Florida A&M students gathered at the Florida People’s Advocacy Center in Tallahassee on Sept. 14, 2024, to learn about organizing in support of Amendment 4. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)
Florida A&M University senior Lindsey LaRose gleefully greeted her peers as they trickled into the Florida People’s Advocacy Center in Tallahassee on Saturday morning, dancing and giving hugs to those she knew.
About half were there because LaRose had convinced them to devote four hours of their weekend to an organizing boot camp intended to mobilize their campus to help pass the abortion-rights amendment.
Campaigning in favor of the amendment that would protect access to abortion in the Florida Constitution is nerve-racking, LaRose said. The aspiring social worker is the student leading the Yes on 4 efforts at the historically Black university.
Her lesson for them: “You gotta do it scared.”
For a week before the Saturday training, LaRose said, she stood in a prominent area of the FAMU campus between classes to invite passersby to the event. She spoke about Amendment 4 in front of a packed room of Rattlers before the presidential debate last Tuesday. All the time, LaRose said, she was frightened of failure.