Tallahassee, FL – About 150 members of Dream Defenders, an organization dedicated to fighting against racism while building the power of Black and Brown youth, marched into the Florida Capitol, March 3 to confront the Florida law makers and Governor Rick Scott with chants and protest on the first day of legislative session.

Demands 'Higher Ground' for Florida

Tallahassee, FL – More than 200 people from Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami met at the steps of The Old Capitol in Tallahassee for Florida’s first Moral Monday rally, March 3. The NAACP organized the rally and was joined by other coalition members. Protesters discussed a people’s agenda for the next 60 days of the Florida legislative session, which began on March 4.

Tallahassee, FL- On Feb. 28, 35 courageous students gathered at the Florida State University (FSU) Integration Statues. At the very statue that symbolized the supposed diversity that Florida State claims, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and a broad array of organizations – including Advocates for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Dream Defenders and the Center for Participant Education – demanded tuition equity. This policy that would ensure undocumented students could afford the human right of obtaining an education and be granted in-state tuition like the rest of the Florida population.

Tallahassee, FL – On Feb. 20, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at Florida State University (FSU) held a press conference demanding “Tuition equity for undocumented students” on the school’s campus. Joining SDS was the leadership the Hispanic and Latino Student Union, Advocates for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the Center for Participant Education, and the Dream Defenders. Florida State Senator Dwight Bullard spoke about SB 300, a bill he drafted to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students in the state of Florida.

Tallahassee, FL – On July 16, around 100 members of the youth civil rights organization Dream Defenders flooded the Florida Capitol and marched to the office of Governor Rick Scott. Their demand was simple: Justice for Trayvon Martin and pass Trayvon's Law.

Tallahassee, FL – After three days of occupying the governor’s office in the Florida capitol building, protesters demanding justice for Trayvon Martin finally secured a meeting with Governor Rick Scott, July 19. Scott met for about 45 minutes with several leaders from Dream Defenders, a student activist organization led by Black and Latino youth. He refused to give into any of the protesters’ demands.

Tallahassee, FL – 350 people took to the streets July 13 here for an “Emergency Midnight March” for Trayvon Martin. The tear-marked faces of every person flickered red and blue in the midst of a full police escort. The march was organized and headed by a Black and Brown-led student group called the Dream Defenders, who guided a community outraged over the Zimmerman verdict to the steps of the historic Florida Capitol, where the group held a rally.

Tallahassee, FL – On June 4, Florida Governor Rick Scott vetoed a bill that would have allowed undocumented youth covered by DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) to have driver's licenses. House Bill 235 or the Dream Act Driver License Act would have made it so that young undocumented DACA recipients could apply for a Florida state driver’s license. The bill was passed unanimously by the Florida Senate and won in the House by a 115 to 2 vote. At the last minute, after it had already passed, Scott used his veto powers to shut down the bill.

Tallahassee, FL – As the Florida legislative session comes to a close, workers racked up a couple of major victories at the capitol. After months of protest by labor unions and progressive groups, the Florida Senate defeated two bills that would have attacked pensions for public workers and allowed corporations to privatize public schools.

Tallahassee, FL – Nearly 30 community members and Tallahassee Dream Defenders attended a public hearing on April 12 in support of Antonio and Rodrizgus Richardson, two African-American brothers in Tallahassee. The brothers were wrongly convicted of first-degree murder and are facing 25 years to life in prison.

Tallahassee, FL – Over 30 Florida State University (FSU) students and Tallahassee community members gathered on campus to speak out and march against rape culture on April 12. The F-Word (a feminist campus organization), Students for a Democratic Society and Dream Defenders organized the rally.

Tallahassee, FL – More than 30 student activists from Florida State University (FSU) packed into a room in the Oglesby Student Union to hear Noor Elashi and other organizers speak about government repression, March 25. Holy Land 5 attorney John Cline joined Elashi on the panel, along with Mick Kelly, who was one of the 23 anti-war activists raided by the FBI in September, 2010.

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 – About 15 people waved signs and chanted outside the Leon County Courthouse, March 1, to protest the wrongful conviction of Antonio and Rodrizgus Richardson, two brothers recently sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder.

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.’

Tallahassee, FL – 25 students at Florida State University (FSU) picked up their picket signs to protest a pro-sweatshop economist who spoke on campus here, Feb. 7. The FSU Economics Department brought Ben Powell, a right-wing libertarian economist, to speak in favor of sweatshops and exploitative working conditions.

Tallahassee, FL – On Thursday, February 17, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that a bill cutting public workers' wages by 3% was constitutional. The so-called pension reform bill requires Florida's public workers to pay 3% of their wage into the Florida Retirement System (FRS). The bill was passed by the Republican-dominated Florida state legislature and signed into law by Governor Rick Scott in 2011 as a part of their larger assault on the rights of public workers and the right to collectively bargain.

Tallahassee, FL – The afternoon clouds were dark, but even the threat of rain couldn't stop students, retirees, and union members from taking a stand against federal budget cuts. About 35 people rallied outside of Republican Congressman Steve Southerland’s office here, Dec.10, demanding no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security.

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.