TALLAHASSEE: They’re known as the “Florida 14.”
On Wednesday, 14 people were picked up and charged with trespassing. Their act was to protest peacefully in front of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office.
This was a huge response by the police to a lively group of young people with strong lungs who sang civil rights songs and spoke out against the scary way this state is going.
They spoke for a lot of people. They were put on a bus, booked, charged with crimes, and told they couldn’t go to the Capitol for a year.
Ten years ago, a group like the Dream Defenders held the Capitol for 31 days after Trayvon Martin was shot and killed and his killer was found not guilty. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement did the right thing by not going overboard. No one was put in jail.
In 2000, two Black lawmakers, Kendrick Meek and Tony Hill, spent the night in the lieutenant governor’s office and wouldn’t leave until they talked to Gov. Jeb Bush about his views on affirmative action. A way to get attention? Yes, but they were there for a reason. It happened. No one was put in jail.
Most of the protesters this week came from South Florida. They held hand-written signs, sang songs, and shouted. Even though the Capitol building was still full of lawmakers, state workers, lawyers, and reporters when it closed to the public at 5 p.m., they wouldn’t leave, no matter how loud they were. After being told to stop, they were arrested and taken across the street to the Leon County Jail.
I think it’s great if people are so dedicated to their cause that they will sleep on the freezing cold, rock-hard marble floors of the Capitol. About two minutes of fun. Then it’s really bad.
But no. They were put in jail.
One protester, Thomas Kennedy of Miami, has made a name for himself by showing up at DeSantis events in Miami and making what the late Congressman John Lewis used to call “good trouble.” Kennedy, who was a member of the Democratic National Committee, was charged with breaking Florida law 810.08, which says that you can’t “trespass in a structure or conveyance.”
“We’re fed up,” Kennedy said. “The pay-to-play politics, the corruption, the fact that working-class Floridians aren’t getting any real help, and the hateful laws that are being passed to hurt gay people, immigrants, workers, and teachers.”
They were taken care of in the Cabinet room, which is in the basement. This is the same room where DeSantis held his press conference on Friday after the session and talked about how Florida is a “law and order” state.
The polite protesters were told they couldn’t go back to the Capitol grounds for a year and would be arrested if they did. Not only does that sound like it can’t be enforced, but I couldn’t find any law that says you can’t do it for a year.
Social media posts showed video clips of Florida Highway Patrol agents leading protesters out of the Capitol. Troopers? Why weren’t they on I-10, where they should have been, stopping people who were driving too fast or too drunk?
It wasn’t a surprise that there were a lot of cops around. Kathryn Glass, who works in the governor’s office and saw the protesters coming, is married to FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass, who was appointed by DeSantis.
At the police school, new trainees learn how to calm things down. The point is not to get violent. People weren’t fighting here. These kids were young, and they were using their rights under the First Amendment. For that, they were put in jail. I don’t think this event got the attention it deserved from the media.
Most of the protesters were Dream Defenders who didn’t like what the Legislature was doing to immigrants, LGBTQ people, and other groups.
“Gov. DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have chosen to attack many of Florida’s most vulnerable and historically marginalized communities with policies that attack who they are, who they love, and how and what they learn,” said Dwight Bullard, a former state senator and senior advisor at Florida Rising, another group whose members took part.
“DeSantis stirs up division to make white people afraid, and I’m here to say that we won’t be tricked or divided because we know we’re stronger when we stand together,” said Julia Daniel of Showing Up for Racial Justice.
Rep. Susan Valdes, a Democrat from Tampa, put out a statement in which she defended the protesters and criticized what the police did.
“Those protesters were not loud or unruly; they just sang and chanted in a peaceful way,” Valdes said. “They were using their right under the First Amendment to protest the laws that have been passed by the legislature and signed into law by our governor that take away people’s rights.”
Here is how people live in “the freest state.” Come to a protest. Don’t leave after 5! Do some singing. You’ll end up in jail.
