Florida's Dark Past of Gun Control rooted in Racism is Returning.
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:36 am
Florida currently is facing a repeat of its past when it comes to regulating the carrying of firearms in public. In the Sunshine State, this came about because of the rise of Jim Crow in the Post Civil War Society with the Compromise of 1877.
What exactly was the compromise? During the 1876 Presidential Election, Democrat Candidate Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote and had a total of 184 Electoral College votes while Republican Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes won 164. In the case of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was replaced after being declared illegal for being an "elected or appointed official".
The issue became who would win the remaining Electoral College votes? Tilden or Hayes? This is where an informal deal was struck to resolve the dispute. Hayes would be awarded the remaining 20 votes if Republicans in Congress and Hayes agreed for the withdraw of Federal Troops from Occupation duties in the South.
Remember, this was the era of Reconstruction. Black Americans were the majority of the population in a number of Southern States and they had the right to vote, and that right was enforced and protected by Federal troops. That is why both sides were claiming victory since it was such a close race in terms of the two populations in Southern states.
Republicans agreed to withdraw Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction. The Compromise effectively ceded power in the Southern states to the Democratic Redeemers, who proceeded to disenfranchise Black from their voting rights in subsequent years.
Democrats also targeted Black with disarmament too.
During the 1880s, the targeting of Black Americans for lynching was at an all time high. John R. Mitchell, Jr.,  Vice President of the National Colored Press Association encouraged Black Families to purchase Winchester Rifles themselves and their loved ones from “the two-legged animals … growling around your home in the dead of night.â€
Ida B. Wells, a journalist of the era who opposed lynching, agreed and wrote in her nationally-circulated pamphlet Southern Horrors, a number of documented cases in Florida, “where the men armed themselves†and fended off lynch mobs.
“The lesson this teaches,†Wells wrote, “is that a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.â€
Sadly, in Florida the state legislature enacted a law in 1893 requiring a license to possess “a pistol, Winchester rifle or other repeating rifle.†It was a May Issue System and it effectively disarmed the Black Community in Florida. Without the right to vote, Black Floridians didn't have the ability to elect a representative voice in the legislature to protect their rights. Thus they were disarmed and left at the mercy of the Democrats. This of course led to a horrific event in Florida History that was kept quite for decades.
During the first week of January 1923, a small Black community by the name of Rosewood in Levy County was targeted in a racially motivated massacre of Black people and destruction of their property due to the unsupported accusations that a white woman named Frances Taylor in nearby Sumner had been beaten and possibly raped by a black drifter.
Sounds familiar right?
Anyways' Robert Elias Walker, the Levy county Sheriff raised a possee and learned that Jesse Hunter, an escaped Black Prisoner was in the area and searched for him. A group of White vigilantes, instead of searching for Jesse Hunter grabbed a local Rosewood resident names Sam Carter. They tortured him, then executed him and hung his body as a public warning. The mob violence didn't end there sadly.
Rosewood Residents faced mob violence, murder, and destruction. Word got out but they were disarmed by the State and were reliant on the Sheriff to protect them. A Sheriff that didn't care. In fact he told Governor Hardee that all was well and not to send the National Guard. That he could take care of it. In all, officially, 8 are recorded as killed while witnesses claim up to 150 were killed.
When official word got out. Gov. Hardee appointed a special grand jury and special prosecuting attorney to investigate the outbreak in Rosewood and other incidents in Levy County.
In February, an all White grand jury convened. 25 witnessed, 8 of which were Black were heard. But the jury found "insufficient evidence to prosecute any perpetrators"*. A culture of silence developed around the Black survivors and they fled across the state. The issue wasn't uncovered until 1982 when an investigative reporter named Gary Moore from the St. Petersburg Times drove from the Tampa area to Cedar Key looking for a story. Form their, through interviews and research. The truth was reveled.
Florida at the time was number one per capita when it came to targeting and lynching of Black citizens. A famous photo from 1935 shows Reuben Stacy, a Black tenant farmer being lynched in Fort Lauderdale as a seven year old girl looks and smiles. That photo is far too graphic to show. But you can google it.
Remember, Black Floridians were disarmed by the State. They had no viable means of self defense. Sadly it stay this way until 1987 when Shall Issue was instituted statewide.
In 1941, a man named Mose Waton was arrested for having a firearm in his possession while driving a car in Holly Hills, a town in Volusia County. In the case Waston v. Stone, it states the following.
