A Tale of Two Florida Counties and the Racism Within: Nassau and Duval

Technically, Yulee isn’t a city. Its population since the 2020 demographics was 14, 195, even more than Florida laws need for a city. However Yulee was never integrated, which was the 2nd requirement, besides a populace going beyond 5, 000, in an area the size of Nassau Region, where Yulee is located. Instead, Yulee is a census-designated location (CDP), something I would certainly never ever become aware of prior to today. Fernandina Coastline, FL, is a little bigger than Yulee and also in Nassau County, but a globe apart in income and standing. Fernandina Beach is home to Amelia Island Resort, with its high-end tennis and golf centers. Yulee is home to numerous trailer camp.

Yulee is big sufficient to have an elementary, center, and high school, all including Yulee in the name. It has to do with 25 miles off of Interstate 95, North of Jacksonville, FL. I resided in Jacksonville for 7 years and saw the single sign for Yulee from the freeway dozens of times, however never had reason to quit. Due to the fact that it will certainly matter later on, I’ll mention that Yulee has to do with 84 % white. Fernandina Beach has to do with 82 % white.

I had actually never ever been to Jacksonville prior to relocating there to begin an outdoors sales job with Procter & & Gamble. Jacksonville was expanded; the city boundaries were the same as Duval County. By location, Jacksonville is the biggest city in the contiguous USA. If you’re questioning, Alaska has three bigger cities.

Jacksonville is without question a city. It has an NFL group, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jacksonville has 52 ZIP Codes, contrasted to Yulee’s two (one is made use of exclusively for Blog post Office boxes). Jacksonville has held a Super Bowl; Yulee holds the Wildlight Market Position on the very first and third Saturday every month. Duval Region has 122 high schools; Yulee has simply one: Yulee High School. Fernandina Coastline has one public high school. Jacksonville (Duval County) is about 48 % white.

You’ll require a little background on Yulee High. In October 2021, a Snapchat video clip tape-recorded over the summer distributed at Yulee High School. It revealed two white teens laughing and utilizing the n-word; one wore a white hood resembling a KKK-style covering. Another student (not one of both in the video clip) forwarded it via Snapchat to numerous Black trainees at the institution.

Those Black students (some of them football players) faced the people involved, which brought about a physical altercation on campus with no reported injuries. Nassau Region College Area authorities said they applied corrective action consistent with the code of conduct to the pupils associated with the altercation and to the student who sent the video clip. Moms and dads reported that the Black trainees that confronted the creators/recipients of the video clip received five-day suspensions.

Both white students that appeared in the video clip itself were not disciplined. District Aide Superintendent Mark Durham described that the video clip was made off campus during the summer season before those two were formally signed up at Yulee High, and the conditions did not satisfy the criteria for penalizing off-campus on the internet actions. The area explained the video as “a joke amongst friends” that was not implied to be shared a lot more commonly or targeted at specific trainees, while likewise saying it discovered the material “harsh and abhorrent” and would have disciplined them if legitimately permissible. The student that flowed the video clip was disciplined.

Moms and dads and area participants revealed solid objection of the unequal handling, viewing the suspensions of the Black trainees who reacted as unjust while the video clip’s developers faced no institution consequences. Some football teammates taken into consideration opposing (e.g., remaining a homecoming game), yet managers suggested that doing so could cost them the remainder of the season. The area openly said it would certainly not tolerate racial discrimination and supplied support to influenced trainees.

On Thursday, September 10, 2026 Fernandina Coastline Secondary School was in the limelight. A girls’ university volleyball match was held in between host Fernandina Coastline Senior high school and checking out Andrew Jackson High School from neighboring Duval County.

You might be asking yourself why a high school today would certainly still be named for Andrew Jackson. In 2021, after the release of the George Floyd video clips, numerous militants flooded the roads of American cities, including Jacksonville. Individuals pushed to alter the names of numerous schools, consisting of Andrew Jackson Secondary school. Schools called after Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, J.E.B. Stuart Center, and Stonewall Jackson Elementary, along with two others, transformed their names, but Andrew Jackson Secondary school kept its name. The college remains in a Black residential area, regarding a mile from Stanton High, where James Weldon Johnson first did the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing”: Tracing the Origins of the Black National Anthem|by William Spivey|Medium

It was explained that Jackson died 16 years before the Civil Battle began and must be discriminated than Confederate generals. The Duval College Board ignored Jackson’s possession of 7 vineyards and his essential role in the Route of Splits, in addition to directly damaging most of the treaties with Indian countries he was accountable for finalizing.

Proof reveals that Andrew Jackson’s plans and actions throughout his presidency (1829– 1837 resulted in the offense of several treaties with Native nations. In some situations, he was straight associated with negotiations or enforcement that weakened those agreements. Under the Indian Elimination Act of 1830 , Jackson accredited treaties to exchange Native lands east of the Mississippi for lands west of the river.

While the act itself was legal, a number of the resulting contracts were gotten to under discomfort, without complete tribal permission, or by minority factions. As an example, the Treaty of New Echota (1835 with the Cherokee was authorized by a small team of Cherokee leaders without the approval of most of the nation, and Jackson sustained its enforcement regardless of Supreme Court rulings in Worcester v. Georgia (1832 verifying Cherokee sovereignty. Jackson helped negotiate nine of the eleven significant elimination treaties throughout his presidency.

Back to the beach ball game at Fernandina Beach High. Moms and dads and attendees declared that some Fernandina Beach students in the stands held up a Black baby doll, made racial slurs/chants/gestures routed at Andrew Jackson gamers (a mostly Black team), and made jokes after a gamer appeared hurt. A moms and dad shared photos/video online, triggering outrage, an examination by the Nassau Area School Area, statements from the Jacksonville NAACP and Duval Area Public Schools, and neighborhood conferences. The shouts guided the Black players from Andrew Jackson High to go “pick cotton.”

The district’s investigation concluded that students poorly got rid of and stood up the doll (brought by one trainee for a parenting course assignment) while screaming, which was deemed “unacceptable and undesirable.” It issued an apology and noted technique for students that violated the standard procedure (details held back as a result of privacy guidelines). However, it stated that records of racial slurs were not corroborated based on video, declarations, and other proof. It’s tough to say how the area ended there were no racial slurs based on statements, when a number of statements claim the precise reverse.

Wherefore it deserves, Nassau County elects greatly Republican while Duval Area is a little Autonomous. For whatever reason, the young people in Nassau Area seem to feel that racist behavior won’t return to haunt them. Could it be they really feel that way because it never ever has, and their habits was defended? That’s something to think of.