>>This week on NewsNight, a judge strikes down Florida's congressional map passed by the legislature last year that eliminated a black opportunity district.

And a look at the threat of violent extremism in Florida following the killing of three black people by a white gunman in Jacksonville.

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort, and welcome to NewsNight where we take an in-depth look at the top stories and issues in central Florida and how they affect all of us.

First tonight, a check in on redistricting.

A circuit court judge this week rejected a congressional map drawn up by the governor's office and passed by the legislature last year, which opponents say disenfranchizes black voters and cuts the number of likely seats for Democrats.

Judge J. Lee Marsh found the map violates Florida's fair districts amendments to the State Constitution.

The DeSantis administration argues the Fair Districts amendments violate the US Constitution's 14th Amendment.

The case is likely to go before the Florida Supreme Court.

At issue in this case an eliminated black access district in North Florida that Governor DeSantis has described as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

It was the Democrats only district in North Florida.

In central Florida, Democrats previously held three congressional districts.

But after redistricting, they now hold only two.

NewsNight spoke this week with Jasmine Burney-Clark, the founder and director of the Equal Ground Education Fund, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit over Congressional District Five in North Florida.

>>Fair Districts Amendment five and six state that you can't draw maps that diminish the voting powers of black and brown people.

And you can't draw a map that favors one political party over another.

And now black voters have an opportunity to get a new map that will be redrawn and it will allow them to elect the candidate of their choice.

Numerically, what this means is that 360,000 black people who were distributed across four different congressional districts, all only being considered white performing, will now be able to come back together as a voting bloc and elect a candidate of their choice.

And that way a elected candidate won't be able to choose their voters.

The voters will be able to choose the candidate they want to represent them in Congress.

>>Jasmine Burney-Clark there.

Well, let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining us in the studio this week, Curtis McCloud, investigative reporter over there at Spectrum News 13.

Thanks so much for coming in, Curtis.

I appreciate your time today.

>>Skyler Swisher writes for The Orlando Sentinel.

Thanks for being here, Skyler.

>>Good to be here.

>>Always good to see you.

And Daralene Jones, anchor over at WFTV Channel 9, thanks for being here, Daralene.

>>Its a pleasure.

>>Really appreciate your time today, guys.

Curtis, let me start with you on this one.

And if we can step back a second and just give us a little primer on what we mean by Black Access or Black Opportunity districts, I feel some people might not quite understand what we mean by that.

>>Exactly Steve, when you got to go back to 1965, the Voting Rights Act and look at what it did and what it was supposed to do, give access to black communities, give them more people that could be elected into, of course, positions of power.

And people are saying now, we heard from Jasmine Burney-Clark that blacks or African-Americans or people in that specific block aren't getting a fair shake.

>>Skyler this map was largely drawn up by the governor's office, right?

Which rejected a map that had already been drawn up by the legislature that preserved the previous district five in North Florida.

Remind us why the DeSantis administration says that district is, you know, has to be eliminated.

>>Well, the stated reason is that Governor DeSantis says that this district violates constitutional standards dealing with the compactness of districts.

You know, it spans along North Florida.

The governor's critics say, you know, the reason is to increase the number of Republican representatives here in from Florida and to ultimately give Republicans control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

>>You know, it's interesting looking at this, Daralene, you know, it's a kind of a pattern.

The federal judge just this week threw out Alabama's latest congressional map for failing to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

The Supreme Court, I think, had already tossed out an earlier map from the Alabama legislature.

I mean, is this part of a of a pattern you think we're seeing in some states?

Can we say that?

>>It's happening in other states.

We have it here in Florida.

We also know what's happening in Alabama.

Georgia also impacted, Ohio.

It's happening in other states-- >>Louisiana.

>>Louisiana, as well, because what you have is Republicans across the country trying to work.

And I think in some cases they thought the courts would be on their side because, you know, some of these courts are stacked with, you know, Republican leaning justices.

But what happened is the justices have decided that, no, the law is what it is.

And in this case, you cannot gerrymander these districts to the extent that it it leaves out a certain voting block leaving - you talked earlier about the opportunity.

What when you have gerrymandering, what it does is it it takes away opportunity for certain people in a district to vote for the candidate of their choice.

It doesn't always have to be.

You know, African-Americans, though, African-Americans have largely been targeted when you talk about it.

