Students still standing their ground at Florida Capitol

David Schick | USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent

You've seen Occupy Wall Street. … Now meet the Dream Defenders — a student organization that has taken up occupation in Florida's Capitol building.

For more than two weeks, the Dream Defenders have staged a sit-in just outside Gov. Rick Scott's office to protest the state's controversial "stand your ground" law, among other concerns.

The group began organizing immediately after the Zimmerman verdict July 13 and orchestrated a march of hundreds of students within an hour.

Two days later, they started waiting day and night inside the Capitol to meet with Scott. On July 18, the Dream Defenders met with him and demanded that he convene a special committee to re-evaluate the "stand your ground" law.

He told them "no."

The Dream Defenders have since drawn national attention to their cause and plan to camp out inside the Capitol until their demands are met.

"It is our attempt to try and receive justice from our justice system," says Lashanett Lorraine, a Dream Defender from Florida A&M University.

Even though the number of protesters ebbs and flows — from 30 to 70 people — they maintain a constant presence.

"There's new people showing up every day … folks coming in from all over the state," says Dream Defender Michael Sampson, a student at Florida State University. "And we still have a steady flow of rock-hard, solid people who are not going to stop."

"Last Friday, we had a rally with around 400 people, and Harry Belafonte came to speak," he says.

Tuesday, they gained the support of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who showed up to a mock session of the Florida Legislature hosted by the Dream Defenders.

Dubbed the "People's Session," they discussed the idea of "Trayvon's Law," a proposal to address three key issues and their goals for ending the occupation: ethics training to reduce racial profiling by law enforcement, repealing the "stand your ground" law and repealing zero-tolerance in schools — which they claim fuels a "school to prison" pipeline by expelling students for minor infractions.

The Dream Defenders say it was a combination of these issues that led to the death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of George Zimmerman.

At the mock session, Jackson compared the occupation to the Selma–to-Montgomery marches and other civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s.

"Rosa Parks didn't change her mind," Jackson said. "The bus company didn't change their mind, but they eventually did."

The comparisons drew criticism from Scott, who said Jackson should apologize for his remarks.

"Jesse Jackson owes every Floridian an apology for his reckless and divisive comments," Scott said in a statement Wednesday. "It is unfortunate that he would come to Florida to insult Floridians and divide our state at a time when we are striving for unity and healing. Floridians are a strong, resilient people. We are fortunate to live in a great state where all Floridians enjoy opportunities to get a great job and a world-class education."

Jackson defended his remarks and said the state fostered "apartheid-like conditions," according to the Associated Press.

Past the exciting moments, day-to-day life for the Dream Defenders inside the Capitol consists of workshops and training to ensure they're "well versed" on the issues, Sampson says.

A significant number of students who are involved in various Dream Defender chapters at colleges around the state are political science majors. Some students, who are in the midst of final-exam week, have even used the Capitol as a place to study.

Jonel Edwards, a recent political science graduate and former president of the Dream Defenders chapter at the University of Florida, has spent every night but one inside the Capitol.

"Honestly, I came here thinking I was going to be here for one day," she says, "and now it's day 16. So I'm in it until we win."

David Schick is a summer 2013 Collegiate Correspondent.