Whoever said the young generation was misguided, jaded, and didn’t give a damn, should eat their words now.
In the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal, the Stand-Your-Ground controversy and Don Lemon’s shocking public flogging of black communities, youth-led campaigns are stepping up to bring attention to the real issues at hand.
Organizations like the Dream Defenders and the Million Hoodies Movement have been doing work where it really counts – protesting and calling for action at the source…the politicians.
Camping out, marching and demanding that policies and legislation be changed is just the start of their movement. And using new technology, hip-hop, and social media tools that their civil rights ancestors didn’t have will take their word…and work…far.
The Dream Defenders took over Florida to protest the Stand-Your-Ground law that allows individuals like Zimmerman to get away with shooting and killing innocent people.
After occupying the Florida State House for three weeks to demand repeal of the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, political director Ciara Taylor’s team demonstrated their influence this weekend when Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford announced he would hold hearings on the subject this fall.
The victory arrives after the organization, primarily made of twenty-somethings and college students, rallied legislators, drafted letters and sought approval from the Secretary of State to bring the matter to its feet.
Along the way, celebrities like Reverend Jesse Jackson and Harry Belafonte have joined the Dream Defenders; rapper Talib Kweli will reportedly unite with them this week.
“We’re using direct, nonviolent civil disobedience – that’s one of our tactics – but also we get involved in the political process,” Taylor comments. “We register people to vote, we get people out to vote, we lobby our legislators, and now when those legislators have failed us, we’re going directly to the source.”
And the Million Hoodies Movement for Justice is moving right along with the rest of the youth-led campaigns to make some real change.
Like the Dream Defenders, Daniel Maree, founder of the Million Hoodies Movement for Justice, realizes the propensity for change requires a dedicated, creative commitment.
Maree began his organization following Martin’s slaying in 2012. With it, he organized an Internet campaign and marches in multiple cities across the country, drawing 50,000 people and even more around the world.
On July 31, Maree received a VH1 Do Something Award and $100,000 grant, which he intends to use to grow membership, continue fighting for gun control and civil rights, monitor police misconduct, and push for a national plan of action against racial discrimination.
“Justice in individual cases is important,” Maree explains to the Grio. “At the end of the day, you have to recognize that this is an institutional issue that’s only really going to be effectively changed through hardcore legislation, advocacy, grassroots mobilization and culture shifting through the use of creative technology.”
To read both of these organizations’ stories, click here.
SOURCE: The Grio
