It's on! #TakeBackMLKDay: Stop the police lock down of the black community!

The city government of St. Petersburg, Florida has launched a full assault on the south side black community through gentrification and a public policy of police containment versus economic development. 

This attack is further blatant with the military lock down of our community, on a day that is supposed to be used to recognize the profound African leader, assassinated by the U.S. government - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

Martin Luther King (MLK) Day has its largest celebration in this city with nearly 150,000 people from the community and out of town coming out to participate. 

It gives our community, that is being currently starved of any viable economic activity, the opportunity to vend - to buy and sell to our own people, our own community!  Black vendors are reported to make half their yearly income on this day, yet the city government, under the regime of Democratic Party representative Mayor Rick Kriseman, deployed the St. Petersburg Police into our community and told us we couldn't vend. 

They told us we could not celebrate MLK Day on our own terms, that if we wanted to celebrate, we would have to comply with their strategy to completely remove MLK Day from the black community altogether, and if we were to refuse, the police presence was an indication of what they would do.  

This year we are saying: It's on! We're going to #TakeBackMLKDay! 

The black community's demands through this campaign are:

1) Public policy of economic development versus the current policy of police containment

2) Resources for existing businesses

3) Resources for start-up businesses

4) A massive infusion of capital into this community

5) Hands off all black vendors - we will vend where we want within our community!

We are fighting back against this assault, putting the city government and white community on notice about the struggle we intend to wage to take this celebration into our own hands, as part of the ongoing struggle to secure a future for the black community in St. Pete!