But the idea is that we can't go back to the fifties and sixties to where we had one party representing all.

>>It does seem, doesn't it, Curtis, given the Supreme Court's earlier ruling on Alabama, that the DeSantis administration's argument that District five is an illegal racial gerrymander under the sort of the US Constitution, it's unlikely to hold up, right?

>>Right.

And I think that's basically what we're looking at here with the with the with the Alabama ruling here.

And what everyone has been saying with this, I mean, specifically and goes back to Daralene's point, you know, here a lot of the states have been saying and thinking that, hey, you know, they'll favor with us because they are, in fact, stacked with a lot of people who are maybe more on the conservative side or may have the same political ideology that they have, but not necessarily they're not agreeing with.

They're siding with the law.

>>In fact, in Alabama, there were two conservative leaning judges who did, in fact, strike this down with some very harsh language in fact.

>>It is interesting, isn't it, Skyler?

I mean, this isn't the first time, though, right, for some historical context that that Florida has struggled with its congressional boundaries?

>>No, not at all.

Let's go back in time to 2010.

The voters approved a constitutional amendment, the fair districts amendment.

And the intent of that was to take partizanship out of redistricting and to not diminish minority representation.

So what happened was the politicians who are not impartial actors when it comes to redistricting promised that this was going to be the most fair and open, transparent process.

And that was not the case.

It went to the courts.

It was tied up in litigation for about four years.

And, you know, the judges had some pretty harsh words for the representatives.

I mean, they said they made a mockery of this.

They found that, you know, they were communicating with Republican political operatives.

They ultimately threw out that the legislatures maps and went with maps that were drawn by the Fair Districts coalition.

>>Yeah.

Just just finally on that on this, Daralene, before we wrap it up, I mean, what's the overall effect generally of partizan gerrymandering, whether it's by Republicans or Democrats in other parts of the country in terms of sort of control of Congress and also like competitive districts?

Presumably there were fewer now.

>>Exactly.

And I think the the broader impact here, I think we heard Jasmine sort of allude to that when you spoke with her.

>>Yeah.

>>You have the politicians deciding and picking who is representing, you know, the people as opposed to the people deciding who's representing them.

And that is not what a democracy is.

A democracy, access to people.

It's the will of the people, you know, not of the politicians.

>>I guess that is the bottom line.

Well, we'll see how that case plays out.

It's an important one for sure in the future of our state.

You can find a link to the full court hearing on redistricting in Florida on our website so you can hear both sides for yourself.

It's all on our website, wucf.org/newsnight.

All right.

Next tonight, the recent racially motivated mass shooting in Jacksonville and the growth of hate groups in Florida.

The Anti-Defamation League tallied more than 400 instances of white supremacist propaganda distribution in Florida between the start of 2020 and August of last year.

It says, quote, Florida is home to an extensive, interconnected network of white supremacists and other far right extremists.

Dr. Omékongo Dibinga is a professor of Cross cultural communication at American University.

He's also the author of a forthcoming book, “Ten Lies About Black People: Challenging Common Racist Lies on Our Path to Finding Anti-Racist Common Ground.

” >>During the Obama administration, that was when we actually really started to see the height of this resurgence that we're talking about.

That was when we started to see hate crimes start to go up, and then they rose exponentially under under Trump.

The Biden administration, I believe, can do more in terms of being more aggressive.

I appreciate what the Department of Justice has done in terms of going after Enrique Tarrio and Proud Boys.

I wish they could also be a little bit more aggressive.

The FBI needs to be more aggressive.

You know, Christopher Wray in his organization has stated that white domestic domestic terrorism and identity extremism is the biggest challenge in this country right now, but hasn't done much to to really combat it at a public level.

And but he also talks about needing more resources.

But what it really comes down to, it comes down to the people.

Parents have to start standing up, parents who believe - in my book, I talk about the rule of seven and your real commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Parents have to step up and make sure that their schools are diverse, their curricula curricula is diverse as well.

We have the ability to speak not only with our feet, with our marches, not only with our tweets through things like social media, but also with that ballot.

And if we do that and really create those policies and target politicians who want to make a better America, making America as good as its promise for everybody, we can absolutely fight this.

We have done it before and we can do it again.

>>Dr.

Omékongo Dibinga there.

Curtis, let me start with you on this one.

