Rattlers recognized for their activism during commemorative March on Washington

Yesterday, two former FAMU student body presidents shared the stage with numerous legendary civil rights activists during the "Realize the Dream March" organized by the National Action Network. The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech."

Daryl Parks, an attorney for the family of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, stood with his clients as they spoke about the need to protect children from violence.

"Trayvon Martin was my son, but he's not just my son, he's [everyone's] son, and we have to fight for our children," said Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon's mother.

Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager, was shot and killed in Sanford Florida in 2011. One juror said she and the other six members of the jury acquitted his shooter based, in large part "because of the heat of the moment and the Stand Your Ground [law]."

Phillip Agnew makes final preparations for his speech.

The Dream Defenders, led by FAMU alumnus Phillip Agnew, initiated a 31-day sit-in Gov. Rick Scott's office to protest the Stand Your Ground statute. They have now moved on to a statewide voter registration drive aimed at defeating Scott's bid for reelection.

Agnew was one of the speakers invited to take the podium during the "Realize the Dream March."

"We are the forgotten generation," Agnew said on the platform. "We are the illegals. We are the apathetic. We are the thugs. We are the generation that you locked in the basement while movement conversations were going on upstairs…But we are here today to join in a conversation that will shake the very foundations of this capitol."

Additional speakers included the National Action Network President Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King, III, Rev. Bernice King, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman John Lewis, and Myrlie Evers-Williams.