It’s a shocking online advertisement showing a child smiling, arms outstretched, wearing a bulletproof vest.
It’s an ad likely to grab your attention as it offers the chance to buy a bulletproof vest for a child for 50 percent off.
Once you click on the link, you are redirected to the Dream Defenders website and a video the group posted online Tuesday.
The video shows a mother and son talking in the kitchen of their home. The mother tells her son he needs to wear a bulletproof vest so that she knows he’s safe while she is at work. The boy reluctantly agrees to ease his mother’s concerns.
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The video goes on to lay out information on the number of African-Americans killed by police, security guards and vigilantes every day. It mentions Michael Brown, Oscar Grant and Trayvon Martin. The video ends with a message telling people that on Election Day, Nov. 4, they have a choice: Vest or Vote.
Vest or Vote is the latest campaign from the Dream Defenders. The group has become nationally known for organizing young people and highlighting racial and social issues. This new campaign urges people to elect lawmakers that will repeal the stand your ground law.
Dr. Irvin Cohen watched the video with his students at Edward Waters College tonight. Cohen also works with the college as a community organizer in some of Jacksonville’s most violent and vulnerable neighborhoods. Voter education and empowerment are a part of his outreach. Cohen says the video grabbed his attention but he and many of his students found it offensive as an African-America and said that he believed in motivating people to vote in other ways.
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Dr. Cohen said, “You should be voting because it’s the moral thing to do, not because you’re voting out of fear.”
Action News Jax took the criticism to the Dream Defenders executive director. Philip Agnew said the ad and video were meant to be unsettling and uncomfortable. Agnew said he wanted it to spark conversation about the problems and dangers African-Americans and other minorities face. Agnew said that he hopes the dialogue will lead people to become more informed and vote for lawmakers who will change and reform laws he believes are oppressive and unfairly target minorities.