WTF: black residents who were mobilized and excited about public comment, most notably around the city of St Petersburg's "African-American quality of life" committee were just silenced by council chair Ed Montanari during today's meeting because of the actions of white supremacists. earlier in the meeting, trolls joined the call and used the public comment to call for the death of "n*****rs." council understandably went into recess. many residents waited for over an hour for the meeting to resume, and when it did, council allowed the police chief and community liaison to present a sanitized narrative around the protests that have happened in St Pete, and again refused comments from residents whose lived experience may contradict their story. this is deeply troubling, but unsurprising. for a city who claims the sun shines for all, how very shady...**for the record, Amy foster was the only council member who pushed back against the dismissal of public comment, and Ms Deborah Figg-Sanders made a notable comment during the announcements portion
of the meeting.
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Ashley Green
