A local community activist group fighting against racism and political oppression, brought other supporters and grassroots organizations together this weekend for a conference.
Jacksonville Community Action Committee hosted its first National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (NAARPR) Southern Regional Organizing Conference.
Over 200 people from different cities and states attended.
Kieanna Garrett of Lakeland, Fla. was one of them.
“I got up and left the house at 5:30 this morning and drove down here,” Garrett said.
One of the reasons she attended was because she said she was a victim of police brutality in Lakeland.
Other people who were affected by police interactions also attended the conference.
Like Yvonne Kemp.
“For me today was about connecting with my support system and allowing them to let me lean on them,” Kemp said.
Kemp is someone News4JAX has reported on in the past. Her son Reginald Boston was shot and killed by officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in 2020.
Organizers of the conference said the goal for the weekend-long event, is for people to come together and find ways to keep fighting against systems they believe are holding people back.
Whether that be police brutality, issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, women’s rights, housing problems or political oppression.
“We are organizing, wanting to challenge the status quo and make sure everyone has the right to live freely and live as they see fit,” Michael Sampson II, with Jacksonville Community Action Committee, said.
Sampson also said an important takeaway from this conference is people coming together to learn from each other, see what’s worked and what hasn’t worked and then apply that to their movement moving forward.
Garrett and Kemp said attending was something they enjoyed and are leaving more fulfilled and with more knowledge.
“I learned to keep fighting, keep fighting,” Garrett said. “To let other people know don’t give up the help is there.”
“While we were on the panel we were talking about putting together a team of for the mothers,” Kemp said. “In that mothers from different states that have lost their child to gun violence. To me, I think progress was made.”
The conference will wrap up Sunday. It’ll be from 9 a.m. to noon at the Jacksonville Library in downtown.