Since we value our fellow Jacksonville citizens and will not put their lives at risk, the 60th Commemoration will be comprised of program guests who will gather in James Weldon Johnson Park exercising social distancing and other responsible measures related to the Covid-19 pandemic. We encourage supporters throughout the country to participate virtually in the commemoration from the safety of their homes via multiple social media platforms, which we will announce in subsequent releases.

Ax Handle Saturday and the 1960 Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP sit-ins are a part of Jacksonville's Civil Rights history and a part of Jacksonville’s painful racist past. We must continue to tell the story of those brave Youth Council NAACP members who peacefully protested the racism and the segregation of downtown commercial stores, and Jacksonville’s White community response of vicious violence. Some 60-years-later, there are opinions that say the climate for Black and Brown people in Jacksonville and this country have changed very little. The 60th Commemoration of the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP Sit-In Demonstrations and Ax Handle Saturday is designed to educate, inform, and bring the darkness of those days into light. Rodney Hurst, President of the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP will preside.