WHO GETS TO TELL THE STORY M I S T E R H I S T OR Y A N D T H E I N V I S I BL E E M PI R E
Independent News | July 23, 2020 | Volume 21 | Number 30 | Letter courtesy of T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum, Photo by Tim Bednarczyk
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Independent News is published by Inweekly Media, Inc., P.O. Box 12082, Pensacola, FL 32591. (850)438-8115. All materials published in Independent News are copyrighted. © 2018 Inweekly Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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winners & losers
Amber McClure / Courtesy of Escambia County
winners AMBER MCCLURE Escambia County has hired the CFO for Studer Entertainment and Retail as its new chief budget officer, with responsibilities to include key decision-making regarding budget development, administration, revenue forecasting, fiscal management and capital planning. Prior to her work with Studer, McClure worked for the city of Pensacola as a senior accountant from 2004-2012. She received the Southern League of Minor League Baseball Women of Excellence Award in 2018 and the Studer Family of Companies Bright Spot Award in 2018 and 2019. She currently serves on the board of the University of West Florida Foundation and is a member of the Florida Government Finance Officers’ Association and Panhandle Chapter of the Government Finance Officers’ Association. ROBERT BENDER Florida Association of
Counties (FAC) President Melissa McKinlay named the District 4 commissioner to serve on the FAC Finance, Tax and Administration committee and the Water and Environmental Sustainability committee. Bender was also appointed to the Florida Counties Foundation Board of Directors that oversees the training and education institute for county governments.
HANCOCK WHITNEY BANK The bank has donated $25,000 to help United Ministries provide relief assistance to low- and moderateincome households who have experienced job loss, furlough or a reduction in hours of work or pay due to the economic impacts of COVID-19. Assistance includes directly supporting an estimated 50 clients with rent relief. VMAQ MONUMENT FOUNDATION
FedEx Corp. donated $25,000 to the VMAQ Monument Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is working to erect “In Every Clime and Place,” a three-figure bronze monument, at the National Naval Aviation Museum to honor the service of veterans who served in Marine Corps Airborne Electronic Attack squadrons for over four decades. The unveiling of the monument is scheduled for Spring 2021.
FEEDING THE GULF COAST Partner-
ing with local community organizations and with support from the States Department of Agriculture, Feeding the Gulf Coast’s Summer Meals program provided more than 324,900 nutritious meals and snacks for children across its entire service area.
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Marco Rubio / Courtesy of rubio.senate.gov
losers MARCO RUBIO The Republican U.S. senator from Florida wanted to tweet kind remarks regarding Civil Rights icon Congressman John Lewis—“It was an honor to know and be blessed with the opportunity to serve in Congress with John Lewis, a genuine and historic American hero.” The only problem is Rubio included a photo of him standing with Rep. Elijah Cummings, who passed away earlier this year. HALSEY BESHEARS The Department of
Business and Professional Regulation Secretary last week said no timeline had been set to let people again drink in bars and nightclubs as the state adds thousands of coronavirus cases a day. Beshears told The News Service of Florida, “These numbers have to stop climbing—it has to flatten— and then there has to be a decrease in that positivity number.” He failed to mention the workaround he has allowed—letting bars get restaurant licenses and not enforcing the requirement that half of the establishment’s revenue must come from food.
BRIAN KEMP The Republican gov-
ernor of Georgia has filed a lawsuit to stop Atlanta from enforcing the mayor’s mandate to wear a face covering in public. Kemp alleges Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) lacked the authority to implement a mask requirement and that she must obey Kemp’s executive order that banned municipalities from enacting such ordinances.
WINN-DIXIE The Florida Times-Union
reported that Winn-Dixie doesn’t require its employees to wear face coverings and has no plans to mandate it for its customers. Instead, the Jacksonville-based grocery chain is waiting for state officials to “lead the way in regulating these types of safety mandates.” After receiving numerous complaints, Winn Dixie relented state it would make mask mandatory as of Monday, July 27.
FLORIDA’S POPULATION The Demo-
graphic Estimating Conference, a group of state economists, released a report forecasting that Florida’s population growth will slow in the coming years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel reduced its earlier projection of the state’s population by April 1, 2025, by 200,139 people. inweekly.net
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outtakes By Rick Outzen
TO BE HEARD FINALLY On Thursday, July 16, a group led by Save Southern Heritage filed a lawsuit to block the city from removing its Confederate monument. The suit asserted the city had violated its North Hill Preservation District ordinance and federal procedures regarding the "historic structure from a National Register Historic Preservation District." The group alleged, "When the city approved the request for the monument, a public trust with an expectation of permanency was created." Meanwhile, there is a buzz that the group intends to initiate a petition drive to have the city council reconsider its vote and, if they don't, have the city hold a referendum on the monument. The petition would need to garner the signatures of 10% of the city's registered voters, about 4,196, within 60 days. This newspaper has well documented the history of the Confederate monument. Pensacola played a minor role in the Civil War. After Florida seceded from the United States in 1861, efforts to seize Fort Pickens failed, and the city went back to Union hands within less than two years. With the help of W.D. Chipley, who has an obelisk bearing his name in Plaza Ferdinand, Pensacola lawyer Edward Perry was elected governor of Florida in 1885. Perry overturned the state constitution and led a convention that came up with one that segregated public schools and banned interracial marriage, along with many other issues. One of his pet projects was to build a monument honoring Confederate veterans that would be on display at the State Capitol in Tallahassee. He left office and died without building it. Perry's wife and a group of Confederate widows struggled to raise funds until Pensacola Mayor Chipley offered city land and backing for the monument to be erected in Pensacola. Missing from the decision-making process was the city's Black citizens. Most of the 1890 census' population schedules were severely damaged by a fire in the Commerce Department Building in
January 1921. However, I found a Pensacola census from 1895 in the Pensacola News story dated Dec. 13, 1895. According to the article, the census conducted by Major W.F. Williams and published in the city's new directory showed the Pensacola's population was 14,087, of which 6,775 (48%) were "colored" —3,223 males and 3,552 females. Though nearly half of the city's population was Black, they weren't allowed to vote for the seven seats on the city commission that ran Pensacola. Gov. Perry had abolished the city's charter, removing all Black elected officials, including Councilmen John Sunday and August Dupont and Mayor Salvador Pons. When the city government agreed to rename Florida Square after Robert E. Lee and allow a Confederate monument placed on the hill overlooking downtown Pensacola, not one Black citizen had a seat on the city commission. When the North Hill Preservation District was formed in 1972 with Palafox as its eastern border, the Pensacola City Council had only one Black councilman among its 10 members, Hollice T. Williams. The district was presented to the council as a means of preserving the city's Victorian homes. Organizers carved the monument into the district with little mention to the council. Missing from the historic district was the intersection of Belmont and DeVilliers streets, the Black community's business and entertainment district during the Jim Crow era. Half of the city was prevented from having any say in the Confederate monument being erected on city property. The Black community had only one vote of the council that approved the preservation district and its boundaries. The Black community's voices shouldn't be stifled yet again as they join with their white neighbors to remove the monument from city land. They deserve to be heard and no longer forced to pay homage to a shrine to white supremacy. {in} rick@inweekly.net
The Black community's voices shouldn't be stifled yet again as they join with their white neighbors to remove the monument from city land.
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IS IT SAFE TO RETURN TO SCHOOL?
By Jeremy Morrison The upcoming school year will be unlike any other that's come before. Students, teachers and school staff will be venturing into a new, frightening territory full of unknowns. "We are living in a challenging moment and a moment we've never seen before," Escambia County School District Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said as he rolled out the district's reopening plans in mid-July. Like other school districts around the country, Escambia sent students home halfway through the spring semester in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus sweeping the world. Now, as the rate of COVID cases are exponentially worse in Florida, the district is preparing to welcome students back to campuses, as well as offering remote-learning options. "This pandemic was thrown on everybody," said Escambia School Board member Paul Fesko. "You're kind of flying by the seat of your pants."
