Phillip Agnew's Speech from the "We Will Not Be Moved" Rally July 19, 2013 | Tallahassee, Florida

Transcribed by Leah Weston*

Now, we have been here since Tuesday, and some of our students from Florida State and Florida A&M University have been here since Saturday. And for some of us, as President Adora said, we have been here since 2006, when Martin Lee Anderson was murdered here at a Bay County boot camp. So, what I'd like to do today is not offer a fiery speech, but to clarify a few things on the record about who we are, why we're here, what we want, and our vision for a way forward. First, who we are. We are the Dream Defenders. We are a multi-racial, human rights organization, dedicated to defeating systemic inequality in our communities through direct action, through non-violent civil disobedience, and through relational organizing. We are a network of youth and students around the state, right now, at colleges and universities around the state, from Tallahassee to Gainesville to Orlando to Tampa Boca Raton, and to Miami, and we are building. I'd like to correct a few things that have been inconsistent in the presentation of who we are. We are not protesters. The verdict has been read. We are here presenting a way forward. We are not activists. We are not here for the theater this presents. We are not demonstrators. We're not here to perform a show for anybody. We are an organized student and youth resistance, standing against what seems to be to many an unmovable object. And we are here, excited to see what happens when an unmovable object meets a seemingly unmovable object. I'd like to talk about why we are here. We are here, indeed, because our hearts were crumbled when we heard a "not guilty" verdict last Saturday evening. We are not here to re-try George Zimmerman. What we are here to do is express our anger, our angst, our disappointment at the Governorat this statefor what happened under his watch, for what happened under his regime, under his administration, in a constructive way,
* Any transcription errors are mine and mine alone. 1

in a way of peace and love, but in a way, as I said before, that is unmovable. We are here to prevent any more instances like the one we saw on a rainy night in Sanford a year ago. And we are here to produce a solution. I'd like to tell you a little bit more about why we're here. We're here to present the Trayvon Martin Civil Rights Act. The Trayvon Martin Civil Rights act is the result of our determination of the environment and the circumstances that led to that rainy night a little over a year ago. We decided to make it simple for everyone. The first pillar in the three pillars of our Trayvon Martin Civil Rights Act is an end to racial profiling. Now, what we've done is laid out an agenda for our lawmakers to do what they do best and present innovative ideas to tackle the issues. We've done a little bit of the work, but there's much work to do. So, the first pillar is to remove and eradicate the scourge of racial profiling from our police forces, from our neighborhood watchmen, and from anybody that seeks to judge someone for the color of their skin. Now, the second pillarthe second pillar is the end to the School-toPrison Pipeline. Now for anybody that might be wondering what that is, it is, as it states, a prevalent and corrosive list of policies and disciplinary procedures that funnel disproportionately our black and our brown and our poor students out of schools and into prisons. And what is perpetuated by these policies is a generation of second-class citizens, which in Florida before they reach high schoolhave already caught a felony. And in Florida, because of their inability to see the light, if you have a felony in the State of Florida, you are rendered a second-class citizen. It is legal for anyone to discriminate against you in housing, in employment, and you cannot vote. That means you have no say over your future. So, we're producing a generation of young people before they reach 8th gradewho have no choice or voice over their future. And so, we're here today to present a unified student resistance not to demonstrate to you, not to protest what has happened in the past, but to present a way forward for our state. I'd like to tell you a little bit more about what we will not do. We will not be silenced. We will not be stopped. We will not be bought. We will not be co-opted. No one will speak for us. We do no not hear the words of politicians who only seek to pander to us. We do not honor the results of a task force that honors and upholds a law that eradicates us based on fear

and out of emotion. We will not be silenced, and as I said at the beginning of my remarks, we will not be moved. We make a call to all young people in the State of Florida, because what we are presenting today is a new way forward. You cannot confront the world as it is without presenting a vision of the world as it should be and as it could be. An image of Florida and the world that presents a generation that acknowledges race, confronts race, but is not shackled by racethat accepts our differences, that embraces our similarities, that stands tall and says something whenever we see something that's a little bit incorrect. I'd like to say something that may be perceived by a few as controversial. But the Dream Defenders and Power U and youth groups around the country are standing up because you left us with nothing. We've had to make something out of nothing. The last fifty years have seen a systematic rollback in the victories of the Civil Rights movement. We have not forgotten what you have done. In fact, we are building on the blueprint. History is our compass. We are creating new ways to do what you've done before. We admit, we concede, and the only time we will concede that we are not reinventing the wheel. But what we are doing is updating. What we are doing is speaking from our hearts and using our minds. As President Adora said, you must be here to demonstrate leadership. But I must tell you at the first sign of anyone speaking for young people: this cannot work. There must be unity. There must be an equal exchange of experience and energy. We must do this together. We must shun organizational affiliations. We might have to shun a few mission statements. We might have to shun a few Boards of Directors. We might have to shun a few funders and fundraisers. We might have to shun a few reporters. We might have to shun a few of our parents. But we must do this together. It is, indeed, the only way. We do not purport to speak for the youth. There are youth groups around the countryif any of you all are paying attention in New York, and in Ohio, and in North Carolina, and here in Florida, and in California, and in Oregon, and in Colorado, and in Vermont, who are moving. We are part of a growing student movement. And even here in Florida, there are a number of groups working for the betterment of our Florida. The Bible says, "O, come let us gather together." There's a scripture that says, "Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of

things not seen." Last night, the governor told us we had big dreams, big goals. Our contention is, if it's not big, you can't call it a dream or a goal. And so, we are here in solidarity with you. Not in spite of you, but because of you. We have not forgotten, but, as in everything, we must evolve to be faster, stronger, better. And then, we will really, truly see what it's like when a seemingly unmovable object meets a truly unified, colorless, ageless, powerless, energized, experienced, unmovable object. Thank you all for being here in support of us. Thank you all for standing with us. And if you really wanna be down with us, be here at 4:00 and get shut in with us because we'll be here all weekend.