Speak Out February 10 re: SAVING ST. AUGUSTINE CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY (Trey Alexander Asner post)

Update: County has taken this item off the agenda. You can still speak on it in non-agenda public comment at 1:30 PM in the Growth Management (sic) Division conference room, at the Cultural Resources Review Board meeting on February 10, 2025.  From Trey Alexander Asner's Facebook post: 

Trey Asner

20h  · 

In a shocking move, St. Johns County has applied for a demolition permit to destroy the historic jail where civil rights demonstrators were imprisoned for fighting to end segregation. This includes the St. Augstine Four, MLK, and 16 Rabbis who came in solidarity with King. From their cell, they wrote a letter about why they came which is one of the most important documents of the Civil Rights Movement. The jail doesn't just represent civil rights history, but Jewish American history because of the rabbis who stood in solidarity with the black community because they "realized that injustice in St. Augustine, as anywhere else, diminishes the humanity of each of us." The County's announcement of the intent to demo the jail on Holocaust Remembrance Day was ill timed to say the least. What makes this move by the County so horrible is the hypocrisy. In their proposal to the state to be selected as the location for the black history museum, they included the jail as a reason that they should be selected! This demonstrates that they only care about black history, or history in general if there is money to be made, contracts to be awarded, and palms to be greased. County Manager Joy Andrews and other county leaders were complicit in forcing me out of my job because I had invited black members of the community to discuss the possibility of saving the Canright House. They didn't want the house saved because they were worried it would upset the Klan. But sure wanted a photo op after it was! In an unsurprising move considering, the County failed to invite ACCORD (Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Movement in St. Augustine) to the February 10th meeting because they don't want opposition to their malfeasance. ACCORD was the organization that placed a historic plaque on the front of the building! Please show up at the Cultural Resource Review Board meeting, February 10th at 1:30 PM in the Permit Center, Conference Room 1 at the County complex. Show that you care about our local history, our Civil Rights history, and our Jewish American history.