"This pandemic was thrown on everybody. You're kind of flying by the seat of your pants." Paul Fesko With just weeks to go until the start of the semester, local education officials are anxiously watching the unfolding COVID landscape in Florida, where July has seen 66
the state become one of the country's coronavirus hotspots, breaking records for single-day case counts. "Is it going to continue to go up, or is it going to go down?" Wonders Escambia School Board Chairman Patty Hightower, describing the situation as "a very fluid environment." "This is truly a moving target," said Fesko. "We don't know what's going to happen in the coming weeks or the coming months. Things in Escambia have gone crazy with the number of new cases." It's unknown, yet, what exactly will happen when schools reopen, where there may be no requirement to wear a mask and no capabilities to accommodate social distancing measures. "I have people tell me it's not science," Hightower sighed. "When we start up the schools, we'll see what happens," said Kevin Adams, who represents District 1 on the school board. "Hopefully, it'll go fine." While there are plenty of unknowns heading into the academic year, there is also one near certainty. There will likely be cases of COVID popping up in Escambia's schools. As Superintendent Thomas said, it's not if but when. "It will happen," Thomas said.
'ALMOST A SIN'
Although COVID is charting ever-new high marks as each day's data is tallied, the state has not retreated into anything
resembling a lockdown to help ease the weight put on hospitals sweating capacity concerns—the opposite, in fact, as Florida enthusiastically attempts to wring whatever's left out of the summer tourism season. "Disney World opened. Sea World opened," Hightower said. "People are still going to the beach. They're still going to the grocery stores. They're still going to gas stations," Adams pointed out. Using a bit of circular logic, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that if businesses and their customers are navigating coronavirus in the state, so too can schools. To that effect, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran has issued an order that schools must return to session and offer a full week, oncampus experience. The Escambia School District is offering that on-campus option, in addition to two remote-based options. The first remote option tethers a student to the traditional school day and a teacher based out of the school they would ordinarily attend, while the other option is offered through the Escambia Virtual Academy and allows for more independent, flexible study. "I know there will not be a plan suitable for everyone," Hightower said. "I'm just glad we've been able to offer multiple options," said Fesko. The remote options will present some challenges, ranging from logistical to technical, and require heavy involvement on the part of parents. And the back-to-campus option will feature various measures meant to make schools a safer environment. "It's going to be different," said Bill Slayton, the school board's vice chairman. Among the changes to be instituted in schools are a reduction in the number of class periods to minimize movement, a suspension of extracurricular clubs and volunteers, as well as a moratorium on large-scale indoor events typical of gymnasiums, cafeterias and auditoriums. "It's tough to take things away from kids that have been part of their lifestyles," Slayton said. "No pep rallies? Ah, man, that's almost a sin." Even with logistical changes, increased cleanings and other safety measures like temperature checks for teachers and staff,
a return to campus comes with health risks. No one is sugar-coating this. "It will be face-to-face," Superintendent Thomas has said, tempering expectations of safety measures, such as social distancing, which he paints as undoable.
'THEY'RE AFRAID OF DYING'
While acknowledging that the district will have "to do the best we can with the situation we have," Adams considers its reopening roadmap an "excellent plan." About 80% of the feedback he's received has been positive. "But, boy, the 20% are giving me heck," Adams said. Naturally, the prospects of returning to campus—a decision that families had to make by Monday, July 20—has generated some alarm among both parents and district employees. "There are a lot of concerns out there," Hightower said. "With the rates continuing to go up, I know there are many people concerned about us reopening schools." One of these people concerned is Darzell Warren, president of the Escambia Education Association. The teachers union has taken a survey, and apparently, about 40% of Warren's members are also concerned. "They're afraid they'll possibly die," she said. "They're afraid of dying." Warren said she understood that the school district is in a no-win situation but stressed that health and safety should be of top priority.
"We have many teachers who are concerned about returning to brick-and-mortar schools. They're anxious about going back because they're not sure about how safe it's going to be." Darzell Warren "We have many teachers who are concerned about returning to brick-and-mortar schools. They're anxious about going back because they're not sure about how safe it's going to be," the union president said. "It is difficult to say what someone should be doing, but from our union's perspective, we want our members to feel safe. And right now, a lot of them don't." Teachers may not feel safe because they know as well as anyone how difficult it would be to provide a truly coronavirusconscious environment. "When you're expecting to see 40,000 students, how can you say it's going to be safe," Warren said. "There's no way we could say that there won't potentially be community spread. There's a lot of things that could go wrong quickly." inweekly.net
During a typical year, people who work within the school system understand well what sort of communal, cross-contamination petri dish a campus or school bus can become. "We get the flu; we get colds; we get the crud; we get it," said David Elzbeck, president of the Escambia Education Staff Professionals, the union that represents the district's maintenance workers, food service and transportation employees, as well as secretaries. "They are concerned." Also concerned are parents, like D.C. Reeves, owner of Perfect Plain Brewery, whose daughter is in elementary school. He's concerned about Florida's worrisome upward trend in COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths and isn't sure that opening physical campuses is a prudent move just yet. "I try to deal in logic," he said, with an eye toward that COVID trend that doesn't show much sign in leveling off soon. Reeves floats the concept of delaying the start of school until after Labor Day in order to "see where life takes us." Perhaps the state's number of cases will start to go down and it will be safer to return to school. Conversely, cases could continue to spike, overwhelming the health care system, and the delay would act to prevent an even greater increase in the spread of COVID cases. "I just fail to find the downside of waiting and starting school after Labor Day," Reeves said, rationalizing that it'd be easy enough to slap the missed weeks on the end of the school year. "Why not buy ourselves three weeks?" Anna Theriault, who has two students in the district, also said she would like to see a September start to the semester and noted the difficult decision facing families—"I change my mind every other minute"—who are weighing the benefits of returning to campus with concerns about health and safety. "I think as parents, all we can do is try and make the best choice we can for our individual families," Theriault said, "and practice kindness and grace towards everyone else, regardless of the choice they made for theirs."
HEALTH AND A HEALTHY ECONOMY
There are reasons to return to school beyond the realm of education. Schools offer a vital social environment and so much more. "We have free meals that are provided; we have mental health we provide," Adams pointed out. But the main reason schools in this country are being pushed to reopen despite coronavirus data consistently pointing toward another path is economic. Turns out that schools are necessary for parents to return to work and the economy to bounce back and for everything to be normal again. "'Normal' as they say—normal being as if there's no pandemic," said Elzbeck. "That's a governor thing. That's a President Trump thing. And, you know, the superintendent, he plays along." When Gov. DeSantis compared the return to school to shoppers making runs to Walmart and Home Depot, Warren found the comments "absolutely ludicrous." July 23, 2020
"We're here for seven, seven and a half hours," she said. "Going to Walmart and Home Depot is a trip you might take once or twice a week." The teachers' union president is offended that schools have become the frontlines for an economic recovery. "We're talking about the lives of people. We're not talking about a quick stop at Walmart or Home Depot," Warren said. "It's unacceptable for us to be putting our schools in a position of possibly losing a lot of our students and teachers because they want to open up the economy."
"It's unacceptable for us to be putting our schools in a position of possibly losing a lot of our students and teachers because they want to open up the economy." Warren Local school officials are completely cognizant of this clinical calculus. They understand that the halls of education have become sacrificial laboratories for this country's coronavirus experiment. "I think that's where our issue lies," Hightower said, "between the economics and the health." "You have to weigh things," Adams said. "It's tough. I mean, I've never seen anything like it in my life."
