Key Points:
- For some residents of Florida, the state under Gov. Ron DeSantis is “suffocating,” says the Rev. Andy Oliver.
- Oliver and the Rev. Roy Terry, both United Methodists, plan to continue protesting in the state, in particular at detention camps holding suspected undocumented immigrants without charging them with a crime.
- Oliver could be sentenced to a year in jail after trying to block a Black History Matters mural from being painted over.
United Methodists are among those striving to alert the public that many folks are having a hard time of it in Florida, including the transgender community, anyone who looks like an immigrant and Black Lives Matter supporters.
Two United Methodists pastors are using protests and civil disobedience to try and keep pressure on lawmakers, about detention centers in particular.
“Being a pastor in Florida, it’s suffocating for a lot of my people,” said the Rev. Andy Oliver, pastor at Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. “It feels like every day … something is happening (nationally) that is pretty disappointing toward the ways of justice and equity and inclusion.”
The same seems to go for the state, where voters there have consistently supported President Trump.
“Our governor (Ron DeSantis) has … really started to make things unlivable for significant portions of marginalized communities,” Oliver said. “I’ve had multiple families flee the state because they need to get their children health care if they have a transgender child, or if they themselves are transgender.
“This is increasingly not a safe place to live.”
The detention centers, such as the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Everglades and “Deportation Depot,” west of Jacksonville, imprison people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Most are being held without being charged with a crime.
Alligator Alcatraz remains open after a federal appeals court halted a lower court ruling that required parts of the detention center to be dismantled.
“We were out (at Alligator Alcatraz) last night with 100 … interfaith leaders continuing the vigil,” said the Rev. Roy Terry, pastor of Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Naples, Florida. “So, this was our sixth week out there, and we’ll keep going as long as there’s people there.”
Oliver was himself arrested Aug. 29, along with Benedict Atherton-Zeman, a minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg. They were charged with misdemeanor obstruction for kneeling on a Black History Matters mural to protest efforts of Florida Department of Transportation workers to remove it. The DOT workers were acting on a directive that artwork that is unsafe or politically motivated be removed. The mural was near The Woodson African American Museum of Florida.
“I showed up there because I felt called to put my body in the way of something really horrific happening,” Oliver said. “It wasn’t just erasing a mural. It was a whole people feeling like their culture, their very essence, was being erased.”
Oliver spent the night in jail.
“We were being treated relatively well,” Oliver said.
“It really keeps me awake at night now, knowing that people are being treated worse than us for nonviolent crimes,” he added. “When all this is resolved, that’s where I’m going to direct my attention, to raise awareness and help amplify the stories of people that I think our city is treating with cruelty.”
Protesters at Alligator Alcatraz have averaged about 100 people but have climbed as high as 280, Terry said.
“This is out in the middle of the Everglades,” Terry said. “It’s a hike. Just from Naples, it’s an hour and a half for me to drive out there.”
He believes the crowds at the protests are getting larger, and that they will be effective in the long run.
“I think that being present makes a difference in a couple ways,” he said. “One, it raises awareness within the media. We made The Wall Street Journal. … It’s been all over the place, so that message is being spread through the media.
“Even people that are driving by, they see their pastors and members of their church going and participating in this, it starts changing hearts, right?”
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If enough people begin asking questions, change is possible, Terry added.
“Keep pushing,” he advises.
Oliver could get a year in jail on the obstruction charge. State Rep. Michele Rayner is acting as his lawyer, pro bono, and the hope is the charge will be dismissed.
“I know other people who face arrest for nonviolent crimes don’t have the luxury of having a state representative step up and represent them and try to get their charges dismissed,” Oliver said. “I will always do what it takes to show up.
“Because that’s what Jesus did, right?”
Read related story, Pastor emulates Wesley in Florida
Patterson is a UM News reporter in Nashville, Tennessee. Contact him at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, to the free Digests.
