Tallahassee students and community members rally in support of the Tampa 5.
(Fight Back! News/staff)
Tallahassee, FL – On July 12, 20 students and community members rallied in front of Florida State University’s (FSU) Student Union to demand justice for the Tampa 5. Attendees chanted, “Free the Tampa 5!” “Protesting is not a crime. Drop the charges now!” and “No hate! No fear! Diversity is welcome here!”
Chrisley Carpio, Jeanie K., Lauren Pineiro, Gia Davila, and Laura Rodriguez, collectively known as the Tampa 5, were arrested in March for protesting DeSantis’s proposed cuts to diversity programs and ethnic studies at Florida public universities. The five were brutalized and sexually assaulted by University of South Florida campus police, including Chief Chris Daniel, who is the subject of several internal department investigations regarding discrimination and harassment. The protesters currently face multiple felony charges and up to 10 years in prison.
Other SDS chapters across the nation, including FSU’s, have protested against Governor DeSantis and other Republican politicians’ cuts to higher education in the same fashion as the Tampa 5.
“If the Tampa 5 get arrested, what is that going to say, what message is that going to spread to the rest of the country? It’s gonna say that it’s not ok to speak out against bills that affect you,” said Joel Nuñez, a member of FSU SDS.
The case of the Tampa 5 does not only have implications for students, but for campus workers – Chrisley Carpio was a staff member at USF and local AFSCME union member before her unjust firing.
Lee Robertson, the organizing chair of FSU’s Graduate Assistants United, stated, “This is not just happening at USF. It’s happening to workers across the state. Being a tuition-paying student at your university, being employed at the university, being protected by a union, none of these things make you safe from state sanctioned violence right now in the state of Florida.”
“They know that we outnumber them. That’s why they want to divide us. If they want to keep us divided, then we need to come together,” said Robert Lee from Tallahassee Food Not Bombs. More than 50 organizations nationwide have signed onto the online petition demanding the charges against the Tampa 5 be dropped.
Other cosponsoring groups included the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, FSU Planned Parenthood Generation Action, and the Tallahassee Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
FSU SDS stated that they will host another solidarity event on the same date as the Tampa 5’s next court appearance, scheduled for August 9.
Sign the petition to demand Justice for the Tampa 5: https://peoplespetitions.org/tampa5