LAST MINUTE CHANGE
Hours before the school board was scheduled to meet on Tuesday, July 21, Superintendent Thomas announced he would recommend the board delay the first day for students to Monday, Aug. 24. His decision came after Santa Rosa Superintendent Tim Wyrsosdick had notified his teachers that he would move his school opening to Aug. 24. The first day for teachers will be Monday, Aug.17, and support staff will return to their regular work schedules on Friday, Aug. 21. In a written statement, Thomas said, "Pushing the student start date to August 24, 2020 is necessary to provide our educators with the professional development required for quality virtual instruction. This also means students returning to Traditional School can improve social distancing within the classroom and school buses." Thomas said that he would make face coverings mandatory: "Face coverings will be worn in district facilities as directed by staff and instructional leaders." "Students and staff members will wear face coverings, or face shields, when they cannot adequately socially distance," he said. "While no one is expected to wear face coverings for six to seven hours at a time, it is particularly important to comply on school buses, in hallways and/or shared spaces such as cafeterias and libraries." He added, "Parental support will be appreciated in order to maintain the safest learning environment possible." {in} For more information, visit ecsd-fl.schoolloop.com. 7
COVID HELL The Escambia County Jail has become a COVID-19 petri dish. The positive COVID rate for the over 180 inmates that have been tested is above 70%. The Corrections Department has over 40 employees who currently are positive. Inweekly interviewed several jail inmates. One inmate has been in the jail since late 2019 while he awaits his trial. He tested positive this week. "I'm basically locked down 24 hours a day, and I got COVID that they brought here to me," he said in a phone interview. "I think it's because they don't make everybody wear masks." His pod has had no inmates, according to the prisoner. He said. "The virus had to come from someone going down to medical and coming back or from a guard. We've had several (guards) with no masks." He said his cell in medical is "filthy." He said, "It's nasty. The toilet leaks all over the floor. It doesn't look like it has been swept in a while." His medical cell hadn't been cleaned since he was placed there earlier in the week. Another told Inweekly that things are "a little dicey" in the jail. "I was tested Thursday or Friday last week," he said, "Then yesterday, they moved our whole pod because, I think, most of these guys over here (in the new pod) have tested positive. I've tested negative, so I don't know why they moved us over here." A female prisoner said her pod has been in quarantine with no cleaning supplies or toilet paper. She said, "No laundry has been given, no clean sheets or uniforms, and I have been here a week and three days." She said the pod is "disgusting," with sanitary napkins and tampon tubes on the floor. "We've asked for cleaning supplies; they deny it," she said. "We asked for toilet paper all day yesterday, and they said no." She added, "People—parents and loved ones—need to be concerned about family members in the jail."
The Escambia County Jail has been under the control of the Board of County Commissioners since October 2013. County Administrator Janice Gilley is responsible for jail operations. Commissioners Steven Barry and Lumon May have asked Gilley to test all the inmates in the Escambia County Jail. On Friday, June 17, Inweekly heard that some correction officers have discouraged prisoners from being tested for COVID-19. A parent wrote, "Guards are telling inmates that testing for COVID really hurts and that they really do not want it." Attorneys have confirmed that they have heard similar tales from their clients. There are less invasive testing methods that can be used. Community Health has been administering them since June.
MORE CONTACT TRACERS With the number of COVID-19 cases doubling in Escambia County since June 30, Dr. John Lanza, the soon-to-be-retired director of the Department of Health office in Escambia County, has hired more people to handle contact tracing. In past public meetings, Lanza has bragged about the contract tracing, which helps DOH identify all the persons whom an infected person had been around and to get them to go get tested. Last week, we learned the department has had trouble keeping people to do the work. At the county commission meeting on Thursday, July 16, Lanza said, "We're hiring 37 OPS workers to come in and supplement my staff, to perform the contact tracing and the investigations, to work at the point of testing." Until recently, DOH had only hired the contract tracers for two weeks at a time. The new batch will have five-month contracts. "In the meantime, we have had some contract staff come in on two-week contracts," said Lanza. "So they come in for a few days; we have to train them; they work for a few days. And if their contract isn't
extended, or they just leave for whatever reason—they don't want to do it anymore—then we have to find new people. He admitted, "It's been very difficult to find staffing to do the work.
PEOPLE WANT HELP Escambia County is sitting on $14.32 million and trying to figure out to spend it. The funds represent a quarter of the approximately $57 million the county will receive under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. On Friday, July 10, The Political Matrix polled 739 Escambia voters on how the funds should be spent. Several Florida counties have already begun distributing dollars to households and small businesses. We found Pensacola residents want to see the same thing done here. Of the respondents, 74% supported the county providing up to $4,000 in relief per household that has been financially or medically impacted by COVID-19, with proper documentation produced, and 78% would like Escambia County to follow the lead of Orange County, Fla., and provide grants up to $10,000 for small businesses. Three out of four voters believed the county should distribute face masks, sanitizers and other PPE to small businesses and residents. MONUMENT BATTLE CONTINUES
After more than a century, Pensacola's Confederate monument is coming down. Probably. Maybe. But not just yet. The Pensacola City Council made the near-unanimous decision to remove the monument July 14 after more than five hours of passionate discussion and public input. "At some point, we must stop fighting the Civil War and embrace the humanity of all mankind," said council President Jewel Cannada-Wynn, with a nod toward the "wonderful experiment of democracy" and "a history that should be behind us."
Prior to council's decision, CannadaWynn echoed the rationale expressed by many of those in favor of removing the monument—"The monument is about racism"—and relayed a particularly jarring account to illustrate how racism is a learned behavior encouraged by symbology such as the Confederate monument. "I was in a store one day and a baby, a 4-year-old white baby, said 'Nigger, you need to move,'" the city council president said. The Confederate monument has overlooked downtown Pensacola from its lofty perch on Palafox Street since 1891. The City Council voted 6-1 to remove the Confederate monument—the lone dissenting vote belonging to Councilman Andy Terhaar— and was unanimous in its decision to return Lee Square, where the monument sits, to its original name of Florida Square. Members of the public who weighed in on the matter were split. Some described any removal as a destruction of history, while others contended the monument propagated racism and any decision not to remove was an implicit approval of such. People in favor of removal tended to view the monument as "more than offensive" and a "symbol of a shameful period of American history," while those hoping to see it stay described their opponents as Marxists, agitators, terrorists and "just a small, loud, radical bunch." Both sides compared each other to the Nazis. Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson described the debate as "very passionate" and "very divisive" and told council that the city did not yet know what was to become of the monument upon removal. Currently, city staff is exploring the options of moving it to St. Michael's Cemetery or St. John's Cemetery or perhaps giving it to the University of West Florida Historic Trust. Whatever happens to the monument, it will be, logistically speaking, a heavy lift. Derrik Owens, the city's director of public works and facilities, noted that the monument
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weighs about 12 tons, will have to be moved carefully and will likely require the creation of a base on which to place it. The process is expected to take around three months. But, at the moment, any removal of Pensacola's Confederate monument has been stalled. Last week, a group led by the Florida chapter of Save Southern Heritage filed a lawsuit blocking the city taking action. In response, Circuit Court Judge Gary Bergosh granted an emergency temporary restraining order preventing the monument's removal prior to a preliminary injunctive hearing. At his weekly press conference on Monday, July 20, Mayor Grover Robinson said Susan Woolf, the city attorney, had already reviewed state and federal laws and deemed they were not applicable to the monument. The city staff report given to the city council before its vote stated the Confederate monument focuses on commemorative notions and was erected in a place not associated with Confederaterelated historical events during the Civil War and didn't meet the National Register of Historic Places criteria.
SUPER UPDATE The Superintendent Search Citizens Advisory Committee narrowed its top 10 favorites to be the next Escambia County School superintendent down to six. Escambia County School District director of Human Resource Services and former head football and baseball coach at Tate High, Keith Leonard, made the cut. Two of the top vote-getters from the first round of cuts are still in the running—Dr. Earl Johnson, executive director of Leadership and Operations for Flagler County School District, and Dr. Vincent Cotter, co-founder of the Exemplary Schools Organization based in Bradenton, Fla. Other finalists are Dr. Marques Stewart, a 1996 graduate of Woodham High School who serves as the freshman academy principal at Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta; Keith Rittel, the superintendent of the Provo City (Utah) School District since 2012; and Timothy Smith, executive area director for the high school office of the Orange County School District. MARKETING FOR NONPROFITS The American Advertising Federation Pensacola (AAF Pensacola) is accepting applications from nonprofit organizations for the 2020-2021 Public Service Campaign. Each year, AAF Pensacola selects a nonprofit organization to receive a public service advertising campaign directed to that organization's specific needs. The Public Service committee works with the organization to determine where the donated services may have the greatest impact. Services can range from general July 23, 2020
organizational awareness campaigns to event promotion or helping with a specific task such as recruiting volunteers. Past recipients include Ocean Hour, Pyramid Inc., Pensacola Equine Rescue, Escambia Search and Rescue, Autism Pensacola, Gulf Coast Kid's House and ACE, Pensacola's Art, Culture & Entertainment. Applications are available at aafpensacola.com/publicservice and will be accepted through July 31.
