Soil collection ceremony marks 1-year anniversary of Dollar General shooting

On Sunday, a year after a Clay County man drove to their neighborhood to target Black people, the three victims of the mass shooting in Northwest Jacksonville were remembered by their family, friends, loved ones and the wider community.

Angela Carr was 52. She was a rideshare driver who had just finished speaking with her grandchildren and was parked outside the Dollar General store.

AJ Laguerre was 19. He was working inside to make money to support his love of gaming.

Jerrald Gallion was 29. He was a father and massive Jaguars fan who loved music and was shopping with loved ones.

All three were killed on Aug. 26, 2023, when 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter – who wrote about a desire to “kill n****rs” – approached the Dollar General and shot at people before taking his own life.

More than 300 people marked the anniversary Sunday in a park in Grand Park with a soil collection ceremony, a tradition started by the Equal Justice Initiative to remember victims of racial violence. More than 700 soil collections have taken place across the U.S. – including eight in Duval County.

The Jacksonville Community Remembrance Project helped orchestrate Sunday’s ceremony. It’s an initiative of 904Ward, a local nonprofit focused on racial equity. Two jars each were collected in honor of Gallion, Carr and Laguerre. One jar was presented to their families. The second will be sent to the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.

“We need to ensure that we are showing support for and love for the families that have gone through this,” said 904Ward CEO Kimberly Allen. “(They have) 300 neighbors here that are willing to love on them and support them. From a city perspective, we don’t want this to happen again. And, if we don’t acknowledge it, we will forget it. And we will allow the same things to seep into our culture and allow us to have another moment like this.”

Alex Rudnick and David Jamison were co-chairs for Sunday’s ceremony. Jamison is a history professor at Edward Waters; however, it was Rudnick who was more explicit in the reason hundreds gathered under trees during the dog days of summer.

“Racial terror lynchings were crimes designed to instill fear into the hearts of Black communities and suppress civil rights,” Rudnick said. “JCRP acknowledges the Dollar General murders as incidents of racial terror lynching and we are here to perform the sacred ritual of soil collection by gathering soil brought from the front of the Dollar General store and putting it into jars with the names of AJ Laguerre, Angela Carr and Jerrald Gallion. The soil collection is a way to connect us through time to the men and women who lost their lives.”

As Rudnick and others spoke, the families of Laguerre, Carr and Gallion sat in the front rows. Some shooting survivors who attended held one another and cried.

Dozens of people shoveled soil from a pot into the jars bearing the victim’s names.

More than half of the Jacksonville City Council attended. Council member Ju’Coby Pittman, who co-hosted the ceremony with Allen, pledged a commemoration would happen every year she continues to represent Grand Park.

Council Member Raul Arias was so overcome after he placed the black soil into the jar, he sat in his seat with his head in his hands.

Arias was not alone. Pastors, community advocates, survivors and the families of the deceased did not try to contain their emotions during the somber ceremony.

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan wore black shades most of the afternoon.

Last year, Deegan intended to be the first sitting mayor to recognize Ax Handle Saturday . That all changed when a white supremacist opened fire 27 hours before the Ax Handle Saturday remembrance.

Then, and now, Deegan confided that she feels personal responsibility for the racist massacre taking place during her tenure.

“It is not enough to remember Angela, A.J. and Jerald only in moments of reflection. We must honor them through our actions,” Deegan said.

“We must strive to create a society where diversity is celebrated and where every individual feels that they belong. We must expand the work that is harnessing our city’s diversity, not undermine the people or programs that nurture it. We also must work towards a future where everyone feels safe and supported, no matter who they are, who they love, or where they worship.”

In Imam Lateef Majied’s closing prayer, he said gun violence is a plague on the community. The only way to overcome the hate, Majied said, is to plant seeds of love and let them be watered by the community.

“The difference between soil and soul is you and I,” Majied prayed.

As Majied spoke, a survivor stood under an oak tree and quietly sobbed.

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