Proudly Celebrating Black History Month

February is Black History Month, a commemoration founded by The Association for the Study of African American Life (ASALH) 100 years ago. As we witness the brazen racism, bigotry and misogyny pushed by hateful politicians, it is more important than ever to ensure that we learn and teach true history. This month in particular we commemorate and celebrate the multitude of contributions made by African Americans who have given so much to enrich every aspect of our country and culture.

Our local ASALH chapter, the James Weldon Johnson Branch, led by President Hazel Gillis, regularly hosts educational events and activities. Please check out the Calendar of Events below for information on many events taking place throughout February in Northeast Florida, including free Black History classes every first and third Saturday at Cafe Resistance in Jacksonville. Another informative resource is the Equal Justice Initiative's 'A History of Racial Injustice' calendar, and you can now sign up for daily emails with historical entries.

Black History Month provides a great opportunity to find out more about Black History in and around Jacksonville by following the Black Heritage Trail, visiting the Rhoda L. Martin Cultural Heritage Center in Jax Beach, and the A.L. Lewis Museum at American Beach on Amelia Island. And here's a site with important places to visit in St. Augustine during Black History Month.

This month we also want to highlight local Black-owned businesses you can check out and support. This post from Top of The Coast spotlights a number of unique local businesses that help define Jacksonville’s culture and contribute to the city’s creativity, resilience, and sense of belonging. And definitely check out the Black in Jax 2026 Business Directory from @SheBeeKnowing_Jax that spotlights more than 350 local businesses, artists, artisans and service providers. @SheBeeKnowing writes, "This list is a labor of love, built on experience, recommendations, references and a dream to celebrate Black excellence in Jacksonville." An interactive web version of the list will be out soon.

Vibe Shift: Americans Say NO ICE

The large, ongoing anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis and across the nation (including in Jacksonville) are breaking through. We are seeing sustained outrage at the cruelty and illegality of ICE and CBP agents from a growing majority of Americans. As Brian Tyler Cohen points out, artists at the Grammys speaking openly on live TV about immigration and proudly wearing 'No ICE' buttons is a sign that the cultural mood is (finally) shifting. He writes, "Politics sits downstream of culture. And culture dictates the national mood. If high profile figures with a lot to lose are willing to go out on a limb to speak up, we can safely say the vibe has shifted. The messages at the Grammys are not only a bellwether for where the national mood is, but a permission structure for Americans to speak out themselves. The national mood has shifted, and Trump will be hard pressed to stop it." Let's hope that live performances at the Super Bowl this weekend will further highlight to the 100 million viewers that diversity is what makes America great. If we come together to stand up for our neighbors and push back on this administration's atrocities, we will continue to win against hate and cruelty. Here are more actions you can take to get ICE OUT of our communities:


🎬 ACTION: Attend The Ice Out for Good protest TODAY, Tuesday, February 3, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in front of Senator Rick Scott's Office, 400 West Bay St., downtown Jacksonville. You can also join weekly protests - Fridays from 12:00 to 12:30 pm at the corner of 8th & Main Streets in Jacksonville and Saturdays at 10:00 am at the Beaches Library, 600 Third St., Neptune Beach.

🎬 ACTION: Call your Representative and Senators Scott and Moody and tell them NO. MORE. FUNDS. FOR. ICE. This lawless agency is violently attacking and killing U.S. citizens and hard-working, law-abiding immigrants and must be defunded and dissolved for good. Use this script from 5Calls.

🎬 ACTION: Send this automated email from the Human Rights Campaign to Senators Scott and Moody and your Representative urging them to oppose additional funding for DHS and ICE and to impeach Kristi Noem. They have the power (and the duty) to stop the horrific attacks on our communities and to protect our citizens and our democracy.

🎬 ACTION: Sign up with The Rapid Response Alliance for Immigrant Safety and Empowerment (RAISE), a rapid response network designed to prepare Floridians for immigration enforcement activities, such as ICE raids, and to monitor and respond to such activities. If you are interested in serving as a peaceful legal observer for incidents in our area, you can attend training through RAISE.