I mean, in the Jacksonville case, specifically, why did the Justice Department decide to investigate it as a racially motivated hate crime?

>>Well, what you have with that specific situation, Steve, was an individual who had a pretty much diary, for lack of a better word, describing his-- >>Like a manifesto >>A manifesto for describing his his hate for blacks, African-Americans, and specifically saying his plan to carry out actions against them, violence against them.

The FBI looking into this.

And we were actually I was over there last were about a week or so ago.

They they're on the ground in Jacksonville shortly after that shooting, speaking to one individual who was actually in that store.

And she had to run out of there.

And she says just coming eye to eye with this individual, you could see, you know, that there was hate there.

And I just, you know, hearing someone who was there and hearing them describe coming face to face with that hatred, you know, it's just you know, it's and in today's day and age, it's it's a wonder, you know.

>>Hard to put yourself in that.

>>Absolutely.

It really-- >>Must have been like.

Really difficult, Daralene.

I mean, the Anti-Defamation League and others have sort of started the growth of hate groups in Florida.

What are we seeing?

>>Well, it's very interesting, but it's not all that shocking, if you will, because I think that politics over the last several years have certainly emboldened people who feel this way to be more open and to be more vocal about it.

But the Anti-Defamation League has done some studies and they have found that Florida is they call it ground zero for these hate groups.

I think the last study, they found some 700 documented incidents of of hate or, you know, fliers or different things like that being put out.

And so it's it's it's troubling.

But I will tell you, it's not really that shocking when you think about even going back to the January 6th riot at the US Capitol.

A great number of the defendants in that case, people who have been arrested and facing charges for, you know, storming the Capitol.

A lot of those people were from Florida.

You know, and so-- >>That is true.

An outsized number of people from our state, for sure.

Skyler, are we seeing sort of a general spike in hate crimes?

I mean, it certainly seems to be the case when you think of incidents like, you know, in Texas and in Buffalo or is Florida sort of more of an outlier?

Is this part of a broader trend, do you think?

>>Yeah.

Florida is definitely not an outlier.

I mean, if you just look at the FBI crime statistics, there are about 8,000 hate crime incidents reported at the FBI in 2020 that rose to about 9,000 in 2021.

The problem is likely much bigger than that, though.

You know, I worked on an investigation a couple of years back.

And what we found is that, you know, some large police agencies in Florida don't report any hate crimes.

So a lot of these aren't being reported.

>>Just not part of what they report.

>>Right.

They're not being documented.

>>Theyre not required to report it.

>>Exactly.

So when you see that FBI crime statistic number, the number of incidents is likely much larger than that.

>>That's really interesting.

Let me just ask you about something else that you reported.

I mean, the governor was booed, right, when he appeared in Jacksonville.

I guess this goes to a little bit what you were talking about, political discourse.

You wrote about that.

The assistance, though, that the state is providing to that community, what is it doing?

>>So the state is going to be providing $1 million to Edward Waters University.

That's this historically black college in Jacksonville.

>>Where the alleged shooter is, is alleged to have gone before.

>>Exactly.

And that money is intended to improve campus security.

There's also $100,000 for victims families.

Of course, you know, state Rep Angie Nixon from Jacksonville, she put out a pretty scathing statement saying it's too little, too late.

And, you know, the governor has vetoed money that could help the black community.

So she had some very critical words to say despite that that grant award that the state provided.

>>You know, it's so interesting.

You know, you have people within the black community within Edward Waters on both sides of all this, because when we were there, I talked to the president of Edward Waters and asked him, how would you use these funds that the governor is giving you?

He said, we welcome the funds.

We're not going to turn away any money because we stand to benefit from security upgrades.

And you have others who say, okay, yeah, the money's good.

But again, a little you know, a little bit too little too late.

And some saying that questioning, saying maybe they shouldn't even use the money.

>>Do experts believe that hate crime and the hate crimes that the increase in them is tied to the passage of policies in some states and the sort of the temperature of our politics, culture, wars, things like that?

>>Yes, many of them do, Steve.

Many of them say that that is pretty much and it goes back to kind of what Daralene was mentioning to, you know, a lot of people, you know, have latched on to what they've seen when it comes to a lot of political rhetoric.

And it some say experts largely say that it is fueling the fire, so to speak, and causing a lot of discord when it comes to some of what we're seeing.