BEACH FOOD TRUCKS The Santa Rosa Island Authority (SRIA) has announced a new food truck program for this fall and is encouraging area food truck vendors to apply. The SRIA will host the Pensacola Beach Food Trucks at the Park East and Park West lot on Saturdays and Sundays beginning in Sept. 12 and running through Nov. 1 from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. "The SRIA consistently receives quite a lot of interest from food trucks wanting to share their offerings on Pensacola Beach," said Paolo Ghio, executive director of the SRIA. "This program will provide an opportunity for a trial run for both the vendors and for Pensacola Beach." Vendor spots will be assigned to qualifying applicants by the SRIA on a first-come, first-served basis, as well as completeness of application and required documents. No more than 10 trucks will be allowed per weekend—five trucks each at Park East and Park West—as assigned by the SRIA. The SRIA will designate a 24-by-30foot space for each food truck or trailer at Park East or Park West. Staff will be on site to help guide vendors to their appropriate spaces. Vendors will need to supply their own power source. For more information, please contact Kara Gauntt at kara_gauntt@sria-fla. com. To download an application, visit sria-fla.com. Applications will be accepted beginning Thursday, July 23, at the Santa Rosa Island Authority office, 1 Via De Luna Drive. The deadline to apply is Aug. 21. PET PANTRY CRITICALLY LOW The Pensacola Humane Society's Pet Pantry is in dire need of donations, especially for kittens. Kitten season is in full swing, the demand is high and the pantry is critically low on essential kitten supplies, such as cat and kitten food, kitten formula, litter, bedding and other items. The Pet Pantry provides dog and cat food, litter and treats at no cost to pet owners who come to the shelter and present an acceptable form of identification, such as a driver's license. The Pet Pantry is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. seven days a week at 5 Q Street. {in}
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PENSACOLA VOTES: BALLOT BOUNDARIES heard in our local government. Getting up to speed on the basics is a great opportunity to demystify the process and make sense of the local news cycle.
PENSACOLA CITY COUNCIL As we prepare for local primaries, you might notice that your sample ballot looks different from that of your friends and family that live elsewhere within the greater Pensacola area. What’s up with that, you ask? Simply put, what shows up on your ballot is dependent upon whether you live within Pensacola city limits or in Escambia County. All residents living with the City of Pensacola are also residents of Escambia County, but not all Escambia County residents live in the City of Pensacola. Both the county and the city are then broken down into districts, further segmenting the population. For instance, I (Stephanie, your humble Pensacola Votes guide) live in East Hill, so I have both an Escambia County Commissioner and a Pensacola City Council Member. My boyfriend, who lives in Navy Point, has only an Escambia County Commissioner. Not only does your address affect who you are able to vote for in local elections, but it also affects which local government decisions affect you and where. A recent example of this would be the City of Pensacola mask ordinance versus the absence of such an order in Escambia County. Another newsworthy instance would be the vote to remove the Confederate monument and the restoration of Florida Square’s original name, which is within the jurisdiction of the Pensacola City Council. This week, we asked our publisher, Rick, to break down the differences and overlap of county and city governing bodies, along with info on their scope of power and other critical details. Keep this info handy as you make your voting plan and work to have your voice
The City of Pensacola is divided into seven council districts. The council members serve four-year terms and cannot serve more than three consecutive terms. This year, the odd-numbered districts are up for election. To be a candidate, a person must be a registered voter and resident of his/her district for no less than one year prior to the end of the qualification period, which is in mid-June. The elections are nonpartisan. Every registered voter can vote in a city primary for their district. If only two candidates are in the race, the election is decided in the general election. If more than two candidates are in the race for a council seat, the top two candidates advance to the general election, unless one candidate gets more than half of the votes cast in the primary. City Council members are not considered full-time jobs—pay is $21,500 annually. The members vote on ordinances (city laws) and resolutions (messages of support), vote and amend the city’s budget submitted by the mayor, approve land use plans and can conduct inquiries and investigations into city operations. The council also votes on naming city buildings, disposal of city property, removal of historical monuments and other matters the mayor presents to them. However, council members must convince at least three other members to agree with them to pass or change a law or the budget. Alone, a council member has little power. The City Council cannot fire or hire any city employee other than the council executive and his staff. The council approves city attorney, city clerk and all city department heads. The council members cannot order employees to do anything. All city employees work for the mayor.
The City Council meets twice a month with an agenda review the Monday before the regular meeting held on Thursday. Florida law prohibits council members meeting privately to discuss city business or any matter that may come before the council. All their emails, notes, correspondence, written reports and text messages involving city business are public records.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Escambia County is divided into five districts. The commissioners serve four-year terms and have no term limits. This year, the odd-numbered districts are up for election. To be a candidate, a person must be a registered voter and resident of his/her district when they are actually elected. They don’t have to live in a district to run for its commission seat. Therefore, it’s possible for someone to be a candidate and not be able to vote for themself in a primary. Candidates must declare a party affiliation when they run or say they have no party affiliation. If two or more members of a party are running for a seat, the party holds a primary. If there is no one else running outside the party, the primary is up to all voters–Republican, Democrat or any affiliation. Otherwise, the primary is closed, and only Democrats can vote in their primary and Republicans in theirs. There are no runoffs in a party primary. The top vote-getter, even if he/she has less than 50% of the votes cast, moves on to the general election. While many commissioners have jobs outside of county government, the position takes up a majority for the commissioner’s time. The pay is $82,055 annually.
The commissioners vote on ordinance and resolutions, vote and amend the county’s budget, approve land use plans and set policies. They also vote on naming of buildings, disposal of city property and other matters the county administrator presents them. Their power is broader than council members because they hire and fire the county administrator. The county administrator must keep at least three commissioners happy to keep her/his job. Commissioners tend to defer to each other when a commissioner has a project in his/her district. However, they must have two fellow commissioners agree with their plans to get anything done. The commission holds two regular meetings a month with an agenda review the morning of the meeting. The board also holds two Committee of the Whole meetings each month where they discuss projects, programs and issues but don’t hold a final vote. Florida law prohibits commissioners from meeting privately to discuss county business or any matter that may come before the council. All their emails, notes, correspondence, written reports and text messages involving county business are public records. Pensacola Votes is a nonpartisan voter education and civic engagement guide developed by the team at Inweekly to empower local voters to show up and stay focused. In a period where many of us are looking for ways to get involved and make a positive impact, Pensacola Votes will bring you educational resources to help you help your community. Got questions? Send them to us at pensacolavotes@gmail.com, or send us a direct message on Instagram, @pensacolavotes.
KEY DATES AUG. 10—Primary Election Vote-by-Mail Ballot Request Deadline AUG. 18—Local Primary Elections OCT. 5—General Election Voter Registration Deadline OCT. 24—General Election Vote-by-Mail Ballot Request Deadline NOV. 3—General Election
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July 23, 2020
11
Letter Courtesy of T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum / Photo by Tim Bednarczyk
WHO GETS TO TELL THE STORY M I S T E R H I S T OR Y A N D T H E I N V I S I BL E E M PI R E By C. Scott Satterwhite In a letter dated Aug. 11, 1927, the editor of the Ku Klux Klan's monthly periodical "The Kourier," W.A. Hamlett, told T.T. Wentworth, Jr., "You were one among that number who will be immortal in other years, as having aided in the rebirth of the Klan." The purpose of Hamlett's letter to Wentworth was to record the history of the Escambia County Ku Klux Klan. Hamlett wrote, "These experiences should be preserved. They should be placed in printed form for the Klansmen in other parts of the nation; they should be kept for our children." "I am now asking you to write a few of your early experiences in your own words and send them to me for the purposes of making a collection of them," wrote Hamlett. "There will be no compensation other than helping preserve events of historic value." The then 28-year-old Wentworth eagerly complied. Less than two weeks later, Wentworth sent a letter to Hamlett that he'd completed his task and wrote "a brief sketch of matters of interest pertaining to the Klan organization." Nearly a century later, the full scope of the man later known as "Mr. History" who famously "never threw nothin' away" is coming to light. Whether Wentworth 212 1
wanted this part of his life known after his death is a mystery. Today, however, his personal history is where the public draws its eye with potentially great consequences and changes for the museum currently bearing his name and containing his legacy.
