One vocal Tallahassee BLM activist clarifies the movement's message about police and people

“We’re not standing down no more. This is war.”

Tesia Lisbon stood in front of a crowd of Black Lives Matters protesters, staging for a march on the Florida Capitol.

A grand jury's ruling on three deadly shootings by Tallahassee police officers had just been released : No crime had been committed.

Tony McDade, Wilbon Woodard and Mychael Johnson — all three dead. Each shooting justified.

Nearly 100 protesters gathered in a parking lot on Bronough Street in Tallahassee as organizers shouted into a megaphone.

“You are literally telling me every day that it’s war against my body. War against my skin," Lisbon preached to her followers.

Lisbon reminded the activists “you” is in reference to State Attorney Jack Campbell and TPD Chief Lawrence Revell.

Lisbon, a Florida A&M University graduate who no longer lives in Tallahassee, was a well-known activist who was openly critical of police during multiple 2020 protests.

Before making their way to the Capitol, Lisbon and other organizers briefed TPD regarding their plans for the peaceful protest.

Lisbon noted Black officers were the ones sent to speak with the organizers.

“The fact of the matter is, we know that they were sent to speak directly to those organizing, because it's considered that skin folk will be the best approach,” Lisbon recalled two years later in an interview for this report. “So, if law enforcement plans to send people who look like us, it is also important that they understand the minds of the people who are out there, and why they're out there, outside of simply being Black.”

Later on in the day, Trish Brown, a leader of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) was pulled over on Monroe Street for driving below the speed limit and impeding traffic. She was forcefully removed from her car and arrested after first refusing to get out of her car.

Activists were seated in the grass and on the sidewalk with arms linked with one another. Some were later placed in handcuffs and escorted away.

By the time it ended, several protesters were charged with misdemeanors, two were arrested with felony charges for resisting an officer with violence and inciting a riot. Protesters shed tears as 15 people were arrested that day. Four more were arrested later in the weekend, Lisbon included.

Lisbon was charged with resisting an officer without violence, a misdemeanor.

After the arrests, as TPD officers stood in line behind protective shields, Lisbon asked them why they were doing what they did.

She specifically shouted at TPD Sgt. Damon Miller, who stepped out of line of officers to explain why he and the officers took the actions. Lisbon made her way down the line calling out each of the Black officers she saw assembled.

“There’s another one. There’s another one down here. I know they’re telling you to stay strong, don’t look me in my eyes,” Lisbon shouted as she pointed out each Black officer.

Community policing

Two years later, Lisbon tried to imagine what she would have done as a police officer following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“I would have used that time to be able to have conversations about how to move the community forward and what law enforcement is looking to do versus what the community is looking to do,” she said.

She wishes that officers had taken time to venture into the neighborhoods they serve to share their side of what they see and experience, while also taking a moment to listen to how the Black community members were feeling.

Lisbon wants each officer responding to a call to go in with an open mind and not assume the worst of everyone based on a previous experience.

Defunding the police: Messaging vs. meaning

“Defund the police” was plastered on signs, chanted in protests and written on car windows at that September 2020 protest.

It mirrored the battle cry of many Black Lives Matter protests heard across the country.

“It caught on really fast,” Lisbon said of the "defund" message which even made its way into the 2020 presidential campaign. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t explain the full trajectory of the message.”

Redistributing funds to better benefit the community is how she perceives the message. Adding social workers and mental health counselors, ready to deploy as an option for first responders, is where she wants to see money allocated. Defunding the police does not mean abolishing police departments within communities, Lisbon insists.

“I think that people have to wrap their minds around the idea that everything doesn’t require a criminal aspect or criminal approach,” Lisbon said.

Lisbon argues that there’s a disconnect in the training provided.

“The issue there is that not only does training need to be reinforced in a way that they know what is appropriate and when, but most importantly that they understand the difference between color and culture,” said Lisbon.

“I invite all of the law enforcement agencies that may be in communities where the crime rate is higher to make themselves more available to the citizens in that community so that the ones who aren’t participating in the crime know that it’s OK to call and have a relationship with [police officers.]”

The intersection of police work and race

Not long after the Black Lives Matter movement formed, the "Blue Lives Matter" response emerged.

That doesn't sit well to this day with Lisbon.

“Black Lives Matter was organic and in response to the trauma that the community was experiencing,” said Lisbon.

The Blue Lives Matter counter movement was another dismissal of the plight of many in Black America, she says.

“It arose in response to an effort that had nothing to do with not believing in and not recognizing the importance of people in law enforcement doing their jobs, who may be murdered or put in danger,” Lisbon said.

Lisbon has family in law enforcement and she has had conversations with them about the role that they play.

During those conversations, she has pondered what the community needs to do to move forward with creating a safe place for everyone.

“I have no quarrel with any Black person filling out the application and going to do the job,” said Lisbon.

But what she wants to see is those Black offices bridge the gap between law enforcement and building community ties.

“I just hope moving forward that they become more informed and that they seek to have conversations reflecting why people who look like them are upset before they get to work like every officer out there,” said Lisbon.

Alicia Devine is a staff photojournalist at the Tallahassee Democrat. This story was funded by the Knight Foundation as part of a series on the intricacies of being Black in law enforcement. The four-part series tells the experiences of three officers and one activist in their own words.

Reach photojournalist Alicia Devine at adevine@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @alicia_c_devine. Check out her photos on Instagram @adevinephotography.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida BLM activist clarifies protest, defunding police messages