Right now we have officials in the Florida Legislature that wish to see people of color and minorities as a whole disarmed. The most at risk to be victims of violent crimes are Black and Hispanic Floridians living in working class neighborhoods. And much like how the laws back then were given a pass for a certain segment of the population. They would do the same today. Those that are politically connected and of the right political party would of course get a permit in a May Issue System that they want to bring back. Look no further than New York or California to see it in action. Hell, look at how they treated Dale Norman on February 19th, 2012 in Fort Pierce because he had a wardrobe malfunction.
[youtube]-qKeJ6jd2Ak[/youtube]
He was a licensed CCW permit holder and the State went hard on him all because he was walking along the street and his gun inadvertently showed. He was prosecuted despite assurances made by the Florida Legislature in 2011 that Police, Prosecutors and Sheriffs would stop harassing people with concealed carry licenses for innocent accidental exposure of their handguns.
Look at how Miami Beach Police treated Mike Taylor when he was legally open carrying while fishing in South Florida.
There is a history in Florida of the government abusing the citizenry and treating them like criminals all because they happen to exercise their rights. We were on the cusp of shedding this dark past. But I fear it is rearing its ugly head back up again in our current political environment.
Never forget the past, because if it is forgotten. We are doomed to repeat it.
* Dye, Thomas (Summer 1997). "The Rosewood Massacre: History and the Making of Public Policy," The Public Historian, 19 (3), pp. 25–39.
What exactly was the compromise? During the 1876 Presidential Election, Democrat Candidate Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote and had a total of 184 Electoral College votes while Republican Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes won 164. In the case of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was replaced after being declared illegal for being an "elected or appointed official".
The issue became who would win the remaining Electoral College votes? Tilden or Hayes? This is where an informal deal was struck to resolve the dispute. Hayes would be awarded the remaining 20 votes if Republicans in Congress and Hayes agreed for the withdraw of Federal Troops from Occupation duties in the South.
Remember, this was the era of Reconstruction. Black Americans were the majority of the population in a number of Southern States and they had the right to vote, and that right was enforced and protected by Federal troops. That is why both sides were claiming victory since it was such a close race in terms of the two populations in Southern states.
Republicans agreed to withdraw Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction. The Compromise effectively ceded power in the Southern states to the Democratic Redeemers, who proceeded to disenfranchise Black from their voting rights in subsequent years.
Democrats also targeted Black with disarmament too.
During the 1880s, the targeting of Black Americans for lynching was at an all time high. John R. Mitchell, Jr.,  Vice President of the National Colored Press Association encouraged Black Families to purchase Winchester Rifles themselves and their loved ones from “the two-legged animals … growling around your home in the dead of night.â€
Ida B. Wells, a journalist of the era who opposed lynching, agreed and wrote in her nationally-circulated pamphlet Southern Horrors, a number of documented cases in Florida, “where the men armed themselves†and fended off lynch mobs.
“The lesson this teaches,†Wells wrote, “is that a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.â€
Sadly, in Florida the state legislature enacted a law in 1893 requiring a license to possess “a pistol, Winchester rifle or other repeating rifle.†It was a May Issue System and it effectively disarmed the Black Community in Florida. Without the right to vote, Black Floridians didn't have the ability to elect a representative voice in the legislature to protect their rights. Thus they were disarmed and left at the mercy of the Democrats. This of course led to a horrific event in Florida History that was kept quite for decades.
During the first week of January 1923, a small Black community by the name of Rosewood in Levy County was targeted in a racially motivated massacre of Black people and destruction of their property due to the unsupported accusations that a white woman named Frances Taylor in nearby Sumner had been beaten and possibly raped by a black drifter.
Sounds familiar right?
Anyways' Robert Elias Walker, the Levy county Sheriff raised a possee and learned that Jesse Hunter, an escaped Black Prisoner was in the area and searched for him. A group of White vigilantes, instead of searching for Jesse Hunter grabbed a local Rosewood resident names Sam Carter. They tortured him, then executed him and hung his body as a public warning. The mob violence didn't end there sadly.
Rosewood Residents faced mob violence, murder, and destruction. Word got out but they were disarmed by the State and were reliant on the Sheriff to protect them. A Sheriff that didn't care. In fact he told Governor Hardee that all was well and not to send the National Guard. That he could take care of it. In all, officially, 8 are recorded as killed while witnesses claim up to 150 were killed.
When official word got out. Gov. Hardee appointed a special grand jury and special prosecuting attorney to investigate the outbreak in Rosewood and other incidents in Levy County.