🎬 ACTION: Contact Jax Sheriff T.K. Waters and urge him to re-evaluate the 287 (g) agreement with the Department of Homeland Security supporting ICE immigration enforcement. Absent critical guardrails, the agreement should be rescinded. In its current form, it is a threat to residents and further erodes trust with local law enforcement officers by effectively making them federal agents and ICE accomplices.

🎬 ACTION: Urge your state senator and state representative (contact info here) to support HB 419, recently introduced by Rep. Angie Nixon and Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, requiring ICE agents to provide identification and remove face masks during immigration enforcement activities.

📖 READ: The Mother Jones story, "ICE Violence Is Fueled by Misogyny and White Nationalism," by Cynthia Miller-Idriss. It lays out how the Trump administration has mobilized state-sponsored terror in Minneapolis and beyond. It is a horrific illustration of what unfettered power does in the hands of leadership that celebrates and demands violence, especially from men. 

2026 FL Legislative Session Update - DANGER AHEAD


PLEASE take a few minutes to read about some incredibly harmful bills that are moving through the Florida legislature right now - everything from fetal personhood, to purging eligible voters (especially women), to making activism a felony, to more attacks on DEI. We realize this is a lot of information and there are multiple links to take action, but PLEASE stay informed, make as many calls and send as many emails as you can (as often as you can) to stop some of the most harmful bills gaining traction in Tallahassee this session. For more on additional priority bills, including good legislation we support, please check out Jax NOW's 2026 Legislative Priorities.

You can find more great info at:

• Florida Takes Action - information on bills, calls to action, links to coalition partners, and more
• Florida NOW Legislative Priorities and the Florida NOW 2026 Legislative Action Linktree
• Floridians for Reproductive Freedom 2026 Legislative overview

Immediate actions you can take:

🎬 ACTION X2: Use this automated email from Planned Parenthood to urge your Senator to vote NO on the Abusers' Bill of Rights (SB 164/HB 289). This broad bill that could mean lawyers, not doctors, will be consulted if a pregnant patient needs health care, including in an emergency. 
Please also send this automated email from Progress Florida urging your Senator to vote NO. If passed, this bill could jeopardize IVF, chemotherapy, and abortion access if the partner, abuser, or even rapist of a pregnant patient is able to sue for the loss or termination of the pregnancy. Medical malpractice insurers confirm that this bill would result in OBGYNs leaving Florida.

🎬 ACTION: HB 743/SB 1010 a/k/a More Lawsuits for Teachers & Doctors Bill would hand the Attorney General sweeping authority to investigate and sue school staff and health care providers under vague and undefined standards, intensifying Florida's attacks on transgender youth and LGBTQ+ communities. Instead of protecting children or families, these bills will reduce access to health care for everyone, drive providers and educators out of the state, saddle taxpayers with new costs, and erode public trust. Click here to urge lawmakers to vote NO on these bills.


🎬 ACTION: HB 1001/SB 1134 a/k/a Anti-Diversity in Local Government. This bill is a state sledgehammer to stop cities and counties from any action that recognizes and responds to differences based on race, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, with limited exceptions. How you can help: Send this message to the committee members and urge them to vote NO on SB 1134.

🎬 ACTION: HB 1471/SB 1632 a/k/a Police State Bills. This legislation creates vague new designations of what constitutes a “domestic terrorist organization” to punish any activism that protests our government. It calls for felony criminal charges and huge financial and civil penalties for activism - in direct opposition to our Constitutional rights. Send an email to lawmakers urging them to oppose HB 1471/SB 1632.

🎬 ACTION: HB 991/SB 1334 a/k/a Voter Purge Bills or Florida's version of the SAVE Act. This bill would add onerous new proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration and verification, especially for persons who have changed their names for marriage or other reasons and no longer matches birth certificate or other documentation. Please call your representative today and urge them to oppose SB 1334! If you want to make an even bigger impact, you can also contact the members of the Senate Ethics & Elections Committee and ask them to vote NO.