- November 23, 2024
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A Flagler County youth organizer who helped lead last year’s “Say Gay” student walkouts was arrested with over a dozen other student protestors at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 28. The students, members of the U.S. climate action group the Sunrise Movement, were protesting a potential government shutdown
“I was just arrested inside Kevin McCarthy’s office for telling House Republicans to quit playing political games when our planet is burning,” Driggers wrote in a post on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, the afternoon of Sept. 28. “I should be in school, not in handcuffs for fighting for my future.”
After making bail, he told the Observer, "Although we don't expect it to change the minds of Kevin McCarthy or his cronies, we do expect it to put pressure on them and make them aware that the American people, and especially young people, are watching and are taking notice of his complete disregard for our concerns and for the things we've been fighting for for many years now."
Congress reached a deal on Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown after McCarthy sided with Republican moderates and backed a bipartisan stopgap funding bill.
Driggers said he has a court date next month for criminal trespass.
"You know, the Capitol police, I understand they're just doing their job. They're nice folks," he said. "So I wouldn't say it was terrible. It was a memorable experience, to say the least."
He added, "We have some great folks helping us out legally. So we expect (the charges) to be dropped or reduced to a misdemeanor offense, which would be the equivalent of a traffic citation."
Although we don't expect it to change the minds of Kevin McCarthy or his cronies, we do expect it to put pressure on them and make them aware that the American people, and especially young people, are watching and are taking notice of his complete disregard for our concerns and for the things we've been fighting for for many years now." — Flagler Beach resident CAMERON DRIGGERS
Capitol police arrested 18 of the estimated 150 students protesting at McCarthy’s office the morning of Thursday, Sept. 28, after the students blocked an entrance and refused to leave unless McCarthy would agree to support bridge funding to keep the federal government open, according to reporting by The Guardian and The Hill.
Driggers, a Flagler Beach resident, graduated from Flagler Palm Coast High School last June and is now studying business administration at the University of Florida.
He was taking a train to Baltimore late in the afternoon when he spoke to the Observer, and was scheduled to catch a plane to Orlando. He had been in Washington for two days.
"Although this action was was more orientated towards our disgust with the way this government shutdown is being forced down our throats, we are also in Washington unveiling the Green New Deal for Public Schools Act," he said.
The students were joined by Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who is sponsoring the bill in the House.
"We've been lobbying members of Congress; we've been demonstrating and working towards that ultimate goal, which is a multifaceted Green New Deal for the United States that makes sense."
In addition to helping organize the student protests last year against Florida’s law restricting LGBT content in schools, Driggers also campaigned for local candidates and wrote letters to the editor, including one published last year in the Observer.
Driggers is planning to start up a nonprofit with other Flagler County student activists, called Youth Action Fund.
"It's basically a platform to support young organizers and activists in Florida," he said. "I have found it and will serve as the executive director."
