Food for thought Prt 39
Lately there has been a lot in the news about the “Stand Your Ground Law” So I would like to talk about it for a minute. Two of the most hateful and racist organizations in America, The National Rifle Association (NFA) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are the driving force of the infamous stand your ground laws in this country, The Law is actually defined as using force in self defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat without an obligation to retreat first. Not just in your home, but in some cases, a person may use deadly force in public areas without a duty to retreat. Stand your ground laws vary from state to state and just about 30 states have one in some form or another. This is the same law that emboldened George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case, The Black teenager, that got international attention a few months ago, especially since the accused didn’t even get arrested until 45 days later. Some of this jumped off because of the elements of the stand your ground law and partially because of the incompetence of a small town police force and their attitude towards blacks.
Groups like “ALEC” and the “NFA” have been pushing stand your ground laws since 2005. Recently New York Mayor Bloomberg, an ex moderate Replican, but now in public safety, they are only interested in promoting a culture where people take the law into their own hands and face no consequences for it. A.K.A, vigilantism!
I don’t have all the statistics on this, but the majority of the cases that stand your ground laws were used as a defense since the law was on the books have been whites killing a black that they claimed were in fear of and I have never heard of a case yet where a black person was cleared of a charge for killing a white person. I’l even go one step further and be bold enough to say the “stand your Ground Law” doesn’t even protect blacks the same as it does whites and here is a perfect example: a few weeks ago in May 2012 a black woman (Marisa Alexander) in Florida, not far from the Zimmerman/Martin case got 20 years for shooting her gun at the ceiling in her home, her husband had a history of beating her up, so she tried to scare him by shooting a warning shot at the ceiling. They charged her with her with 3 counts of aggravated battery because they said she endangered her kids that were in the room next to where she shot and also endangered her abusive husband that has a history of domestic violence against her. This Black mother of two, that had been constantly abused by her husband, which he even admitted at trial, tried to use the “Stand your Ground Defense” and the trial judge denied her that, in pre trial motions. Thats crazy! Now how can the stand your ground law apply to Zimmerman in the same state of Florida, but not apply to the black woman, mother of two with a history of getting the crap beat out of her by her cowardly husband. I repeat, this woman got 20 years and didn’t anyone even get shot, She got 20 years for only shooting at the ceiling trying to scare her abuser off. Something is critically wrong with this picture. Is it because she is black and the same laws that are there to protect white Americans don’t apply to Backs???
In the Zimmerman/Martin case an unarmed black teen was killed and the law somehow applies. But no one was even hurt and the black lady got 20 years. When are the people in this country going to wake up and speak out protesting the injustices in our legal system,, the so called best judicial system in the world??? Is this really justice or “Just-Us” When are blacks and other minorities going to get the same rights as white Americans???
To be continued