Ciara Taylor

Ciara Taylor is an activist involved in student movements, social reform, and human rights. She is one of the founders of Dream Defenders, a human rights organization that seeks to shift culture through transformational organizing.

Personal life

Taylor grew up in the suburbs in Florida and attended Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. She is currently the Director of Political Consciousness at Dream Defenders. In high school, Taylor protested the United States 2000 presidential election, between Al Gore and George W. Bush, after Bush was named President. Taylor felt frustrated and hopeless in this process, because she felt as though she could not actively influence the decision being made about her soon-to-be president. She continued this activism into college at Florida A&M, where she advocated for living wages for campus workers and advocated against budget cuts that defunded her major a year before she graduated.

Activism

Taylor's activist career was spearheaded by the murder of Trayvon Martin. His death allowed Taylor to reflect on the issues that people of color, and specifically - Black Americans face. Martin grew up in a similar situation to Taylor's, in the Florida suburbs as a person of color. His death shattered the visions that Taylor had about the American dream, causing her to feel frustration towards the myth of upward mobility and progress in equality. Taylor got in contact with various alumni and students at her university, and they came together in Daytona. They planned a march from Daytona to Sanford, and about forty people joined for the full march. Throughout the march, they sang civil right songs while people who found the march joined in for a couple of miles. At night they slept in African Methodist Episcopal churches. The night before arriving in Sanford, there were rumors that the Klu Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups would be waiting at the police station. The group discussed their plan, and ultimately decided to continue. The following morning, they marched to the Sanford, Florida police station and knelt outside of the doors. They had no idea what would happen, but a few of them, including Taylor, were willing to get arrested. Instead of getting arrested, they were invited into the police station to meet with local elected officials and police. They were able to speak with the attorney on the case, Angela Corey, and she informed them that George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed Martin, would be arrested. Taylor, and the fellow students and alumni who took part in this stand in, would eventually form into the group known as Dream Defenders.

Dream Defenders

Dream Defenders came together when it seemed nobody else would, to stand up for the rights of the many black men who were being wrongfully murdered. Dream Defenders formed after the successful sit in at the Sanford police station. After this success, they recognized the implications of outside people coming in to solve an issue that the community members of Sanford had been struggling with. The Sanford community felt disheartened that they couldn't take action themselves. In light of this, Dream Defenders focused their mission on teaching individuals how to fight back against a repressive system.

Vision

Below states the Dream Defenders Vision, as shown on their website.

• We believe that our liberation necessitates the destruction of the political and economic systems of Capitalism and Imperialism as well as Patriarchy. We believe in People over profits. We believe that nonviolent resistance is “the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom” and are fundamentally committed to nonviolence as our means of struggle against a violent oppressor.
• We want an immediate end to the police state and murder of Black people, other people of color, and other oppressed peoples in the United States, the immediate release of the 2.5 million prisoners of the United States’ War on the Poor, and trials by juries of our peers.
• We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression (domestic & abroad).
• We want a democracy that is fair and protects the right to vote for all.
• We want free, fully-funded public education for all that teaches us our true history and our role in present day society.
• We want community control of land, bread, housing, education, justice, peace and technology.
• We want more. We deserve more. We will organize, train, act and win

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The Dream Defenders vision is intersectional, it focuses on various hierarchies that dominate the power structure within western society.

Activist Work

In July 2013, the Dream Defenders demonstrated outside of the Florida State Capitol Building for 31 days. This demonstration was held in response to the decision of the Trayvon Martin case, in which George Zimmerman was acquitted for Martin's death. The group stayed their ground, refusing to leave unless Governor Rick Scott spoke to them about the Stand Your Ground self-defense law, which states that defendants have the right to protect and defend themselves without retreating. After 31 days, House Speaker Will Weatherford agreed to speak with them about Stand Your Grand, while Governor Rick Scott continued to decline. After this demonstration, Dream Defenders continued working on Trayvon's law, which addresses and seeks to end the issues of racial profiling and the school-to-prison pipeline. The Dream Defenders tackle issues head on, and work on issues that continue to effect minorities, people of color, LGBTQIA individuals, and women.

References

This article "Ciara Taylor" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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