In February, an all White grand jury convened. 25 witnessed, 8 of which were Black were heard. But the jury found "insufficient evidence to prosecute any perpetrators"*. A culture of silence developed around the Black survivors and they fled across the state. The issue wasn't uncovered until 1982 when an investigative reporter named Gary Moore from the St. Petersburg Times drove from the Tampa area to Cedar Key looking for a story. Form their, through interviews and research. The truth was reveled.
Florida at the time was number one per capita when it came to targeting and lynching of Black citizens. A famous photo from 1935 shows Reuben Stacy, a Black tenant farmer being lynched in Fort Lauderdale as a seven year old girl looks and smiles. That photo is far too graphic to show. But you can google it.
Remember, Black Floridians were disarmed by the State. They had no viable means of self defense. Sadly it stay this way until 1987 when Shall Issue was instituted statewide.
In 1941, a man named Mose Waton was arrested for having a firearm in his possession while driving a car in Holly Hills, a town in Volusia County. In the case Waston v. Stone, it states the following.
Seems plain as day right? Well, it went all the way to the State Supreme Court and Justice Buford ruled that the law was wrong and that people clearly had the right t keep and bear arms in their vehicle for protection. Furthermore, Justice Buford stated that the law in question was wrong based on how it was intended to be enforced.The statute makes it unlawful for persons without first obtaining a license therefor: (a) to carry around with him a pistol, Winchester rifle or other repeating rifle: (b) or to have a pistol, Winchester rifle or other repeating rifle in his manual possession. Was the pistol while in the dash drawer of the automobile when being driven by the petitioner in his manual possession, or did he under the aforesaid circumstances carry it around with him within the meaning of the statute? It is not contended that he had a license "to carry the pistol around with him" or "to have the pistol in his manual possession."
This case has been forgotten in Florida and many here. Many Democrats are pushing for disarmament again. Worse, many Republicans like their political ancestors are willing to compromise again. As Geoffrey P. Golub stated in his article and as we've seen with Nikki Fried (D) now running the show. The control of others is the forefront of the Authoritarians in Government. Civilian Disarmament is key to establishing that control.I know something of the history of this legislation. The original Act of 1893 was passed when there was a great influx of negro laborers in this State drawn here for the purpose of working in turpentine and lumber camps. The same condition existed when the Act was amended in 1901 and the Act was passed for the purpose of disarming the negro laborers and to thereby reduce the unlawful homicides that were prevalent in turpentine and saw-mill camps and to give the white citizens in sparsely settled areas a better feeling of security. The statute was never intended to be applied to the white population and in practice has never been so applied. We have no statistics available, but it is a safe guess to assume that more than 80% of the white men living in the rural sections of Florida have violated this statute. It is also a safe guess to say that not more than 5% of the men in Florida who own pistols and repeating rifles have ever applied to the Board of County Commissioners for a permit to have the same in their possession and there has never been, within my knowledge, any effort to enforce the provisions of this statute as to white people, because it has been generally conceded to be in contravention to the Constitution and non-enforceable if contested.
Right now we have officials in the Florida Legislature that wish to see people of color and minorities as a whole disarmed. The most at risk to be victims of violent crimes are Black and Hispanic Floridians living in working class neighborhoods. And much like how the laws back then were given a pass for a certain segment of the population. They would do the same today. Those that are politically connected and of the right political party would of course get a permit in a May Issue System that they want to bring back. Look no further than New York or California to see it in action. Hell, look at how they treated Dale Norman on February 19th, 2012 in Fort Pierce because he had a wardrobe malfunction.
[youtube]-qKeJ6jd2Ak[/youtube]
He was a licensed CCW permit holder and the State went hard on him all because he was walking along the street and his gun inadvertently showed. He was prosecuted despite assurances made by the Florida Legislature in 2011 that Police, Prosecutors and Sheriffs would stop harassing people with concealed carry licenses for innocent accidental exposure of their handguns.
Look at how Miami Beach Police treated Mike Taylor when he was legally open carrying while fishing in South Florida.
There is a history in Florida of the government abusing the citizenry and treating them like criminals all because they happen to exercise their rights. We were on the cusp of shedding this dark past. But I fear it is rearing its ugly head back up again in our current political environment.
Never forget the past, because if it is forgotten. We are doomed to repeat it.
* Dye, Thomas (Summer 1997). "The Rosewood Massacre: History and the Making of Public Policy," The Public Historian, 19 (3), pp. 25–39.