October 21, 2015
Page 7
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O PINION
The Racial Bias in Stand Your Ground Laws
Rather than
curb violence,
they increase
violence
b y M arC h. M orial
Trayvon Martin’s unjust death
at the hands of a trigger-happy,
self-described
neighborhood
watchman continues to shock
and live on in our nation’s col-
lective consciousness. And with
the release of a recent study
commissioned by the American
Bar Association, it may also
become the impetus behind the
movement to abolish or scale
back Stand Your Ground pro-
tections -- protections that influ-
enced the ultimate acquittal of
Trayvon’s murderer and focused
our attention on the dangerous
confluence of race and criminal
justice in America.
On the evening of Feb. 26,
2012, Trayvon became a tragic
illustration of the glaring defects
in Florida’s Stand Your Ground
law. The 17-year-old, with no
criminal record, was walking
home from a store armed only
with a bag of candy and a can of
iced tea when he was confronted
and then shot to death by George
Zimmerman.
Because of Florida’s Stand
Your Ground law, Zimmerman
was taken in for questioning but
was later released on
the grounds of self-de-
fense. He would not be
charged with murder by
the police -- that night.
According to the law,
which Florida became
the first state to adopt
in 2005, people are au-
thorized to use deadly force in
cases of self-defense without
the duty to retreat in the face
of any perceived threat to their
life or property. As long as you
can claim that you are in fear for
your life at any given point, the
law hands you a license to kill at
will. Rather than lower homicide
or crime rates, this essentially
free pass to criminal behavior
has only served to further endan-
ger public safety -- particularly
the lives of people of color -- and
exploit the mistrust, animosity
and racial injustice that color our
daily interactions and justice at
every level.
Trayvon’s murder served as
the genesis of the ABA’s Na-
tional Task Force on Stand Your
Ground Laws. The task force has
researched the impact of Stand
Your Ground laws in the 33
states that carry some variation
of the law, including Or-
egon, and their discover-
ies should give pause to
all Americans commit-
ted to fair and balanced
treatment within our
criminal justice system.
In a previous study
by the Mayors Against
Illegal Guns coalition in collab-
oration with the National Urban
League and VoteVets, our data
showed that in the 22 states that
had enacted Stand Your Ground
Laws between 2005 and 2007,
the justifiable homicide rate by
private citizens was 53 percent
higher after the passage of the
law.
The study also found that in
Florida alone, justifiable homi-
cides jumped to 200 percent. A
2012 ABA report cited statistics
compiled by researchers at Texas
A&M that found that states with
Stand Your Ground laws have
more homicides than states with-
out the statute.
When you take into consider-
ation the history of race in this
country, the disproportionate im-
pact of the law on African Amer-
icans should come as no surprise.
The task force’s research has also
found that a white shooter who
uses deadly force against a black
victim is 350 percent more likely
to be found justified than a black
shooter who kills a white victim.
Because of the racial bias in-
herent in Stand Your Ground
laws, and the danger to the gen-
eral public caused by this “shoot
first, ask later” mentality, we
need to do more than review the
laws, we need to repeal them.
Stand Your Ground has not prov-
en itself to be a common sense
law that keeps our communities
-- and our neighbors -- safe.
According to one of the task
force’s researchers, “if we are to
use science and data and logic and
analysis to drive sensible public
policy, then there is no reliable
and credible evidence to support
laws that encourage stand your
ground and shoot your neighbor.”
No matter who you are, or
what ethnic community you
claim as your own, we all want
the same thing: to be safe. Stand
Your Ground laws have proven
that rather than curb violence, the
laws increase violence.
The explosive combination
of Stand Your Ground laws and
pre-existing racial stereotypes
and tensions have worked dis-
proportionately against com-
munities of color, making them
victims in far larger numbers
and depriving them of justice
in our criminal justice system.
Repealing Stand Your Ground
laws would seem like common
sense, but unfortunately, com-
mon sense is not so common.
Just weeks ago a bill was intro-
duced by a Florida legislator that
would effectively provide more
protection for people who claim
self-defense, placing the bur-
den on prosecutors to prove that
the defendant was wrong to use
deadly force.
Stand Your Ground laws do
not protect us -- they hurt, divide
and kill -- and we must work
together to enact public policy
and gun laws that will ensure the
safety of the American public.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.
