Editorial: For Blacks, a year in the spotlight – The Florida Times-Union

Florida Times-Union

The spotlight shone brightly this year on Jacksonvilles Black community, revealing pain, injustice, success and triumphs.

It was a year of anniversaries. The 120th anniversary of Lift Evry Voice and Sing, the song written by native sons James Weldon and John Rosamond Johnson, was celebrated with numerous performances, including on Facebook, at NFL games and during the NBA All-Star Game on TNT.

The city hired renowned black landscape architect Walter Hood to transform the LaVilla park named for the song at the site of the Johnson brothers home. Its expected to be completed next year.

A more solemn occasion, the 60th anniversary for Ax Handle Saturday when whites bludgeoned Black protesters in Downtown Jacksonville, continued to resonate in the community as numerous killings of Blacks occurred around the country.

The shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery as he jogged in Brunswick, Ga., and the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police reinforced the many social justices still facing Blacks.

But the outrage that followed the shootings created some momentum for change.

Mayor Lenny Curry ordered the removal of the Confederate soldier statue in Hemming Park that had long been a source of tension. Shortly after the park was renamed for James Weldon Johnson.

And the Duval County Public Schools took under consideration the renaming of schools that bear the names of Confederate heroes.

The Floyd killing also inspired 13-year-old Keedron Bryant from Oakleaf Junior High to write, with his mother, I Just Wanna Live, which become a theme song for the Black Lives Matter movement. It received national attention on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and at the NFL opener in Kansas City. Another of his songs, U Got This, was played during halftime Sunday at the Jaguars home opener.

And two prominent Black leaders received some well-deserved recognition.

Nat Ford, CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, received national recognition from the American Public Transportation Association, which named him Outstanding Public Transportation Manager for 2020.

Under Fords leadership the city built the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center in LaVilla, a multimodal hub that brings together city and regional bus service, the Skyway and other mobility services.

School Superintendent Diana Greene was named Florida Superintendent of the Year by the Florida Association of District Superintendents. She is the second Black woman to receive the honor. Under her leadership, voters approved a half-cent sales tax to rebuild aging schools, mostly in Black neighborhoods.

Several nonprofits received large donations to enable them to expand services that benefit the Black community like the $1 million donation from Miller Electric to help the United Way of Northeast Florida develop programs about racial equity.

Edward Waters College is expanding its degree programs and adding a masters degree that will transform it into a university.

The JAX Chamber Foundation launched a program to improve economic opportunities for Blacks in Jacksonville. The Lewis and White Business League is named for two of the first Black business leaders in the city A.L. Lewis and Eartha White.

Bank of America is partnering with Florida State College at Jacksonville to create a $1 million jobs initiative focused on students of color.

2021 arrives on a hopeful note. The Black community has new programs and opportunities becoming available and a new presence in the city they didnt have a year ago.

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Editorial: For Blacks, a year in the spotlight - The Florida Times-Union