Young people more than 80-strong, many now from out of state, remain hunkered down in the Florida Capitol building in Tallahassee, most of them seeing their protest against Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground law as important direction for their own lives and an extension of Martin Luther King Jr.'s mission.
They are committed. They are in it for the long haul, convinced they can get through to Gov. Rick Scott and legislators that Stand Your Ground is bad law and it must be repealed.
King's dream, protesters reminded each other Friday, was that people would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by their character; that segregation would end; and that all men, women, and children could live as free human beings.
It was a surreal moment that took us to another place where we all were together, said 27-year-old Charlene Carruthers from Chicago's South Side. Carruthers is an organizer with the Black Youth Project 100. She had come in from Chicago to stand in solidarity with the Dream Defenders' organization.
We were all in the Capitol after the official day ended, when the building closed," said Carruthers, who like many others was just waking up Friday morning on the 11th day when Sunshine State News approached her. We gathered in a circle (Thursday night). People introduced themselves, we sang, we chanted and shared why we were here.
It was just a powerful moment," she said. To be able to come here and be with some of our members, and with the Dream Defenders ... it's just amazing to see that the movement is much bigger than just your personal experience, than just the people you know on a day-to-day basis," she said. "... That there are people from around the country, and even from across the world, who stand in solidarity, who have the same values and are in this fight for the long haul.
The Dream Defenders organized as a movement right after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager from Miami Gardens who was visiting his father in Sanford. Martin was unarmed, but was followed as he walked back to his father's home by Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman. The two scuffled, and the fight ended when Zimmerman fired his gun. A jury found Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder.
Though Florida's Stand Your Ground was not used in Zimmerman's defense, it has been a symbol of racial injustice in the trial's aftermath for young people like the Dream Defenders.
I want the governor to call a special session," said 10-year-old Jamya Peeples from Miami, Fla., one of the youngest students at the Capitol on the 11th day of the building's occupation. I hope he changes his mind."
We started with a three-day, 40-mile march to Sanford in the name of Trayvon Martin, said Dream Defenders' Executive Director Phillip Agnew. And, we wanted to have the arrest of George Zimmerman. We thought it had taken too long to arrest (him), and that's what we called for at the time.
After the march, they noticed as a group that they could not end the moment on just a march.
"It had to be something bigger," said Agnew, a former student body president at Florida A&M University. So, what we did for the better part of the year was to build up our organization, and our chapter bases at many different colleges and universities around the state under the belief that Trayvon Martin won't be the first (African-American youth shot in error by a white man) and probably won't be the last."
Said Agnew, The support has been overwhelming, really. Literally overwhelming, to the point where we can't get back to everyone. We can't even respond to everyone.
Gov. Rick Scott on Monday restated his position -- that there would be no special session to review Florida's Stand Your Ground Law.
When the verdict came down, it was painful, but at the same time it was time for action, said organizer Carruthers. Our legal system is injustice, so I don't have great expectations for justice solely through our legal system.
Carruthers said the Florida governor isn't simply rigid on juvenile justice or criminal justice issues, but "he routinely suppresses the vote of black people, people who have felonies on their record."
As a Chicago native, Carruthers said she is used to the trauma, and also the devaluation of black and brown lives that exist not only in Chicago, but in Florida, too.
She repeated her belief that the Florida governor is unconcerned about African-Americans or their issues. Rick Scott doesn't value black lives," she said. Politicians in Chicago don't value black lives. We share, even though we are hundreds and even thousands of miles away from Florida, the things that our young people are going through.
The movement is rising up again," said protester Tom Baxter, a face familiar on the steps of Capitol. Back in the old days, when I was 20 years old, there were 20-year-olds like me who made up the majority of the movement. Now, 40 years later, it's a bunch of younger people, and I like to see that.
It's good to see young people involved not just the older generation," he said. "For years, it's always been the older generation."
Orlando native and 22-year-old FAMU chemical engineering student Larshanett Lorraine never really thought about a movement like this.
My whole ideology was that I am going to be the first black person out there in chemical engineering who shows the world that this can make it, she said. But the reality is that me sagging my pants, being black and having dreads couldn't make it. I got profiled a lot during school, which really affected my grades. I got profiled a lot outside of school -- that affected my living situation and made it harder to go to and from college. But, I always had the passion to pave the way for other kids to feel like they can (overcome) it as well.
When I went on the march to Sanford, it showed me how thats done on a meaningful and large scale, she also stated. It's just really powerful to see that many people move around a central idea.
The Dream Defenders believe they are beginning to paint a global picture in Florida for the world to see.
The bullet came from George Zimmerman," Agnew explained. "But for young black, brown and poor people, it's poverty, lack of education, high incarceration rates, high unemployment, school to prison pipelines and racial profiling.
"It's a number of things that make of this cocktail that is killing our young people.
Some people say young people are the future, but they are the now and they are the present," Agnew told SSN. "They are why we do this."
Miami native Marcus Joseph, a Tallahassee freelance reporter and videographer, is a 2011 graduate of Florida A&M University. He served an internship at Sunshine State News in 2011.
