Exactly one week and a day ago, I asked the question, Why have our students become so silent?

I attributed some of our students’ silence to the fear of being wrongfully targeted and killed, but I also suggested that our students are silent because they also fear success.  

Two students specifically referenced, however, that are certainly not afraid of activism are UCLA Bruin Sy Stokes and Brooke Kimbrough, a young activist rejected from the University of Michigan (See my post: Life and Death: The National Guard and Student Activism here: http://wp.me/p1uzq3-qs).

I was reminded by my good friend Elizabeth Bishop (@BishopDigital) that student activism is still very much alive and well as I ran the post on my twitter (@polidayreport / @DoItGurl) accounts.  

During commencement season, some campuses’ students have used their voices to protest their school’s selection of commencement speakers: Rutgers students denied former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the honor because of her position on the War in Iraq while serving under 43rd president, George W. Bush.  Students at Smith College recently protested International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde as its speaker leading to her cancellation, and Somali-born women’s rights activist and author of Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, was disinvited as a result of student protests at Brandeis University. See Students Protest Commencement Speakers! for more information.

And then there are The Dream Defenders, a young group of activists and students in the state of Florida. They have risen to prominence under the leadership of the very young and astute Executive Director Phillip Agnew in protest of Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law and the killing of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin at the hands of the self-appointed Neighborhood Watch captain, George Zimmerman in 2012.  The Dream Defenders have altered what student activism looks like, but they have remained true to the guiding principles of non-violence demonstrated by students of the 1960’s such as The Greensboro Four  of North Carolina A & T University.  They have attracted a new wave of listeners and activists through the calculated use of technology and social media–we like them!

While covering the The National Action Network’s August 2013 March on Washington in Washington, DC, I had the distinct pleasure of engaging in a very meaningful conversation with Mr. Phillip Agnew (phillip@dreamdefenders.org) and the Dream Defender’s Co-Director of Communications Steven Pargett (pargett@dreamdefenders.org). And of course, I snapped a pic.

The Dream Defenders

Today I am very proud to announce their victory as they have shared it with the thousands of us that subscribe to and support their efforts.

Check out their victory below!

Freedom Summer is coming …

It’s a wild world out there in the Florida legislature. But amidst NRA bills to arm schoolteachers; a “Marissa Alexander” bill that expanded Stand Your Ground without freeing Marissa; and a “Zombie Apocalypse” bill (yes, it was real), Dream Defenders defied the odds. Dream Defenders made a major stride this Spring in our fight against private prison operators in the state of Florida, with passage of an amendment to the Florida budget increasing regulation of private prison operators! Help Dream Defenders get through the next phase of our campaign against private prisons and mass incarceration – including local divestment work, awareness campaigns, and actions throughout Florida.  This winter, Dream Defenders visited legislators across the state demanding answers about Youth Services International (YSI), a private prison corporation that holds millions in contracts with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, despite a long history of terrible juvenile abuse at its facilities.  That history of violence began long before they came to Florida; we would have known…if Florida’s lawmakers cared to ask! Over the last few months, thanks to our ongoing work with partners and to the leadership of Senator Clemens and Senator Soto on this issue, an amendment was added to the state budget and passed by the Florida Legislature, putting in place more checks & precautions before any private prison corporation can be granted a state contract. Serious incidents of abuse or mistreatment of youth will also be reported periodically. We are happy to take a step towards justice. But the fact remains that Florida’s entire juvenile detention system is privatized. Help us continue fighting against the private prison system, which creates an incentive for the targeting and criminalization of black & brown communities.  Thanks for all you do, The Dream Defenders team   Sign UCF Dream Defenders’ Pledge Demanding that University of Central Florida DIVEST Student Tuition Dollars From Billionaire Private Prison Corporations GEO Group & CCA  at bit.ly/ucfdivest

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