Florida governor Rick Scott will give the keynote address to the Americans for Prosperity's "Defending the American Dream Summit" scheduled for Aug 30-31 in Orlando, Florida. Ain't that some shit? Mr. Scott is surely uniquely qualified to give this talk, given that for the last four weeks his office has been occupied by Dream Defenders demanding justice. He's had some of the best and brightest of our youth right outside his inner sanctum ready and willing to share talking points with him. I will be SOOOO interested to hear what he makes of that to the Koch Brother owned crowd that will have air conditioning and plenty of food weekend after next. Meanwhile, I'd like to share a few more of my personal experiences with the Dream Defenders. Please follow me under the orange squiggle of keep-it-upness.
OK, so my last diary on this topic left off with day one of the Dream Defenders' occupation of Gov. Rick Scott's office. They are demanding a special session of the Florida Legislature to debate issues raised by the verdict in the murder trial of George Zimmerman who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager.
Specifically, the Dream Defenders, which is a diverse group of justice seekers predominately led by black and brown youth is demanding that the Florida Legislature be called into special session to consider:
1 - The ALEC drafted and Florida (not to mention 22 other states) endorsed "Stand Your Ground" law.
2 - Racial profiling.
3 - The school to prison pipeline.
So let's move on to day 2, shall we?
July 17, 2013 - Rachel Maddow picks up on the amazing DDs
Yeah, so, what did anybody expect? A kid gets murdered, his killer walks because the guy that killed him was all scared and stuff, and he had a gun and it was God's will that he shoot it if he got all scared of a kid who was minding his own business. A kid he'd never have gotten scared of if he hadn't followed him because the kid was all suspicious and stuff because he was wearing a hoodie and walking and the rain and looked black and stuff...
http://archive.org/...
July 19, 2013 - Rick Scott emerges
Having come back from his business building excursions, the governor grants thirty minutes of his precious time to the Dream Defenders. Upon which he announces in no uncertain terms that he thinks (believes?) that "Stand your Ground" is a real fine law, thank y'all.
https://www.youtube.com/...
The Dream Defenders are not moved, and continue to occupy the state capitol. They are determined to bring our elected officials together to discuss pressing issues that are affecting the lives of the youth in this state, specifically:
1 - Stand your ground
2 - Racial profiling
3 - The school to prison pipeline.
Stay tuned for more updates, and please support the Dream Defenders!