Florida House Democrats feature Ben Frazier at Legislative Session kickoff rally

Activist Ben Frazier in 2018. Image via A.G. Gancarski.

House Democrats showed support Monday for a Jacksonville activist arrested for unauthorized attendance of a Gov. Ron DeSantis press conference last week.

Ben Frazier, a former journalist and president of the Northside Coalition civil rights group, was one of the honored guests as Democrats vowed to stand in opposition to the Governor’s agenda in the 2022 Legislative Session.

Frazier became internationally known for literally standing up to the Governor last week. The incident went viral when the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office walked him out of the room in handcuffs after staffers for both the Governor and the Duval County office of the Florida Department of Health failed to persuade Frazier and those with him to leave.

Rep. Angie Nixon introduced Frazier as “arrested for trying to get answers” from the Governor, noting that Frazier consistently rallies against injustice in Jacksonville.

“This Governor should stop playing politics with the pandemic,” Frazier said, sounding the same themes he did last week after his arrest.

“So many of us are living, in the words of Stevie Wonder, just enough for the city,” Frazier said.

Calling himself “the voice of the people,” Frazier said he and his allies “will rally … will march … will assemble … will protest” until the people are heard.

“Ain’t no power like the power of the people, because the power of the people don’t stop,” Frazier said.

The Zoom meeting then joined in a group chant of that phrase, with each participant picking a different meter. The group then tried a different chant, “United, the people will never be defeated.”

While the chanting didn’t quite sync up, Democrats on the call offered a spirited message vowing to resist the Republican agenda over the next 60 Days starting Tuesday.

Rep. Tracie Davis addressed the topic of “protecting democracy,” saying that Gov. DeSantis’ stabs at election reform are really just a way of ensuring Floridians can’t vote. Davis, running for the Senate this year, said that DeSantis’ call for “election investigators” on the state level is intended to intimidate Democratic voters.

Rep. Anna V. Eskamani discussed reproductive issues, noting that affected women do not seek the counsel of Republican lawmakers nor Gov. DeSantis. Eskamani warned of her expectations of a Republican-backed 15-week abortion ban modeled after Mississippi’s, and said that “those who are trying to make 15 weeks look moderate are complete trash.”

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith spoke to the housing crisis, saying “Florida has become unaffordable” for many citizens, a trend made worse during 23 years of Republican domination in Tallahassee.

“Floridians can’t take it anymore,” Smith said, noting that it’s not just housing prices going up, but also utility costs from “regulated monopolies” such as Florida Power and Light.

“We know this is an emergency for the people of Florida,” Smith said, urging “people-centered policies” and “people over politics” as the ways forward for Democrats.

Rep. Marie Woodson of Pembroke Pines stressed her origins as a Haitian immigrant in her remarks, vowing to fight for immigrants, including the undocumented.

“Our Governor has located $8 million to relocate immigrants out of South Florida,” Woodson said, regarding a DeSantis budget proposal to move undocumented immigrants out of state. The money would be better spent for priorities like affordable housing, Woodson said.

“We have to save our democracy,” Woodson asserted.

Nixon, wrapping up the call, stressed the need to “push back against bad legislation” and work toward “passing people-centered policies.”

Democrats face long odds in getting their agenda through, but as is always the case ahead of the Legislative Session, they are vowing to fight through until the Sine Die hankie drops.