8 minutes and 46 seconds: City Officials announce show of solidarity in St. Pete

In this unique time that calls for both physical distancing and our community’s collective demonstration of concern, the City of St. Petersburg encourages our residents to show solidarity and shine a light on injustice.

At 8:00 P.M. each night beginning the evening of Tuesday, June 2 through Tuesday, June 9 (eight days), St. Petersburg residents are asked to ‘join’ together in a silent and peaceful protest by standing outside on their front porch or yard for 8 minutes and 46 seconds – the length of time George Floyd suffered on May 25.

At 9:00 P.M., turn your porch and exterior lights on throughout the night as a shining tribute to Mr. Floyd and as an illustration of our community coming together to shine a light on racism and racial injustice.

Green Book of Tampa Bay offers a comprehensive directory of black-owned businessesin the Tampa Bay region, and we’ve used this directory to feature many of the businesses below. Black-owned businesses that want to be listed on the site can click “add listing.” Listing options range from free to $30 for a premium listing. Hillary Van Dyke and Joshua Bean founded it just over a year ago. You can learn a bit of history behind the name “Green Book of Tampa Bay” by clicking here. You can follow Green Book of Tampa Bayon Facebook, as well.

We’ve also compiled a list of black owned businesses in St. Petersburg and Tampa you can support tight now.

If you’re looking for educational materials to help spark and conduct a conversations with with your kids/students, Cultured Books, a locally-owned children’s bookstore in St. Pete, has created a “Let’s Talk About Race + Racism” reading list.

Nicole Slaughter-Graham, interim editor of The Temper and St. Pete resident, has created a comprehensive Antiracist Resource Guide for all those who wish to educate themselves and their loved ones.

The Tampa Bay Bay Students for a Democratic Society organized a fundraiser to support those that came out to fight for justice and show solidarity for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the countless other victims of police brutality. The fundraiser has already exceeded its $20,000 goal.