Gabriel Pendes, a Dream Defenders organizer from Miami, listens to another participant during a training session Monday at the protest in the state Capitol.
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.
Rick Scott is turning out to be a huge freaking dumbass. Why he is continuing to allow these idiots to conduct their “sit-in” is perplexing.
I thought these retards were going to “boycott” Florida. Busing people in sure doesn’t meet my definition of a “boycott”.
When Ed Rendell was Mayor of Philadelphia and there were big protests at City Hall, he used to laugh and say, “Hey! This kind of thing is American as apple pie!” It didn’t take long before the protesters realized that not only were they not getting under Rendell’s skin, they were amusing him. So they went home.
Good idea.
obama just wants to use it to start a race war.
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He certainly does. He’s pure evil.
Rick Scott and Pam Bondi, both Republicans, signed off on the George Zimmerman persecution.
Being seen as PC, gathering minority votes and playing nice with the Feds and race hustlers trumps any sense of duty towards law and justice for these two RINOs.
How come there aren’t protesters of other persuasions there? I know most of us have to work, but there must be tons of retirees of all kinds of political opinions with the free time for a good cause. A bunch of Tea Partiers could rotate shifts, and after a few days, this would all be resolved.
I think we both know they would never the other side in
Out the chains on the doors and lock them all inside the building. As in Chicago, the libs would kill each other off in one weekend or perhaps two. Our headache slowly dissipates.
Lord of the Flies
I want to be safe too knowing that if a black thug targets and approaches me to play the knockout game or rob me that I can repel him with lethal force if necessary. Of course they are being used. Its obvioust hey don’t know the facts of the case. They’re just haning out saying they’re making a political statement. Its nothing more than socializing and having a big party for them using the Martin case as an excuse to “have fun”. Low information idiots.
The reason Obummer always has demonstrators is because they dont or rarely work and live off the entitlements he gives them whilewe slaveaway at work to pay for them. Ironic isnt it?
I want to be safe too knowing that if a black thug targets and approaches me to play the knockout game or rob me that I can repel him with lethal force if necessary. Of course they are being used. Its obvioust they don’t know the facts of the case. They’re just “hanging out” saying they’re making a political statement. Its nothing more than socializing and having a big party for them using the Martin case as an excuse to “have fun”. Low information idiots.
Gabriel Pendes, a Dream Defenders organizer from Miami, listens to another participant during a training session Monday at the protest in the state Capitol.
I am sooooo tired of people acting like they have no influence on their outcomes! Don't act up in school. Do your work and learn something. Be productive. If you choose to goof off, ignore or even threaten your teachers and misbehave, it is your actions, not your race, that limit your educational opportunities. Yes, in an inner city school it might be harder, but you can get an education if you TRY. I didn't build the school to prison pipeline, you did. Nobody forces you to commit crime. The fault is your subculture, not the culture at large.
When will they call for the Thug protection act of 2013?
John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
He’s a Muslim! Nobody has that beard unless they worship the pedophile.
Who is paying for this? These people have to eat, etc. I would like to know.
Soros?
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