"IT'S TIME"
This conversation is set in the context of the current global Black Lives Matter movement and an adjacent movement coming to terms with white supremacist symbols focused on Confederate statues across the nation. As some protesters with hammers and ropes took down many Confederate symbols, several cities went through formal channels to remove remnants of the "Lost Cause." Pensacola was no different. After weeks of protest at the Graffiti Bridge, attention shifted toward the Confederate statue on Palafox. A proposal to bring the statue down came before the Pensacola City Council, but the law required a 30-day period to research and take comments from the public. Two days before a special session of the city council, where a final vote on the Confederate statue was expected, historian Tom Garner sent a multi-page essay to the council,
thick with footnotes thoroughly detailing histories of racial violence in the region. The essay begins simply enough: "It's time." "For 129 years, Pensacola's Confederate monument has occupied a place of prominence and prestige on the crest of Palafox Hill overlooking downtown Pensacola. It's time now for it to come down," wrote Garner. Garner's letter began calling for the Confederate statue to be removed and then moved down Palafox Street to the monument for Confederate Colonel William Chipley in Plaza Ferdinand. The proverbial "bombshell" in the letter, however, was not either of these monuments, but instead was in his description of Wentworth—the namesake of the museum across the street from Plaza Ferdinand. Besides being a businessman, politician, collector and historian, Wentworth had another title, revealed by Garner—"T. T. Wentworth, Jr. was also Exalted Cyclops, Escambia Klan number 57, Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan." The story first broke on social media, followed by the release of Garner's letter on Rick's Blog and later a more extensive article in the Pensacola News Journal. On the eve of the Pensacola City Council vote to remove the statue, Garner's essay spread quickly.
Almost 24 hours after Garner released his essay, the UWF Historic Trust—the organization which currently oversees the T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum—issued a strongly-worded statement. "The Trust is actively investigating the appropriate process and approvals required to rename the T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum." The brief statement closed, "UWF Historic Trust strongly condemns racism and hate and is firmly committed to an accurate and inclusive interpretation of Northwest Florida's history." The T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum was dedicated in 1988. Wentworth died the following year. For years, rumors circulated about Wentworth's involvement in the Klan. In a July 10, 1977, article in the Pensacola News Journal about the discovery of a large cache of white KKK robes at Radford Hall, Wentworth was asked for comment. "I don't really know when they were put there," is all he said. This may not be true. In 2004, the museum displayed an example from their KKK robes collection in an exhibit on anti-Semitism in Florida called "The Art of Hatred." The exhibit included Escambia KKK certificates with names blacked out. inweekly.net
The Julee Cottage, home of the only permanent exhibit to Pensacola's Black and Creole community within the UWF Historic Trust's properties, also has some Klan memorabilia. Many of these items have long been rumored to have once belonged to Wentworth himself. If there was any doubt as to Wentworth's involvement in the KKK, these recently acquired documents end the speculation. "I decided it's time to say something" Well known within local history circles, Garner's most notable contribution was the 2015 discovery of the Don Tristan De Luna Settlement in East Pensacola Heights. Garner's discovery of the 1559 settlement brought national headlines to Pensacola and put Garner in the spotlight. Sitting with Garner in Plaza Ferdinand, he pointed to the large obelisk in the center of the city park dedicated to Chipley. "The monuments—the Chipley monument, the Confederate monument—even T.T. Wentworth's name on the museum, these things are frozen in time. There's nothing else that we do in society—public transportation, communication, health care—there's nothing we do that we don't continually update as time goes by," said Garner. "They represent an idea, a mindset that is completely foreign to what we think today. It's time to update them." Garner's readily admits his essay was not written in a vacuum. "This is a result of the George Floyd killing, the Black Lives Matter movement and the Confederate monument issue all coming up at this moment," said Garner of his revelation. "I had this information, and I didn't know what I was going to do with it." "Then the moment just overtook me. I decided it's time to say something." Since his latest contribution to Pensacola history, Garner has been asked about new names for the museum but said he wanted to stay out of the debate. "Maybe we need to stop putting people on pedestals, and then we won't feel the need some time in the future to pull these people off of these pedestals," he said. "Maybe we can spend the time and money on telling the story of what happened, which we haven't done completely yet." He did have one exception. As Garner studied racial injustice in Pensacola, the story of the Rev. H.K. Matthews kept returning to his mind. Matthews was one of Pensacola's most iconic figures during the Civil Rights Movement. "He was arrested unjustly 35 times," said Garner of Matthews. "In 1977, he had to leave Pensacola because he couldn't get a job because he'd been blacklisted. You point out to me anyone else who has that kind of record—arrested 35 times in
the cause of justice," said Garner. "If you're going to rename anything, let's put H.K.'s name up there." Despite tremendous personal reservations, Garner released the information about Wentworth out of a sense of obligation. "It was the right thing to do," said Garner. "I'm crazy that way. I'm no H.K. Matthews, but maybe I lean that way," said Garner. "And I thought about that carefully when I decided to write my statement to the city council. I grew up here. I know this town. I know there's a large element in this town who would be very upset with me doing this," said Garner. "I understood there would be some potential blowback for me," said Garner. "I always went back to H.K. Matthews." "So when I'm writing this statement to city council, whenever I got nervous about this, I thought, 'H.K. Matthews got arrested 35 times in cause of justice. I can do this,'" said Garner. "That's the truth. I thought that."
"AIDED IN THE RE-BIRTH OF THE KLAN"
In his own words and correspondence, Wentworth's involvement as an organizer and leader in the KKK was extensive. In the letter Hamlett wrote to Wentworth asking him for the Escambia County Klan's history, Hamlett praised Wentworth as "having aided in the re-birth of the Klan." The KKK initially formed after the Civil War but was crushed under the Ulysses Grant administration. The "re-birth" interestingly came after the 1915 pro-Klan film "Birth of a Nation." The Ku Klux Klan chartered an Escambia County, Fla., chapter around 1920. Wentworth acted as secretary and later rose to lead the group. At this time, Wentworth was serving as an Escambia County Commissioner, leading a slightly veiled dual life as the leader, or Exalted Cyclops, of the Escambia Ku Klux Klan. Less than a week after Hamlett's request, Wentworth wrote to his fellow Klansman describing how the local Klan was "having a mighty hard fight down here [in Pensacola]." Wentworth wrote that the "Catholics have a boycott on my business, and you know how the Protestants are here. A large number intermarried with Catholic and other ties which the Catholics have entwined about them. The preachers here are mostly afraid they will lose a dollar, and they won't under any circumstances line up and work with us. There are exceptions, however." Despite his difficulties, Wentworth found time to write a detailed and likely embellished history for the editor of "The Kourier." In a letter dated Aug. 23, 1927, Wentworth wrote to Hamlett, "I have only recorded the experiences which I have per-
"The monuments—the Chipley monument, the Confederate monument—even T.T. Wentworth's name on the museum, these things are frozen in time. There's nothing else that we do in society—public transportation, communication, health care—there's nothing we do that we don't continually update as time goes by." Tom Garner
July 23, 2020
sonally been through, but this gives an idea of the general line of persecution which we had to contend with here." Written in the style of a detective novel of the day, Wentworth offered his history of the KKK. "Down in Florida, in one of the most predominant Catholic and foreign element city [sic] in the state in the year 1920, the Ku Klux Klan was organized with something over 150 members. As soon thereafter as the fact became known to the public, things started to happen," wrote Wentworth. Wentworth's history of the Escambia KKK went on to described how a "move was made on the part of the worst element in the city to ascertain of whom the membership consisted, and as fast as members became known, persecution was handed him on every side." He wrote about anti-Klan "Committees" observing meetings to determine attendance. Despite the "persecution," a term he used to describe attempts to make Klan membership public and boycott KKK businesses, "the Klan did grow and added strength and prestige until the time came when the members we're not persecuted openly." Wentworth went on to describe several "incidents of hairbreadth escapes with life and limb" by Klan leaders. "At one time, a mob attempted to assassinate one of the Klan leaders at the city court." The assassination was only stopped with "the quick action of a .38 nickel-plated revolver handed to the leader a few minutes before the gangsters made the desperate attack upon the leader who was just a little bit quicker than the gangsters with the gun and got the drop on them." According to Wentworth, the would-be assassins' "cowardice" was proven when "they faced the .38 lead slinger," and the attempted assassins "made off in the opposite direction." Hamlett specifically asked Wentworth to write in a thrilling or humorous style with the purpose of making the Klan history into sympathetic and exciting propaganda. Much of Wentworth's historical narrative reads as a dime-store novel, with the "Klan leader" starring as a gun-toting hero. What the history also shows, if Wentworth's narrative is accurate, is intense pushback against the Ku Klux Klan in Pensacola. Wentworth described another incident where "the worst elements of a city and ones who pass in the community for decent people made an attack on the Klan leader and came within one inch of causing the spilling of blood." The attempted assassins were members of the Catholic organization the Knights of Columbus. According to Wentworth, "the K. of C. made the slash at the Klan leader with a keen-edged pocket knife and missed his aim," only to stab the "cushion of the automobile seat in which the Klan leader was seated."
