JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The fight continues.

That was the resounding message shouted from the steps of the Duval County federal courthouse Friday by civil rights activists, regarding the push to have all Confederate monuments in Jacksonville and throughout Florida be taken down.

An ongoing lawsuit filed in 2021 by the son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s attorney, Earl Johnson Jr., argues that Confederate tributes on public land, supported by taxpayers, violates the U.S. Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It was filed against the City of Jacksonville, the city’s mayor and Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to Wells Todd, founder of Take ‘Em Down Jax.

The case, which is being heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, was the focal point of the gathering at the courthouse Friday.

Johnson doesn’t want Confederate monuments on public land, doesn’t want streets named after the Confederacy, and doesn’t want tax dollars going towards things named after the Confederacy. That includes counties named after Confederate generals.

He said the use of tax dollars for Confederate monuments is unconstitutional, according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“This case is about my dignity as a Black American,” Johnson said on the steps of the courthouse. “Just a few miles from us there’s a courthouse with a memorial to the Ku Klux Klan, three Klan members hooded on horseback, located in the lobby of the courthouse. What does that tell? What does that tell people? When I walk into a park that has a tribute to the Confederacy, that is demeaning me as an American, making me less than human, less than a second-class citizen.”

Although some have been removed since the time Johnson filed his lawsuit, it states that there are 47 different named tributes to the Confederacy in the Middle District of Florida, and that includes the names of five Florida counties.

One monument that’s been removed since the lawsuit was filed was one of the most hotly contested Confederate monuments in all of Jacksonville — the Women of the Southern Confederacy. It was removed in December 2023 from Springfield Park, which was previously named Confederate Park.

“Confederate monuments, they’re not just old statues, they’re not just symbols of hate, they are shrines to rebellion that fought to keep our ancestors in chains,” said Northside Coalition of Jacksonville President Kelly Frazier. “The Confederacy lost the war, but the ideology that they fought for, that’s still standing in tall and public spaces such as schools, bridges and street signs.”

Johnson isn’t asking for any money in his lawsuit, just a declaratory judgment and action by the mayor of Jacksonville, currently Mayor Donna Deegan, and DeSantis.

“I wanna say this to Gov. DeSantis… I wanna say to the governor, if he believes that we are all equal, then he should understand that Black history must be taught in our schools,” said Todd. “Because if it’s not, it’s a deficit to our children’s self-esteem. If it is not, it is also a detriment to white children’s self-esteem.”