Dream Defender Phillip Agnew on Occupy, the Police and His 5-Year Dream

By Carla Murphy Jan 21, 2015

Check out In These Times’ new Q&A with 29-year-old Phillip Agnew, one of the young leaders behind the Garner-Brown protests that many are calling a "new civil rights movement." Agnew co-founded Florida-based Dream Defenders in 2012 in reaction to the killing of Trayvon Martin and has been organizing for racial justice ever since. Here, Agnew shares his views on Occupy, #BlackLivesMatter, ending policing in schools and what success looks like in 5 years:

I want to see us move from protest to resistance to full revolution. Constructing and building our own economy and systems and schools. I want to see community control of our food and [access] to food that enhances our bodies and our minds. And to see true self-determination for every person in this country, and that does include white people. But it means balance. Right now, black people, brown people, poor people don’t have any rights to their lives and their destinies. I’d like to see the government not engage in wars where we perpetuate an economic system that ruins democracy around the world. That’s not a five-year goal; that’s probably a lifetime goal. And I’d like to see the prison-industrial complex end. In five years, I’d like to see a good majority of states around this country closing jails, and police departments looking completely different–being governed by the people.

And ICYMI, Revolt has a handy stats sheet on 38 of today’s other leaders, too. The youngest is 19 years old.

(h/t In These Times)