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Capitol sit-in grows as busloads of supporters arrive
thefloridacurrent.com ^ | July 25, 2013 | James Call

Posted on 07/25/2013 10:01:47 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

When police officers locked the doors to the state Capitol at the end of business Thursday more than 100 protesters remained inside. Among the group were about 30 high school students and young adults from Philadelphia and at least six pastors from across the state, all planning to spend the night with the Dream Defenders.

“We’re writing the story of our generation right now,” Gabriel Pendes, a Dream Defender organizer, told the group as it gathered around the Great Seal of the State of Florida for a pep talk and prayer, and to hear the rules of engagement. “We want to create a better world than the one that was handed to us ... a lot more love, a lot more hope -- that’s what the world needs.”

Thursday marked the 10th day of the Dream Defenders' sit-in. It started as a response to George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the Trayvon Martin case and as a protest of Florida’s self-defense law. The demonstrators want Gov. Rick Scott to call a special session of the Legislature to repeal the law's "stand your ground" provision. Scott has refused, saying he agrees with the law and most legislative leaders also support it.

Martin, 17, died after a confrontation with Zimmerman last year. His lawyers presented a self-defense argument to justify the use of deadly force. Protesters seized on the stand your ground law, saying it creates an environment where deadly force is an acceptable response to a provocation. During the past week, though, protesters have broadened the discussion to include zero-tolerance school discipline policies, what protesters call a school-to-prison pipeline and the role race plays in educational opportunities.

“If it is wrong we need to stand against it,” said Eddie Walker, pastor of In God’s Time Tabernacle in Orlando. “Until we stand and do something about it nothing is going to be done.” Walker is part of a delegation of pastors associated with PICO, a faith-based community organizing group, spending Thursday night with the protesters.

Also joining the group Thursday was a busload of high school students and young adults from Philadelphia. The Alliance for Education Justice organized a freedom ride among allied groups in cities stretching from Boston to Washington, D.C. to participate in a Friday rally in Tallahassee. A second AEJ bus didn’t arrive in time to make the 5 p.m. closing of the Capitol.

And a third group, the recently formed Gaston Justice Coalition, said it will bring 200 people from New Haven, Conn., and Polk County to the protest.

“This situation goes far beyond Trayvon Martin -- this law, stand your ground, needs to be looked at very seriously,” said Herron Gaston, a 25-year-old Polk County native and Yale University student. “We want our kids to be safe and to be able to walk down the street without having to feel threatened.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Wednesday that the state has now spent nearly $46,000 on overtime since the protest began. That tab is likely to grow during the weekend. Singer and civil rights activists Harry Bellafonte is expected to participate in Friday’s rally. And a woman who identified herself as a cousin of Travon Martin said family members will be in Tallahassee this weekend to demonstrate solidarity with the protesters.

“We’re going to show this country that the youth has a voice and they are willing to unite,” said Ahmad Abuznaid, the 28-year-old legal and policy director for the Miami Dream Defenders.


TOPICS: US: Florida
KEYWORDS: astroturfing; dreamdefenders; trayvonmartin; trayvonsterrorists; trayvonstroops; zimmerman
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To: V K Lee

... lock them all inside the building.
************************
Then, shut off all water and electricity!


41 posted on 07/26/2013 1:48:24 AM PDT by octex
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To: mindburglar
Philadelphia? Detroit By The Sea?

West Camden.

42 posted on 07/26/2013 2:03:32 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

The Black Ku Klux Klan will stop at nothing to take away your 2d Amendment rights...your Stand Your Ground rights...and your Self Defense rights....especially those of white folks

The Black Ku Klux Klan will not lynch this Whitey


43 posted on 07/26/2013 2:03:35 AM PDT by SeminoleCounty (Difference between George Zimmerman and Al Sharpton is that Sharpton woulda let honky family burn)
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To: Ray76

Michigan’s is nearly identical as well.

These clowns should have been chased off because they’ll just get worse and harder to move as time goes by.


44 posted on 07/26/2013 3:15:37 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: informavoracious

Ben Carson grew up in the hood in Detroit. He and thousands of others have managed to do so without going to prison.


45 posted on 07/26/2013 3:18:08 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
"... said Herron Gaston, a 25-year-old Polk County native and Yale University student. “We want our kids to be safe and to be able to walk down the street without having to feel threatened.”

Because "Stand Your Ground" means open season on any hooded punk you see on the street.

</sarc>

46 posted on 07/26/2013 3:19:55 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Communist agitators and useful idiots...send them to jail for a few days.


47 posted on 07/26/2013 3:20:38 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Deport every damn one of them!


48 posted on 07/26/2013 3:24:58 AM PDT by dalereed
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To: NotYourAverageDhimmi
These policies most benefit good minority students. The majority of school infractions are committed by bad minority students. Bad minority students are almost always in schools that are majority minority, not majority white. That means that these troublemakers most impede other minorities from getting a solid education. But, hey, black people seem to have a thing for defending the dregs of their population even if it's at the expense of the good portion of their population.