Obviously, Wentworth survived. He called this assassination attempt "one of the most glaring pieces of cowardice ever perpetrated." Throughout his history, Wentworth described boycotts effectively hurting Klan businesses, including his own. Other businesses refused to work with Klansmen. In one instance, Wentworth tells of a leader in the Klan trying to build a "brick store and made all arrangements with the building and loan to get the money" to finish construction. When the Klan leader went to apply for a loan to finish his building, "imagine his chagrin when he was told that they would not let him have one penny." "When told that they had promised to advance the money and the building was almost completed," wrote Wentworth, the reply from the bank was, "That's hard luck [.] We can't help you at all." So angry with this anti-Klan bank, Wentworth felt "hot lead" was justified to get revenge. Instead of turning to murder, the Klansman moved around the Knights of Columbus and "pussyfooting Protestants who are wrapped up with the devil's own" to get the money from a sympathetic banker. To Wentworth, this incident was another example of the "terrible gale of anti-Klan sentiment" in Pensacola. Wentworth described his early years of organizing a chapter of the Klan in Pensacola as a "nightmare," but "through it if he be a MAN will never regret his part in the making of the one order that is destained [sic] to save our Nation from utter destruction." Wentworth closed his history by glorifying his work and proclaiming the Klan as a "respected and feared" organization. With most of the Klan's "most bitter enemies … either moved to other parts or have died," the Klan had "its merits tested in the fires of persecution … [and] had come out winner and will continue to live on and on in reality and in spirit." His history was clearly embroidered but gives insight into the day-to-day struggles of the local KKK. Though buoyant in his historical propaganda, he strikes a less confident tone in his personal correspondence. In a letter dated March 11, 1928, Wentworth wrote to a fellow Klansman in Jacksonville about the upcoming election where he fears "the crowd that is lining up to take charge of our government" and is concerned to lose meant "ultimately Bloodshed." Wentworth wrote, "I am a strong believer in winning the battle with ballots rather than bullets and do sincerely hope that it will not come to the latter." This was the same election Wentworth ran for Escambia County Tax Collector and won. He held that elected position until 1940. Two letters Wentworth kept reveal the deep roots of the "Invisible Empire" in Florida politics. In one letter, dated Dec. 27, 1924, Wentworth writes to incoming Florida Governor John Martin asking for
"There's an African proverb that says, 'Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt will glorify the hunter.' Wentworth's case reveals he was a hunter in a horribly true sense of the word." Teniade Broughton
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an appointment to the State Road Department. He addressed the incoming Florida governor as a "Faithful and esteemed Klansman." In another letter, dated Nov. 10, 1926, Wentworth attested that the State Senator from Pensacola, Herbert P. Caro, was a member of the Escambia KKK "in good standing." Caro later served as the president pro-tempore of the State Senate. Several of Wentworth's correspondences are addressed to the Rev. I. E. Phillips, Grand Dragon of the Florida KKK. In a letter dated April 23, 1927, Wentworth wrote to Phillips and described his difficulty in keeping the men in his chapter from going out to the polls in "robes and helmets" to intimidate voters and "make a big noise and show what the Klan can do." In the same letter, Wentworth wrote that he acquired a "number of circulars in reference to a Negro political meeting." Again, he had to stop his men, this time from breaking up the meeting. A fellow Klansmen challenged him, but he responded, "I told them we needed brains and not guts." Wentworth wrote, "After explaining how much good these Negroes would probably do us by advertising and waking up sleeping Protestant, I think these boys were satisfied and not going after the Negroes." Along with the letter, Wentworth sent several of the circulars to Phillips for him to "see what these Pensacola Negroes have in their heads. Probably the Catholic Church is responsible because they have been teaching them equality." The circular in question read, "Let every Negro man and woman who believes he has a right to vote to say who shall rule over him come out." Throughout Wentworth's letters to fellow Klansmen, he continuously complains about the Roman Catholic Church, describing "Pensacola as a city that is controlled by Rome." Yet, through his Klan efforts, according to Wentworth, Pensacola is "awakening from her slumbers and is destined to become an American city." In a report to the Florida Grand Dragon, dated Oct. 16, 1927, Wentworth writes about an instance that took place at a "negro hospital" where a pregnant white woman died with her baby. The case was a great sensation locally and nationally and, apparently, one the Klan also followed closely. In the same letter, he again complained about how his association with the KKK negatively affected his business but vowed to continue. In yet another letter, he writes about a trusted Klansman killed in an auto accident. In the next paragraph, he announces the birth of his daughter and closes the letter asking for 500 copies of a KKK pamphlet called the "Ku Klux Klan Presents Its
Views on Marriage," while also asking for quotes on satin "terror robes," which "will lend dignity to the office." A lone item in the Wentworth Klan collection shows the invoice for his "terror robes."
"YOU FEEL ISOLATED"
Garner's recent revelations only confirmed what many speculated but also some personally claim to have seen earlier within the archive. For many, the question being asked is why has this not been acknowledged or explored earlier. "I've been researching racial violence in Pensacola for close to 20 years now," said Garner. "I'd be willing to talk to anybody about this stuff, but you get the real impression that nobody gives a damn," he said. "In the white community, it's hard to get anyone to want to care, to want to talk about it, to want to see it." "I get it. It's uncomfortable. Some of it is gruesome. It's brutal, but it's important," said Garner. "So the rumors, and no doubt the evidence, the rock-hard evidence, has been around for people within what is now the UWF Historic Trust for a good long time—decades maybe even. But if you feel like it's not going to matter anyway, what do you do with that?" Vickie Lindsay is an African American historian who earned her BA and MA in history at UWF. Lindsay worked at the T.T. Wentworth Museum for a year starting in 2007. Lindsay said that during her year working as a museum preparator, she once saw a document which "addressed the Grand Wizard or the Grand Dragon of Florida and was from Mr. Wentworth." Lindsay said, "I don't recall the substance of the correspondence other than remembering how strange it was to me that they seemed to speak of Florida as a territory and not part of the US." Lindsay said she was taken back by what she saw but not surprised by the materials or the reaction of her white colleagues. "I recall asking staff that were there at the time about the letter and was told that in Mr. Wentworth's collection were also Klan robes and other Klan correspondence and memorabilia," said Lindsay. "I was also told that it was the thing to do then as well as join the Order of Odd Fellows—much like a Rotary Club membership," said Lindsay. "Pensacola had always lived up to my expectations of its racist past and present." At the time, Lindsay was one of the few Black professionals working in the Wentworth. "I didn't have a fellow Black peer at this organization. Like most things where you are the only one like yourself, you feel isolated." "The dynamic of having another Black historian there would certainly have provided another perspective to the professional staff," she said, "possibly broadened
"I'd be willing to talk to anybody about this stuff, but you get the real impression that nobody gives a damn. In the white community, it's hard to get anyone to want to care, to want to talk about it, to want to see it." Garner
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the exposure of staff to opinions and experiences different from their own."
