Bautista, O'Neil To Host Love March In Tampa Saturday

TAMPA, FL — They spent a good portion of their careers battling in the wrestling ring. But on Saturday, WWE superstars Titus O'Neil and Dave Bautista won't be fighting. Instead, they will use their celebrity status to spread love and peace.

O'Neil, whose real name is Thaddeus Bullard, and WWE Hall of Famer and "Guardians of the Galaxy" actor Dave Bautista are inviting the community to join them on a Love Walk Saturday, June 27, from 10 a.m. to noon starting in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa.

Courtesy Bullard Family Foundation

Hosted by Bullard's nonprofit group, the Bullard Family Foundation, the walk is expected to attract thousands of people including elected officials, community leaders, sports celebrities, law enforcement, clergy and Black activists.

Bullard and Bautista, both Tampa Bay residents, have become voices for peace in the community since the civil unrest began in the wake of the George Floyd's May 25 death while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers.

Hours before demonstrators set fire to several businesses and vandalized more than 40 others in north Tampa on May 30, the two celebrities sat down with Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan and Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister on Instagram Live to urge residents to find ways to sit down together and discuss the events in Minneapolis and find solutions to racial discord gripping the nation.

They plan to continue that effort during the Love Walk on Saturday.

"We're going to turn love into action," said Bullard. "In light of recent events and the history of our country, we want to try to bring the community together."

"We want to celebrate love, community, diversity and change," added Bautista.

Bullard said it's going to take all races and ethnicities to come to the table to resolve the frustration and resentment that began to simmer after unprecedented unemployment due to the coronavirus before coming to a head with Floyd's death.

"Everybody needs to stand up and face this even if it's uncomfortable," said Bullard. "Until we start putting it all on the table and discussing it — and I'm talking about everybody whether it affects you directly or not — it's never going to change. We cannot afford to let things like this keep happening. Black person, white person, whatever, we're all human. And anyone who watched George Floyd get murdered on the ground, this has got to affect you. This is a human being issue."

In remembrance of the Black men and women throughout history who have fought for equality, Bullard said it's fitting that the Love Walk will cross the historic Madame Fortune Taylor Bridge over the Hillsborough River.

Taylor and her husband, Benjamin, were enslaved and brought to Florida from South Carolina in the 1850s by the Howell family. When the Civil War ended and they were freed, the Taylors were among the first African American couples to legally marry.

Four years later, in 1868, they claimed a 33-acre homestead on the east side of the Hillsborough River in Tampa where they grew oranges, guavas and peaches, according to the Tampa Bay History Center.

After Benjamin's death in 1869, Fortune was granted the homestead to the property on July 1, 1875, at a time when a Black woman owning property was unprecedented. She went on to remarry and become a successful businesswoman.

Fortune Street in east Tampa, just north of Curtis Hixon Park, wound through her property and is named in her honor. In 1892, Tampa entrepreneur Hugh C. Macfarlane constructed a bridge over the Hillsborough River from Fortune Street on the east side to Arch Street on the west to provide access for cigar industry workers commuting from west Tampa to the factories in Ybor City.

Originally called the Laurel Street Bridge, it was renamed the Madame Fortune Taylor Bridge in Taylor's honor. A historic marker was placed at the base of the bridge in May 2018.

Despite the accomplishments of African Americans like Madame Fortune Taylor, Bullard said America has a long way to go to treat everyone equally.

"Whether America wants to admit it or not, Black and brown people and minorities have never been treated fairly in this country. We didn't ask to be put on slave ships and ripped away from our families. We did not ask to be lynched in public and disrespected over and over again," Bullard said.

Bullard said he hates the fact that, in the year 2020, he still has to sit down and try to explain to his two sons why Black Americans must continue to fight for equality.

Bullard, a finalist for the 2020 Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award and author of the book "There's No Such Thing as a Bad Kid: How I Went From Stereotype to Prototype," often speaks in public about his early years as the son of a 12-year-old rape victim, growing up in poverty, sleeping in cars and being made fun of by other kids for his tattered pants and taped glasses.

However, in an emotional post on the Bullard Family Foundation Facebook page four days after Floyd's death, Bullard's admirers saw another, more vulnerable side to the man who's become a symbol of strength and perseverance to the thousands of children he's helped through his foundation.

"I'm literally sitting in my car looking at pictures of me and my sons and just came to tears. As a Black father, this (expletive) is frustrating, hurtful, scary, etc.," Bullard wrote. "I’ve been able to teach my kids a lot about life but I’m not equipped to teach or tell my kids or other Black and brown kids how to deal with this type of (expletive) over and over again. I doubt very seriously that my friends, coworkers, business partners, etc., that don’t look like me have ever had to think about half the stuff I do as a Black parent trying to raise two Black men in this country. I have a lot of doubts, concerns, anger, frustration and questions. What I don't have is answers, and that’s where many black and brown people are at today and have been for years."

He ended his post with the hashtag #ImNotOkWithThis.

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