Monument honoring Courageous 12 to be built at new St. Pete development

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — The first stages of developing The Central are already in motion in St. Pete. The two-acre project will include a 4-star Autograph Collection Hotel and thousands of square feet of office, retail and parking space.

City leaders broke ground Wednesday and unveiled the renderings of a monument to the Courageous 12 that will be constructed on the site.

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“It’s a dream come true,” said Leon Jackson. “I never imagined this would happen.”

Jackson is the last surviving member of the Courageous 12.

“When we first filed that lawsuit, we didn’t realize what we were getting into,” Jackson recalled. “We didn’t know we were making history.”

The 12 were black St. Pete policemen in the 1960s who weren’t allowed to arrest white people and were forced to patrol black neighborhoods. They sued the police department and won equal rights as white officers.

“When we stood up and challenged racism in the St. Pete Police Department,” Jackson remembered. “It was not easy.”

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A monument in front of the development on the site of the old police department will honor Leon and the others.

“It’s immersive, it’s beautiful, it’s love, it’s light,” said Ya La’ford. “It’s really the spirit of all these courageous men.”

Tampa interdisciplinary artist Ya La’ford designed the monument, and its renderings were just released today.

“This one is just special,” La’ford explained. “I think it hits on the soul. I think that when you’re trying into the soul of a space, this is what matters. I think that this builds our foundation.”

The monument to the Courageous 12 is expected to be up in the next year or two, and the hotel shortly after that.

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