"BECAUSE IT'S OUR STORY"
While changing the name of the museum appears to be the next step, Garner's essay closed with a path for the museum to be making amends. Garner wrote, "It is my hope that Pensacola's Old City Hall, as well as historicallyrelevant areas of Plaza Ferdinand, will become home to a Pensacola area Black history museum, archives and research center." Garner stated this facility should be staffed by Black "historians, archivists and museum professionals" if it were to correctly tell the long-neglected story of Pensacola's African American community." This step is one historian Teniade Broughton has been working toward for years. This new detailed information about the museum's roots may aid Broughton in her efforts. "There's an African proverb that says, 'Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt will glorify the hunter,'" said Broughton. "Wentworth's case reveals he was a hunter in a horribly true sense of the word." Broughton, who's currently running for a historically Black-held seat on the Pensacola City Council, is also working with the UWF Historic Trust on an exhibit about Pensacola's Black history at the museum. For Broughton, a Black archive and permanent exhibit space with Black professionals at the forefront of this effort are crucial "because it's our story." Broughton said, "African American historians are quicker to catch blind spots in a narrative written by someone who excluded or downplayed the African American experience." While Wentworth's work is now coming under more scrutiny for intentional slights, Broughton sees many of the issues in the museum as teachable moments. "They never learned how to tell our story," she said. Using several examples, from depictions of slavery to usage of Mercator maps, she sees the problems inherent in a mostly-white perspective. "I knew it wasn't intentional," she said of the current displays. "It was the work of someone who simply wasn't trained to have an eye for identifying ways in which white supremacy is expressed in museums," said Broughton. She hopes a dedicated effort to preserving and protecting Black history will begin to correct these deficiencies of perspective. Lindsay echoes the sentiments for a space dedicated to Pensacola's Black history. "I think this would be glorious and expose the people of Pensacola as well as visitors to the whole story," said Lindsay. After leaving Pensacola, Lindsay went to work for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. "For it to really matter, this would need to be a well-crafted, permanent exhibit, by and with Black Pensacolians and historians that can tell the rich and vibrant history that has been forgotten and swept under the rug." According to Lindsay, "Telling the whole story is incumbent on everyone, should not be political and needs to have the full unequivocal support of the main campus, the UWF board and the Historic Trust board." "It's a shame that in the year 2020, we are just now talking about this and it took a horrific loss of life to make this dialogue happen," she said. {in} inweekly.net
WEEK OF JULY 23-29
Arts & Encouragement hope, help and other signs of humanity at a time when we really need it...
A Response from the Collection By Savannah Evanoff
Photos courtesy of UWF Pensacola Museum of Art
The Pensacola Museum of Art (PMA) was one of many spaces forced to shut down in mid-March because of the coronavirus outbreak. And it, like many others, was forced to rethink what its future might look like. The museum was planning a summer exhibition in the downstairs galleries that would display a broad range of works from its permanent collection—and they haven't completely abandoned that idea, explained Chief Curator Anna Wall. "As I was in the vault by myself selecting works for the exhibition with the evolving pandemic and all of the emotions around the crisis and isolation and social distancing, I noticed that my selections were really changing based on what was going on in the world," Wall said. "So I decided to do a selection from the collection that was focused on artists responding to times of change and trauma and also showing how art can help people work through periods of change and reflect their inner self. In many ways, it was cathartic—a good way for me to understand everything that was going on and process it. I hope it will be the same for visitors." The exhibition, "A Question of When," will remain on display through Dec. 6, along with an exhibition opening Aug. 14 called "I Forgot to Laugh." "That show brings together about a dozen artists working currently that use humor to explore various themes to their artwork," Wall said. "That show, too, has taken on a bit of a different meaning now July 23, 2020
with the heaviness of everything going on." A trip to the PMA is a seemingly perfect getaway in a time when there are not many places to get away to. The museum is open three days a week—Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Before visiting, visitors must book $8 timed tickets online. This helps with capacity limitations and makes sure all visitors will have space for proper social distancing. "The way the galleries are structured, you can have your own space apart from other visitors and enjoy the artwork," Wall said. "We also have pretty intensive cleaning procedures. The way the opening days are spaced is so we can do intensive cleaning on the days we're closed. I hope the museum can be a respite of a peaceful space for people to visit right now." Curating "A Question of When" with a staff working remotely helped them channel their own emotions and experiences with the pandemic. And the show has a more personal touch because of it. Through their imagery, many works evoke feelings of isolation and social distancing, Wall said. One is a "beautiful" photograph by Yousuf Karsh of Georgia O'Keeffe. "She's depicted sitting in the front entryway of her house in New Mexico and these really beautiful antlers and skull above her head, and she's looking off into the distance in a moment of reflection," Wall said. "It was a really important photograph to Georgia O'Keeffe. She chose the location and directed the staging of the photograph to emphasize one of her fa-
vorite parts of her home. The way that she's that throughout history, we've experienced a lot of types of crises and trauma in the posed showing isolation and reflection, but world and that artists are using their artthen also emphasizing the importance of work to give hope and work through these home—especially during this time when things and show there are beautiful mowe're spending so much time at home—I ments in periods of change and uprising." thought it was a really poignant image." Wall chose works that show the diversity In addition to the works that overtly of the museum's permanent collection—feareference what's happening in real time, the exhibit features abstract works showing turing many different mediums from a more than 100-year period. The earliest work is how artists use abstract art to express their a photograph by Walker Evans of a Herbert inner thoughts and deal with their own Hoover campaign poster done in 1929. turmoil, Wall said. The exhibit features about 20 works, There are works, too, by artists who only a smidgeon of its permanent collecleft Europe during WWII, responding to tion composed of more than 700 works of the political and social change of that time. various media starting in 1850. Wall believes people can relate to this now "We have usually less than 1% on more than ever. display," Wall said. "This is a really great "I thought it was interesting during the opportunity for us to share the collection first months of quarantine—even now, it with visitors and let everyone know we seems like—everyone had an impulse to have a collection and that it's a resource for make things and explore new hobbies to a Pensacola. Since we're a museum of the pass the time and work through everypublic trust, we really view the collection as thing," Wall said. "You saw an explosion Pensacola's collection and belonging to the of people making art, buying craft kits, community. It means a lot of us to be able exploring new ways of making things during to share it—even it's a small amount." {in} this time—even things like bread making that might not be directly related to art—but this impulse to make things and use your hands during this time." Wall hopes seeing the exhibit will have a similarly therapeutic effect. WHEN: On view through Sept. 6 "I hope they see artwork that WHERE: Pensacola Museum of Art, 407 S. helps them process their own feelJefferson St. ings about everything that's going DETAILS: pensacolamuseum.org on in the world," Wall said. "I hope it
A QUESTION OF WHEN: SELECTIONS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION
provides a sense of hope and context
15
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free will astrology WEEK OF JULY 23 ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): "The cre-
ation of the world did not take place once and for all time, but takes place every day." Aries playwright Samuel Beckett made that observation, and now I'm passing it on to you as you glide into an extra-creative phase of your astrological cycle. I hope you will regard Beckett's idea as an open-ended encouragement to improvise and experiment. May it rouse you to brainstorm about novel possibilities. May it inspire you to explore fresh trends you could launch. May it mobilize you to imagine the new worlds you might "Big Bang" into existence.
TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): Author
Diane Ackerman tells us, "So often loneliness comes from being out of touch with parts of oneself." That's the kind of loneliness I worry you may be susceptible to right now, Taurus. You're a bit out of touch with aspects of your psyche that are crucial for you to include in your total sense of self. You've been neglecting to nurture certain soulful qualities that keep you healthy and wise. Please note: It won't be useful to try to find those parts of you in other people; you will have to locate them in your own depths. Here's the good new—The coming weeks will be an excellent time to do just that.
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): "Someone ought to do it, but why should I?" Author and activist Annie Besant identified that sentence as the motto of people who are moral cowards—those who know about an injustice but do nothing to address it. Very few of us have completely avoided that behavior. Most of us, including me, have now and then chosen to serve our need for comfort instead of standing up against corruption or unfairness. But I think it's more important than usual that you Geminis don't engage in such moral cowardice now. More depends on your integrity and bravery than you realize. CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Born in
1936, Cancerian author and activist June Jordan was a black feminist bisexual born to Jamaican immigrant parents. When she
By Rob Brezsny
was growing up, her father beat her and her mother committed suicide. Later, she raised her child alone as a single mother. Despite the challenges she faced, she published 28 books, won numerous awards, and wielded significant influence. How did she do it? She was a highly evolved Cancerian in the sense that she put a priority on treating herself well. "I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect," she testified. I'd like to make that your keynote for the rest of 2020. Your task is to achieve June Jordan-levels of self-care.