The only thing the "zero tolerance" policies seem to do is make them develop selective tunnel vision. In order to say they enforce a "zero tolerance" policy on the students they want to punish they convince themselves the same behaviour by students they don't want to punish never happened.

49 posted on 07/26/2013 3:29:24 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Not a one of these people has a job. Somebody is feeding them, and they have nothing better to do. They are busing in more people without jobs. It’s more like Spring Break than a demonstration . In other words to these idiots this is fun.


50 posted on 07/26/2013 3:29:42 AM PDT by Venturer
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To: ASA Vet
Charlie Walker nasal nostril country music will drive them out faster.
But play it extremely loud.
51 posted on 07/26/2013 3:33:48 AM PDT by Yosemitest (It's Simple ! Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: ASA Vet

Just turn the heat on. And turn off water after business hours, “as a measure to conserve and Save the Earth”.

They’ll be gone in 2 days, max. . .


52 posted on 07/26/2013 3:56:45 AM PDT by Salgak (http://catalogoftehburningstoopid.blogspot.com 100% all-natural snark !)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

These people have a right to peaceably assemble, but they do not have any right to forcibly take and occupy the Governor's office and obstruct him from carrying out his daily duties.

They have the right to petition for measures to redress their perceived grievances, but they have no right to force the governmental officers to dance to their tune.

The press and the phony religionists have the right to lie, and put the honor of their respective disciplines to shame, but they do not have the right to call for the blood of a citizen who only wants his right to exercise his freedom vindicated, and not have to subjugate his life and livelihood to the whims of an ungovernable theif.

This wellspring of civil poison should have been isolated and shut off at the very beginning, by the State upholding the rightful decision of the original county prosecutor, who found no tangible evidence to charge George Zimmerman with any wrong whatsoever.

53 posted on 07/26/2013 4:59:17 AM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Zimmerman trial juror says she owes Martin's parents apology Published July 26, 2013 Associated Press Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/26/zimmerman-trial-juror-says-owes-martin-parents-apology/#ixzz2a9VinajL "George Zimmerman got away with murder," Yes, Lawful Homicide FLORIDA STATE STATUTE 782.02 Justifiable use of deadly force.—The use of deadly force is justifiable when a person is resisting any attempt to murder such person or to commit any felony upon him or her or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person shall be.
54 posted on 07/26/2013 5:03:49 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Gov. Scott BETTER PUT AN END TO THIS UNLAWFUL CRAP.


55 posted on 07/26/2013 5:05:26 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....the HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
These people are trespassing and should be treated as trespassers. Not one taxpayer would be allowed entrance to the Capital building to after hours, neither should these idiots.
56 posted on 07/26/2013 5:11:56 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (The only difference between flash mob 'urban yutes' and U.S. politicians is the hoodies.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
“We’re writing the story of our generation right now,” Gabriel Pendes, a Dream Defender organizer, told the group as it gathered around the Great Seal of the State of Florida for a pep talk and prayer, and to hear the rules of engagement. “We want to create a better world than the one that was handed to us ... a lot more love, a lot more hope -- that’s what the world needs.”

YAWWWWWWN! OWS idiots spouted this same crap. Fat load of good it did them.

57 posted on 07/26/2013 5:14:16 AM PDT by Future Snake Eater (CrossFit.com)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Have a couple guys in HAZMAT suits roll in a barrell and uncork it.


58 posted on 07/26/2013 5:15:48 AM PDT by Einherjar
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To: informavoracious

“Don’t act up in school. Do your work and learn something. Be productive.”

But that would be “acting white” and the other crabs in the bucket would attack you and pull you back down! Don’t worry tho, it is still your fault because you are on FR, so you must just be an old white man!


59 posted on 07/26/2013 5:34:04 AM PDT by CSM (Keeper of the Dave Ramsey Ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
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To: freebilly
But they want it to be, then they will be able to do what they do best without fear of repercussion.

Don't fool yourself into thinking as some do, that this will soon blow over. The Left, the Globalists, the criminal elemenent have one goal in common that they believe they can now achieve: Leagally abolishing the God given right of defending one's life. The groups mentioned above have within them probably a thousand sub groups, each with their own agenda. But abolishing the right of one to legally defend his or her life, with the use of deadly force is one goal they can unite on. Each group for reasons of their own. They now have an incident to focus upon. They have a martyr to hold up as a pure as the driven snow innocent example. They also have a villain to focus on. They have an more than of abundant idiots that do not have the intelligence to come in out of the rain to use as foot soldiers. They have a powerfully ally in the main stream media. Their target is not the law abiding citizen, him/her they bypass. The target they focus on is the no spine, no principles, no core value, only power hungry politician that controls the life of the law abiding citizen with his/her police force. This is the arena in which the battle is going to take place. This is where the young will have to fight for their future freedoms, if they are going to have any to enjoy. The choice is theirs. As for me, hell I am too old to change, I was born a free man and when I die I intend to die as a free man. Whether it is a natural or unnatural death I suffer.

60 posted on 07/26/2013 6:11:03 AM PDT by sport
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