You know, people talk a lot about, oh, you know, we want to see a lot of people, more people come together.

How can we work, do a lot more reaching across the aisles to solve issues and everything?

We haven't seen so much of that in recent history in the state of Florida.

In some regards, some would say and this goes back to me covering the legislature over the last few years on big issues.

Sure, they'll work together, but I mean, look at this last legislative session.

There were a lot of things where it would have, you know, and of course, being a super majority in Tallahassee right now, you know, it was a lot where the other side may say that, hey, our cries fell on deaf ears.

>>We have to mention the Labor Day weekend demonstrations by neo-Nazi groups in central Florida We saw out in Altamont Springs and the-- >>Volusia, Seminole, and Orange County.

>>What do we know about those groups involved?

>>You know, I think there is a lot to try to unpack with the groups, because I think there's still research being done as to whether or not they're connected, whether or not they're connected, I don't think is is the problem that we have to grapple with the fact that they are here and they feel so emboldened to show up in our communities in this way is is outrageous.

And I hear the statements from law enforcement.

You have the Altamonte Springs Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff's Office put out statements essentially saying the same thing.

Well, we can't do anything because the the people who are part of these groups are participating in these protests or not protests, but in these rallies or whatever you want to call them, they have a right to free speech.

The Constitution protects them.

I think it goes back to what Skyler mentioned regarding law enforcement.

What do they report these instances?

Because I think that we are at a very, very precarious place in our society where people feel so emboldened to spew this hate speech.

But law enforcement feels as though it can't do anything because it's protected by free speech.

Where does it stop?

>>I think some groups might disagree with the police that this is just a First Amendment matter.

Jewish groups, for example, have had to really step up their security because they say that a lot of these displays just sort of make them feel fundamentally unsafe.

>>Be sure to join this important conversation on social media were at WUCF TV on Facebook, X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Okay.

Finally tonight, Orlando's police chief says crime is coming down in the city after spiking last year following the pandemic.

The city experienced an uptick in violence involving gangs and young people, particularly in downtown.

Orlando commissioners this year passed a new ordinance to try to tackle the problem, despite several recent high profile incidents of violence, including a drive by shooting that killed a six year old girl.

Police Chief Eric Smith has reported a drop in overall crime, including violent crime and shootings.

Here's part of the chief's update on Thursday on his department's efforts.

>>You know, when you're up in chief, we seized 1,300 guns, which is a 36% increase from what we did the year before.

So to us, it's all about making our streets safer by reducing the number of guns on the street and taking criminals off the street.

Shootings.

We've seen a 30% decrease in shootings throughout the city.

That's huge.

Of course, we wanted to go higher.

But every day is a challenge.

But we're working together to make this happen.

Homicide clearance rate.

If you've heard me speak before, you heard me say that I can't solve every homicide.

But what I can do is work to bring closure to the families and friends and loved ones of those who are murdered.

So as you see here, we were 37% solved when I started were up to 84% solve rate, which is a great accomplishment.

A great accomplishment.

Our - by our homicide detectives.

They're doing great work.

One of the units I brought back was our patrol task units.

They were disbanded before I became chief, and I brought those units back.

Their whole focus is focusing on violent crime.

They're here to reduce criminals and take criminals off the street.

As you see theyve done a great job.

They've made over 1400 arrests.

They've taken 425 crime goods off the street.

And they're also doing other things.

They've just seized 160 stolen vehicles.

>>Just to note, the chief is speaking as we record this program on Thursday morning.

So bear that in mind as we have this conversation.

Daralene, let me just come to you on this one first.

I mean, in your reporting in downtown Orlando last month on the crime issue, you got to document the kind of violence that that area is experiencing firsthand.

>>It is surreal.

We had been planning to do a special report with Police Chief Eric Smith to sort of document his first year in the role as Orlando police chief.

And so as part of that reporting, the chief invited us to essentially go out along with him and the downtown officers to really to see firsthand what they experience on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday night in downtown Orlando.

Because during our interview, some of the things he shared, I just couldn't believe.

And during our time there, we hadn't been at the precinct there on Washington Street, but for maybe 15, 20 minutes.

And they encountered, you know, somebody who had been a part of a burglary who they had to chase down.

