Veterans for Black Lives Matter honor Jacksonville lynching victims on Juneteenth

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This Juneteenth, a group of local veterans got together to recognize a shameful day in Jacksonville’s history — a day when two African American veterans were lynched more than a century ago.

Organizers met on this property next to Evergreen Cemetery, where two Black veterans were lynched back in the 1900s.

“It’s Juneteenth and we celebrate, but time is up and we can no longer wait for justice,” retired U.S. Marine Sgt. Maj. Pat Mccollough said.

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Mccollough is the co-organizer for the group Veterans for Black Lives Matter.

“We want Black, brown, white, old, young, male, female veterans to stand together to show Black lives matter,” Mccollough said.

These veterans met across the street from Evergreen Cemetery, where they say two Black veterans, Bowman Cook and John Marine, were brutally murdered.

They both served in World War I.

“On Sept. 8, 1919, 150 masked men took two Black men, Bowman Cook and John Marine, from the county jail and riddled them with bullets. The mob dragged one behind a car and dumped his battered body in Hemming Plaza. No one was ever charged,” an Army veteran who attended the ceremony said.

Organizers told Action News Jax there were at least seven known lynchings across the city of Jacksonville.

Mccollough said veterans in Duval County and across northeast Florida have been too quiet for too long when it comes to racial injustices and systemic racism.

“To come back to America and die such a horrific death, so that is the significance. We stand with them and want more information to get out about them,” Mccollough said.

Mccollough said her hope is to get more veterans involved to speak out against racial injustices and systemic racism.

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