Trump supporter and known
white-supremacist, Gary Snow, and then by police. The horrible incident, all
caught on cellphone video, shows cops using activists as punching bags, putting
them in chokeholds, and slamming them to the floor. One of the five, Connell
Crooms, was first assaulted by Snow then beaten and wrestled to the ground by a
group of officers who used their tasers, firing at his back while he was pinned
to the ground. Crooms’, whose hearing aid was knocked out of his ear when Snow
attacked him, was left deaf for the rest of the incident which ended with him
being dragged into a police car and then into an ambulance, beaten and
unresponsive.
The treatment of
Crooms and the rest of the Jax5 by the Jacksonville police is despicable.
Beckham was taken down by JSO, choked, and almost passed out. Kittle was
grabbed and slammed down, then hauled away, and William Wilder was choked and
punched repeatedly in the face. Furthermore, the charges brought against
our fellow anti-war activists should be frightening to all who organize against
US wars of aggression abroad. All five were charged with felonies. Schneider
was charged with “inciting a riot,” simply because he was one of the organizers
of this peaceful protest, turned violent only by police actions. We will not
stand for these bogus charges against fellow activists in the movement.
The wars abroad
mirror the wars at home. The use of military force by the United States against
other countries is the international manifestation of police brutality visited
upon thousands of people every day in this country. It inevitably appears
within our own borders in the form of increased surveillance and repression of
activists speaking out against U.S. imperialism. It is a fact that the JSO were
spying on these activists for months before targeting them for arrests. This
horrific display of suppression was planned and calculated and could happen to
any of us in the activist community.
We believe that
an attack on one activist is an attack on all. We stand with all those in the
anti-war, labor, and Black Lives Matter movements in solidarity with the
Jacksonville 5. We find the actions taken by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office
against this group of peaceful protestors beyond deplorable and we therefore
demand that:
1)
All
changes brought against the Jax5 be immediately dropped
2)
That
the JSO be prosecuted for its brutality and excessive use of force
3)
A
full independent investigation of the JSO is conducted regarding their
misconduct, surveillance of Jacksonville community activists, and ties to white
supremacists.