Dream Defenders: HB 1 is a threat to human rights

James Call USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA 
Tallahassee Democrat, 4/13/2021


A student-founded group that once staged a month-long sit-in at the Florida Capitol is calling on the United Nations to help them defeat the 'anti-riot' bill supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The Dream Defenders, which staged a 31-day protest over immigration at the Capitol in 2013, said the proposal undermines the right to peacefully assemble and protest.

'House Bill 1 violates international law … and attempts to silence speech on racial justice issues,' the Dream Defenders wrote to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The measure cleared its only Senate committee Friday, a marathon meeting that featured the objections of dozens of civil rights and social justice groups.

DeSantis had called for what is now called the 'Combating Violence, Disorder, and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act' after last summer's demonstrations led by Black Lives Matter activists and others nationwide, sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody.

Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, is the Senate bill's sponsor. He told the Senate Appropriations Committee Friday that, as a military veteran, it broke his heart to believe legislation was needed

He's carrying the bill 'to ensure that my children and yours can live together more united and come together to discuss our differences through peaceful dialogue and not violence, or unrest,' he told fellow lawmakers.

The Dream Defenders letter, sent Monday, also was signed by a coalition of attorneys representing groups such as the Community Justice Project, Movement Law Lab and Law for Black Lives. The groups are asking for a statement from the UN against Florida's legislation and others like it.

The House approved the bill on a mostly party-line vote of 76-39. The Senate could debate the measure as soon as this Wednesday.

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James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee