Groups Ends Protest In Scott’s Office

August 16, 2013

After sitting in at the Florida Capitol for 31 days — since just after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin — the group called the Dream Defenders ended its protest Thursday with the help of civil-rights icon Julian Bond.

Leaders said they’ll carry their campaign against the “stand your ground” self-defense law and what they consider other forms of racial bias to the polls, trying to defeat the elected officials who opposed their demands.

That includes Gov. Rick Scott, who is up for re-election next year. The Dream Defenders announced a voter registration drive, with a goal of 61,550 new voters — Scott’s margin of victory in 2010.

“Our work and our power have grown too big for these walls,” said Phillip Agnew, leader of the Dream Defenders.

The group marched to the Capitol on July 16 and demanded a special session on “stand your ground,” which they didn’t get. But they got a national hearing, and Bond — founder of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and a longtime Georgia lawmaker — declared their non-violent action a success in the tradition of the 1960s civil rights movement.

“It’s fitting that the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington is coming up in a few days,” he said. “That movement made this movement possible, and that movement — your movement — gave our movement its legacy.”

The protest ignited when Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of the unarmed teen Martin. Although Zimmerman’s attorneys did not invoke the “stand your ground” law, which grants immunity to people who use deadly force if they have reason to believe their lives are in jeopardy, the circumstances of Martin’s death touched a nerve among many black, Hispanic and mixed-race people.

Members of the Dream Defenders are mostly high school and college students — “black and brown youth,” they call themselves. They’ve spent the last month in Scott’s office waiting area, telling stories of losing loved ones to gun violence or experiencing racism in school or on the street. They worked laptops, smart phones and video cameras from the third-floor House Democratic office, getting the word out online. They slept on the floor outside the governor’s double doors.

Agnew said the group would leave the Capitol to serve Scott with an eviction notice. He also said they were leaving on their own terms. He pointed to House Speaker Will Weatherford’s promise that the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee would hold a hearing on “stand your ground” during a committee week this fall.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican and chairman of the subcommittee, said its members would have an opportunity to vote their consciences. But Gaetz has also said “not one comma” of the “stand your ground” law should be changed.

“The right to protest is one that we should protect,” he said Thursday afternoon. “But if they’re on the way to serve the governor with an eviction notice, maybe my hopes for adult behavior are a bit optimistic.”

Gaetz also has noted that Floridians support “stand your ground” by a 2-to-1 margin.

“It would be no surprise if the Legislature reaches the conclusion that ’stand your ground’ keeps them safer,” Gaetz said, “because most Floridians have already reached that conclusion.”

In listing his group’s accomplishments, Agnew said it had forced a poll of lawmakers about whether to have the special session — a proposed session that was overwhelmingly rejected earlier this week.

And they spent an hour with Scott, who refused to call the special session but allowed them to protest at the Capitol around the clock.

In a statement, Scott thanked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Capitol Police “for providing a safe environment for people to exercise their First Amendment rights. We live in a great state, in a great nation, where everyone is free to express their views.”

According to FDLE, 33 protesters stayed overnight Wednesday, and as of Thursday, the state had spent $428,566.69 on security.

The sit-in also drew a steady stream of visitors, including entertainer and civil-rights veteran Harry Belafonte, Florida Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters and rapper Talib Kweli. Another visitor was longtime activist Jesse Jackson, who touched off his own media storm by claiming that Florida practiced apartheid and comparing Scott to segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace.

Agnew said the group would return to the Capitol on Sept. 23, when legislative committees start meeting in advance of the 2014 regular session.

story by The News Service of Florida

Pictured top: The Dream Defenders march into Gov. Rick Scott’s Office last month. Photo by Tom Urban for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

8 Responses to “Groups Ends Protest In Scott’s Office”

  1. David Huie Green on August 17th, 2013 12:54 pm

    REGARDING:
    “@ duke
    I find u deplorable”

    The grand duke was teasing by pointing out the race of the women Julian favors when people claimed he only likes black people. By the way, Julian is a man, not a woman.

    He’s a little bit off, but no more than most people and has a sense of humor. He calls the TEA Party the Taliban, chews out the IRS for targeting the TEA Party, kept Georgia politics interesting for years, had enough knowledge to decline the nomination for vice-president at the time due to the fact that 28-year-olds aren’t qualified, has gotten conservative Christian members of the NAACP to fighting with fellow more liberal members of same over gay rights, was probably involved in payoffs related to scandals within the organization.

    Julian should have told them to forget going back to college and continue to occupy the office of the governor to force him to go against his well-known conscience. That is the way to advance in this life, by not working and making something honorable of yourself, rather than by getting in the way of those who do.

    David also teasing

  2. Sam on August 16th, 2013 7:25 pm

    @ duke

    I find u deplorable. People think that because a white man kills a black man that he is automatically guilty. These people attacking the 77 year old no one is having marches on that one. So duke know your facts!

  3. Gnarlywerewolf on August 16th, 2013 4:20 pm

    I thought they ” were in it for the long haul” well that wasn’t a very long haul now was it. They gave up quick like once the cameras left. Gov. Scott did the right thing. Stand your ground is what the people want. At least the majority that pay taxes anyway.

  4. Duke of Wawbeek on August 16th, 2013 11:28 am

    @John I find YOUR racist comments directed toward Mr Bond deplorable.

    All one has to do is take a look at some of the Women Mr Bond has been linked to and they will see that he is very fond of white folks.

  5. EJ on August 16th, 2013 10:56 am

    “Yea the registered voters will be give marked ballots…..” I would not restrict that to “registered voters” John. Everyone knows the left does not require them to be registered. Or be alive as a matter of fact.

  6. John on August 16th, 2013 10:20 am

    Who in this world would call Julian Bond a civil rights icon? She is nothing more than a racist. Yea the registered voters will be give marked ballotts to study so when they go to the polls they will know what to mark. They left because they got tired and knew they could not change ant thing.There is nothing wrong with stand your ground law. I will say if any of thoes 5 that attacked the 77 year old would have done the same some would be dead today.

  7. Gary on August 16th, 2013 9:25 am

    cpgone1- They will accept a verdict IF it is in their favor. The liberals have tried to make this a race issue from the beginning while hiding the real facts of the case.

    Could you imagine how different this whole Martin/Zimmerman story would have been if Zimmerman was black and Martin was white? Same details, facts and outcome.

    If there were a conviction the liberals would go crazy.

  8. cpgone1 on August 16th, 2013 8:40 am

    “the state had spent $428,566.69 on security.”

    Some cant accept a verdict. The country has never been more violent.
    CC and practice.
    All this fancy pie in the sky protesting will end when we are finally bankrupt.
    Real debt of the USA is 200 TRILLION . Prof. L. Kotlikoff.
    Do an article on that.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News