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): "How can I communicate to wild bunnies that I am their ally?" asked a Twitter blogger named Ghost Girl. That question is a good place to start my oracle for you. In the coming weeks, I think you'll be wise to meditate on how to enhance your relationship with all kinds of wild things: animals, people, weather, landscapes, and your own exotic thoughts and fantasies. In my opinion, you will upgrade your intelligence and well-being by increasing your access to influences that don't necessarily play by conventional rules and that draw their energy from primal sources. VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): It's never too
late to have a rebellious adolescence—hopefully bigger and better and smarter than any you've had before. And according to my analysis, now would be a favorable time to get started. Is there any stuffy authority you'd be wise to flout? Any dumb and oppressive conventions you would benefit from breaking? Any stale old traditions you're primed to ignore so you can create some lively new traditions? In my estimation, you will generate good fortune for yourself if you try some benevolent mischief and creative experiments.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): Your word of
power for the coming weeks is "ubuntu"—a Zulu term meaning "I am because we are" or "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity." Nobel Prizewinning theologian Archbishop Desmond Tutu writes, "A person with "ubuntu" is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are
able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished." I hope that between now and August 25, Libra, you will put "ubuntu" at the center of everything you do. Make it an intensely practical practice.
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): "The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them," says Scorpio-born Liberian politician Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. "If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough." I trust you've arrived at this realization on your own in the past few weeks. And I hope you have audaciously expanded and supercharged your dreams so that they do indeed surpass your current ability to accomplish them. If you have not yet done this daring work, please attend to it now. If you have done it, move on to the next step: making definite plans to acquire the power and resources necessary to achieve your new, improved dreams. SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21):
"The soul should always stand ajar," wrote Sagittarian poet Emily Dickinson, "That if the heaven inquire, / He will not be obliged to wait, / Or shy of troubling her." I'm confident that this will be a fertile meditation for you in the coming weeks. So what does it mean? By "heaven," I assume Dickinson meant marvelous interventions, sacred revelations and lucky accidents—and maybe also soulful invitations, out-of-the-blue opportunities and supernatural breakthroughs. What do you think, Sagittarius? What can you do to make your soul ajar for phenomena like those?
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19):
"Everything is complicated," wrote poet Wallace Stevens. "If that were not so, life and poetry and everything else would be a bore." I agree! And therefore, I conclude, you should shed any resentment you might feel for the fact that our world is a crazy tangle of mystifying and interesting stories. Drop any wish that life will stop being so fascinatingly messy and confusingly intriguing. Instead, why not celebrate the deep riddles? And revel in the intriguing complexity? And
give holy thanks for the paradoxical beauty? Everything I just said should prepare you well for the next four weeks.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): You'll
be extra sensitive to stimuli in the coming weeks. Every little event will touch you more intensely than usual. Every perception will flow into you with an unusually strong potential to move you and influence you. That's why I think you should be vigilantly self-protective. Erect a psychic shield around yourself. Make sure your boundaries are firm and clear. Affirm your unshakable commitment to deflecting vibes that aren't of use to you and welcoming vibes that will enhance your well-being.
PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): Actress Gwyneth Paltrow founded Goop, a company that markets exotic, expensive health treatments. She claims that far-infrared gemstone therapy and crystal-based sound-healing baths will dissolve your negativity. Allowing bees to sting your scars will supposedly cause the scars to fade. Drinking "sex juice," a blend of watermelon and alkaline water, will enhance your libido. The "collagen martini," which is a mix of vodka, vermouth, olive juice and collagen peptides, will smooth your skin's wrinkles. I'm favorably disposed to you taking strong actions to improve your well-being in the coming weeks, Pisces, but I recommend that you try cheaper, more reliable modalities than those Paltrow recommends. Like what? Ample sleep and good food, for starters, along with fun exercise, time in nature, enjoyable meditation sessions and tender expressions of love. THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK: Are there any ways in which you would benefit from becoming more well-balanced? Testify at freewillastrology.com.
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news of the weird PREORDAINED Justin Couch, 25, of Spring Hill, Florida, who sports a tattoo of a machete under his left eye, was arrested June 13, according to the Hernando (Florida) County Sheriff's Office, for allegedly attacking a man with a machete. The unnamed adult male victim told officers Crouch forced him out of the home where he'd been living and began arguing with him "for no reason," reported Fox13 News. As the man attempted to gather his belongings from the home, deputies said, Couch allegedly hit the victim with the flat side of the machete's blade, "then swung the machete at the victim's face," striking his arm with the blade as the man tried to ward off the blow. "The victim is currently unable to use or move his left hand due to the severity of the injury he sustained," investigators said. Couch was arrested for aggravated battery. SIGN OF THE TIMES A perfect storm may be brewing to strike down the longmaligned one-cent coin, the penny. Earlier this year, the U.S. Mint cut back on coin production to keep its workers safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reported NPR's Planet Money. At the same time, people stopped spending, especially with cash, and word of a coin shortage spread, prompting some stores, such as Kroger, to start rounding their prices to avoid making coin change. Last year, the mint made more than 7 billion pennies, almost 60% of its total coin production, and each one-cent coin cost TWO cents to produce, putting the loss at more than $72 million. Still, the mint has no plans to eliminate the coin. It's been up and running at full capacity since mid-June, and according to spokesman Michael White, about 40% of the coins it has produced since then have been pennies. ANGRY ANIMALS At Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California, five acres around Manzanita Lake were shut down after a man was attacked by an otter on June 25. Park Superintendent Jim Richardson told the Redding Record Searchlight the unnamed man was swimming in the river and came too close to the otter's offspring, known as kittens. "It is significant anytime an animal attacks a human," Richardson said. He did not believe the man was seriously injured, and he said the otter would not be relocated. "It's the protective momma (doing her job), and the attack came as a surprise," he said. •Neighbors on Occidental Street in a North Oakland, California, are at odds over the presence of Bruce, aka Paco, aka Peter, aka Pierre, aka Abraham ... a peacock. While some residents are happy to welcome him, SFGate.com reported on July 15, others want him to move on and have lodged a complaint with the city. "For the past 15 weeks or so he has screamed relentlessly,
By the Editors at Andrews McMeel
every day," Jesse T. wrote on the Nextdoor app. "It literally feels like he is inside my house." The peacock is believed by Animal Control to be feral. But Dennis Fett of the Peacock Information Center in Minden, Iowa, thinks Bruce/Paco/Peter is providing a service. "They're like a watchdog," Fett said. "They have keen hearing. (The neighbors) should count their blessings." CHUTZPAH! Amber Gilles made news in San Diego, California, in June when she posted a photo of Starbucks barista Lenin Gutierrez, complaining that he "refused to serve me cause I'm not wearing a mask. Next time I will wait for cops and bring a medical exemption." In response, KGTV reported, Matt Cowan of Irvine started a GoFundMe page to collect tips for the barista who "faced ... a Karen in the wild," and soon raised more than $100,000, which Gilles now claims she should get half of. "I've been discriminated against," Gilles said, noting that hiring a lawyer to help her get her half was too expensive, so she has started her own GoFundMe page to raise money. Gutierrez said he plans to use the money to further his education and follow his dream of being a dancer. ANIMAL LOVERS IN MAINE At the Inn Town Motel in Norway, Maine, manager Andrew Coombs was not happy when he entered the room rented by Sean Schoomaker and his girlfriend July 11, hoping to collect payment, and discovered more than 50 large spiders, most of them tarantulas, in plastic boxes. "I booted him," Coombs told the Sun Journal. "He must have snuck them all in at night. We never would have allowed that in our motel." Animal Control officer Robert Larrabee responded to the motel, and the Maine Warden Service confiscated the arachnids, taking them to a facility for exotic animals in Lewiston. Schoomaker was cited for possession of three tarantulas that are illegal in the state.
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•Officers from the Somerset County (Maine) Sheriff's Department and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency searched the apartment of Jessica Hutchins, 36, looking for drugs on July 13, which they found, according to Sheriff Dale Lancaster. "We also got an alligator out of her home," he told the Morning Sentinel. The 2-foot-long gator was being kept in Rubbermaid tubs, but, Lancaster said, having an alligator in Maine is illegal without proper permits. Officers seized a total of $12,000 worth of drugs along with the alligator, and Hutchins and several accomplices were charged with a number of drug-related crimes. The gator was removed by the Maine Warden Service. {in}
From Andrews McMeel Syndication News Of The Weird © 2020 Andrews McMeel
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