‘This Ain’t Yo Mama’s Civil Rights Movement’
Welcoming a
new generation
of activists
r ev . a undreia a lexander
The day after the Aug. 10 an-
niversary of Michael Brown’s
death, I was arrested along with
more than 50 other protesters
outside of the Department of
Justice in St. Louis in an act of
civil disobedience.
As I shared a cell with 15 oth-
er women, I was captivated by a
t-shirt worn by one of the women
that said, “This Ain’t Yo Mama’s
Civil Rights Movement.”
I wasn’t born when Rosa
Parks inspired the longest sus-
tained act of protest of the 20th
century after she was arrested
for not moving to the back of
the bus in Birmingham, Ala. I
have watched the multi-shades
of gray film clips from the era
and wondered what role I might
have played in it. Would I have
been one of those on the front
line or remained on the side? If I
did participate, what would have
been my limits? Would I contin-
ue protesting after being beaten,
by
bitten by dogs, or being spit on
and pummeled by rocks thrown
by racist observers?
My short stint of seven hours
in a holding cell did not solve
this backward reflection for me
and frankly, I think different cir-
cumstances and historical con-
texts make the analogy
an exercise in futility.
I have, however, par-
ticipated in and reflect-
ed on conversations
that compare the Civil
Rights Movement of
the ‘50s and ‘60s with
the current Black Lives
Matter Movement.
I think there are many sim-
ilarities. Both are led by young
revolutionaries fed up with an
unjust governmental system
that diminishes the humanity of
black people. Both challenge the
status quo that fails to live up to
the promise America made to be
“one nation under God with lib-
erty and justice for all.” Both are
fueled by the senseless deaths of
black people killed with impuni-
ty and no accountability.
A more complicated compari-
son is the role of the faith com-
munity in both movements. The
reality is that members of the
faith community have played an
important role in both. Houses
of worship have served as sanc-
tuary and training facilities for
protesters in both. For both faith
leaders have stood in prophetic
witness and spoken out against
injustices even when
challenged by their
own ecclesiastical lead-
ership. The faith com-
munity has been intri-
cately involved, with
a rather large presence
but small in numbers.
The purpose of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
was to respond to and chastise
the Christian community for its
inaction in the face of injustice.
The Civil Rights Movement
was grounded in a patriarchal
structured transactional style
of leadership with a dominant
figure serving as the face and
voice of the movement. A big
and welcomed difference is that
the Black Lives Movement is a
“leaderful” movement with sev-
eral faces and voices. Also many
of those on the frontline and in
leadership roles are LGBTQ
women who are “unbossed and
unbought.” Their voices are not
quailed or subordinated to men.
Despite the debate, it is my
hope that we keep our eyes on
the prize-- justice for all. Mass
incarceration is the greatest hu-
man rights crisis of this gen-
eration. Both Democrats and
Republicans agree that it is a
problem, but none of the many
conferences and conversations
have led to solutions. For cer-
tain, however, reforming polic-
ing at the local level is one way
to turn the tide.
Earlier this year various civil
rights organizations; state, local
and federal agencies; non-gov-
ernmental organizations and
faith communities, including the
National Council of Churches,
submitted testimonies to the Pres-
ident’s Task Force on 21st Cen-
tury Policing. Recently a group
identified as “We the Protesters”
issued an outline of policy solu-
tions titled “Campaign Zero.”
Campaign Zero incorporates
many of the recommendations
that came out of the taskforce re-
port. This document is “ground
zero” for bringing together a
cross section of interested parties
to join efforts that will demilita-
rize police departments, hold po-
lice accountable and reverse the
trend of mass incarceration.
Each generation has its meth-
ods, language and leadership
style for bringing about change. I
would dare say that the millennial
leaders of the Black Lives Matter
movement are an answer to the
prayers of those who preceded
them. For many of us “You are
the ones that we have been wait-
ing for.”
Dr. King once said, “Our net-
tlesome task is to discover how
to organize our strength into
compelling power so that govern-
ment cannot elude our demands.
We must develop, from strength,
a situation in which the govern-
ment finds it wise and prudent to
collaborate with us.”
Whether we are singing “We
Shall Overcome” or chanting
“No justice, No Peace,” we must
do it together.
Rev. Aundreia Alexander, Esq,
is the associate general secretary
for action and advocacy for jus-
tice and peace with the Nation
Council of Churches, a member
organization with the Civil Rights
Coalition on Police Reform.