And then moments later, all of a sudden, there was an officer-involved shooting literally steps away from where we were with the police chief.

And when I tell you, it was a frightening experience, that is an understatement because you hear the shots ringing out.

You don't know where they're coming from.

Officers are having to respond and really react and at a moment's notice.

It is downright frightening.

But it certainly provided us with a firsthand account of what these officers are dealing with and the the amount of gun violence that exists here in our community.

>>Downright frightening.

But as you say, extremely common occurrence.

I mean, you've been across this this for a while now.

You know, our community, as the chief says, has seen a sort of an overall decline in crime recently.

But it is a mixed picture, right.

Particularly when you look at theft and burglaries and gang activity and that kind of thing.

>>It is.

And what is interesting, even since we did that interview with the chief in the last month, we've actually seen quite a bit of violence in our community, gun violence.

We talk about the six year old girl and her mother who were shot and what is likely tied to some gang activity here in our community, but where the department is still really struggling as they also work to tackle violent crime is with thefts and robberies here in our community.

And I think it's an indication of our economy in some regards.

You know, people are unemployed, people are desperate.

More people are out on the streets, homeless in our community.

>>The housing crisis.

>>The housing crisis.

Yeah.

And so all those things, I believe, are tied together.

And I think if we really did a deep dive, we would find the connections there.

>>Yeah.

Curtis I mean, how have city leaders, civilian leaders, responded to this issue?

>>I know the city leaders have been doing things, too.

They've been increasing the volume of officers on the streets in downtown Orlando.

One of the other things I know, if we're talking specifically that particular area, our office is right there at a stone's throw away from where where things are going on all the time, it's like like, gosh, you're playing almost sometimes Russian roulette, walking to the garage, to your car.

We do have security, though.

But to answer your question also, we go back to the moratorium because a lot of people say, you know, they put the moratorium on the nightclubs and the bars down there to help with, you know, some of the the traffic and the people that are coming down there.

And then also some of those businesses now have to add added security as well, too.

So there are some things that city leaders are hoping to do and have done to try to curtail some of the violence we've seen down there.

We know we've seen the push back on the moratorium from the business owners who say, you know, this is a little bit of a disdain or a little stain on our business because we're just trying to do our work.

But city leaders say, hey, let's go at it this way to see if this will help deter or curtail some of those, you know, those bad apples in the crowds from popping.

>>I think the biggest problem is there are simply too many illegal guns on the streets.

And that is something that city leaders are not going to be able to control.

It's much bigger issue.

There are so many illegal guns on the street.

I mean, this week, a teenager is arrested for the murder of a six year old.

>>Yeah, I'm still reeling over the ages.

>>I mean, they're we're it's it's it's bigger than whatever city leaders think they can do.

>>Maybe maybe some would say that city leaders are just able to put Band-Aids on what is what is a bigger problem.

>>Skyler, let me just finish with you and talk about this sort of broader political back and forth on crime.

The governor, of course, recently suspended Monique Worrell, part of the conservative push back against progressive prosecutors.

He accuses her of being soft on crime, has there also been tension between the DA's office and law enforcement?

I mean, is there a really strong partnership there, which presumably you would need if you were wanting to fight crime?

>>Oh, yeah.

There's there's definitely been tension between law enforcement and the prosecutor's office.

Monique Worrell, based on our reporting, even going back to July 2022, where there was a meeting where the sheriff, you know, voiced concerns where he didn't feel like the state attorney was being aggressive enough in prosecuting repeat offenders.

Of course, you know, her response is, is that, look, a lot of this has to do with police incompetence.

They're not building the cases.

So that's kind of been her her way of firing back.

>>And she's also prosecuted police officers, too.

>>Precisely.

Exactly.

And she's saying that, you know, some of the law enforcement chiefs don't like her approach, an aggressiveness in going after a police misconduct.

>>Well, certainly a really big issue for our community, the crime issue.

And I know you guys will stay across it in your reporting.

Just a reminder, you can catch more on the subjects you've seen tonight on our website.

Visit us online at wucf.org/newsnight along the bottom of your screen.

But that is all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Daralene Jones from WFTV Channel 9, Skyler Swisher from the Orlando Sentinel, Curtis McCloud from Spectrum News 13.

Thank you so much for coming in, guys.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF.

In the meantime, from all of us here at NewsNight, take care and have a great week.