Trayvon Martin Case: Tallahassee march stopped by insurance companies refusing to issue permit

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SANFORD – A march and rally in support of Trayvon Martin planned for Tallahassee today has been halted by the refusal of wholesalers in the southeast insurance market to issue a certificate of insurance for the march. Sevell C. Brown, national director of the National Christian League of Councils, one of the organizers of the march, told theGrio that he believes the refusal of every insurance company in the region to issue a certificate was calculated to staunch strong grass roots support for Martin and his family.

“In my thirty years as a civil rights leader, we have never experienced a problem in any march anywhere, inside or outside of Florida, in regards to the issuing of a certificate of insurance. We never had a problem with a permit,” the civil rights leader told theGrio.

“And all of a sudden, when we want to escalate the pressure on Rick Scott and his cabinet to do the right thing by Trayvon Martin, the insurance industry,” he continued, “the national whole-sellers for the entire southeast market, are injecting themselves into this civil rights matter, by basically shutting down this march.”

Brown says that insurance companies have declared the March for Justice planned for today to be too high risk and too controversial. The police department of the city of Tallahassee requires the city to obtain a certificate for insurance for special events.

Brown lamented that students were being bused in from numerous states in the region, and will have to be turned away because the certificate was not issued. Organizers of the march have worked for two days trying to attain the necessary coverage through last minute efforts. Brown is puzzled by the refusal in part because when he helped organize a similar march in 2006 to protest the death of of Martin Anderson, the marchers took the same route intended for today.

“Walking from the Civic Auditorium, walking to the Capitol building, and then the speeches would begin, and then the speeches of people expressing themselves about how tragic this was,” Brown described as the proposed schedule that was similar to the 2006 event. “And now this same route is suddenly a problem.”

Brown is calling on national leaders to recognize that insurance retailers have used their power to stop the freedom of speech and right to assemble, which are essential to defending civil freedoms at a particularly critical time.

“The insurance industry has now nationalized this incident to another level. Therefore we are reaching out to every leader in civil rights to join us in calling for an all out march with all roads leading to the state capital,” Brown said.

He also stated that this march will occur “irrespective” of whether organizers are able to get insurance. “We are going to march in Tallahassee,” Brown affirmed.

The National Christian League of Councils has called on U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida and Congresswoman Kathy Castor of the Tampa Bay region to investigate why these insurance companies have interrupted a civil rights march in an unprecedented manner.

A call has been placed to the office of Gov. Rick Scott regarding this matter.

Update: The office of Gov. Rick Scott has declined to comment.

Follow Alexis Garrett Stodghill on Twitter at @lexisb