Tampa, FL – Activists came together here, March 29, to announce a campaign under the demand “Licenses for All” undocumented people in Florida. Members of Dream Defenders, Hondurenos Unidos en Tampa, Mexican American Student Association (MASA), and Latin American Student Association (LASA) at the University of South Florida will be pushing the Tampa City Council to allow drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. The number of undocumented immigrants in Florida is estimated to be 1 million people. Many of the undocumented end up being deported after being pulled over from driving without a license.
Tallahassee, FL – On the morning of March 5, over 150 Black and brown Dream Defenders from across the state converged onto the state capitol here to deliver one important message to Florida Legislators and Governor Rick Scott on the first day of legislative session: the start of the “Dream Era.”
Tallahassee, FL – On Feb. 26, 2012, African-American high school student Trayvon Martin was gunned down in Sanford, Florida. His murderer is George Zimmerman, a 29-year-old man who maliciously stalked the 17-year-old Martin under the grounds of his ‘looking suspicious.’
Gainesville, FL – The University of Florida (UF) chapters of Dream Defenders and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) hosted a speak-out on the one-year anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s murder, Feb. 26. Martin, a 17-year-old black youth, was shot dead on Feb. 26, 2012, in a racist attack by a neighborhood vigilante named George Zimmerman. Martin’s family created an online petition to arrest Zimmerman and it quickly grew into thousands protesting across the country. Six weeks passed before police arrested Zimmerman.
Kansas City, MO – 600 students and youth attended the United We Dream National Congress here, the weekend of Nov. 30. These young leaders gathered to decide the direction that the immigrant youth movement will take in the wake of the 2012 U.S. elections. United We Dream (UND) is the largest national network of immigrant youth organizations, with 47 affiliates and thousands of members across the country.
Tampa, FL – 30 students gathered outside of the University of South Florida's Marshall Student Center, Dec. 1, to mourn the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis. On Nov. 23, Jordan Davis was racially targeted by a 45 year-old bigot named Michael Dunn in a Jacksonville gas station. Dunn shot eight or nine times at the vehicle Davis was in, with the excuse that Davis and his friends had been playing their music too loud. Dunn claims he saw a shotgun and feared for his life. This fear Dunn claims, drove him to not only shoot at these four high school students' vehicle and murder Jordan Davis, but to also flee the scene of the crime. When authorities searched the vehicle Jordan Davis was shot in, there were no signs of a weapon.
Tallahassee, FL – On Dec. 1, just after sunset, Black student organizations from Florida State University (FSU) and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) held a candlelight vigil for Jordan Davis. Davis, a 17-year-old Black teen was violently gunned down in Jacksonville while in the backseat of a friend's car by a middle-aged white male bigot, supposedly over the volume of the car's music.
Tallahassee, FL – Around 15 activists from Tallahassee Dream Defenders, joined by other protesters including immigrant rights leaders, assembled on the fourth floor of the Florida Capitol building here, Nov. 20, showing politicians that Florida brown and Black groups are visible and demanding they remember Trayvon Martin.
Boca Raton, FL – The final presidential debate, held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, was met with a large protest. Dream Defenders, a statewide network fighting for the youth in brown and Black communities, organized the event. Over 200 students and community members from across the state came to demand that the two candidates stop ignoring the issues effecting African American, Latino and other oppressed nationality communities. Police arrested 15 of the protesters for blocking off the intersection of Yamato Road and Military Trail.
Tallahassee, FL – Students at Florida colleges are making the issue of voter suppression a top priority this fall. On Sept. 4, a student civil rights group, Dream Defenders, protested Florida’s racist voter suppression laws. Students from Florida State University (FSU) and FAMU (Florida A&M University) organized a campus rally with dozens of student activists chanting, “Hey hey, ho, ho, the new Jim Crow has got to go!”
Tampa, FL- About 30 people protested outside of the Democratic Party campaign office on June 13. They were there to say no to President Obama's massive deportations of undocumented people and to demand the passage of the Dream Act. The protesters consisted mostly of undocumented youth and allies from around the Tampa area. In almost 100 degree Florida weather, the protesters rallied for two hours waiting to hear from someone inside. While they rallied, many speakers came forward to talk about a range of issues affecting undocumented people throughout the U.S.
Newark, DE – On May 24, over 150 angry students and community organizers gathered outside of Sallie Mae’s annual shareholder meeting to show support for a small activist contingent that attended the shareholder event. Students travelled from all over the country to protest, including organizers from Florida and New Jersey. The initial demand was to hold a discussion with Sallie Mae CEO Albert Lord. The protesters slammed Sallie Mae for being one of the top profiteers from the current student loan debt crisis.
African American woman gets 20 years for firing warning shot to ward off abuser
Jacksonville, FL – On May 11, students from the civil rights group Dream Defenders protested at the sentencing hearing of Marissa Alexander, a young black woman who was convicted of aggravated assault stemming from an episode in 2010 where she fired a warning shot at her abusive ex-husband Rico Gray, who had previously beaten her.
