Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Today Is The Anniversary Of Trayvon Martin's Murder

Photo: All  about  respect.
And I didn't want this particular anniversary to get buried under today's avalanche of breaking good news. 

While we have every right to be happy about the news that Texas' unjust same sex marriage ban was struck down by federal Judge Orlando Garcia and Gov. Jan Brewer doing the right thing and vetoing the unjust  SB 1062, I still have spent most of the day saddened by pondering that today is the infamous day one year ago that Trayvon Martin was murdered by George Zimmerman and the ALEC sponsored Stand Your Ground Law and a Florida jury llet his racist azz walk.

Justice still has not been served in that case, and we won't rest until it happens.   We also can't rest until those odious Kill a Black Person With Impunity Stand Your Ground  laws that give white people a license to shoot and kill non-white folks and not go to jail for it die. 

And if you think I'm being harsh or over the top about that previous statement, the mounting evidence is that the Stand Your Ground doesn't work for people of color.    Marissa Alexander was aggressively prosecuted by Angela Corey and sentenced to 25 years just for firing a warning shot into the ceiling of her home to warn an abusive ex-husband to back the hell up away from her and her kids.  

Michael Giles is two years into a 25 year sentence he received for Standing His Ground that like Alexander's is also being appealed..  

In the year since Trayvon was murdered, three other unarmed young African-Americans, Jordan Davis, Renisha McBride, and Jonathan Ferrell have died at the hands of white people holding guns.

Ferrell's killer was wearing a Charlotte police uniform.

So my joy over the two other breaking major news stories of today is tempered  by the sadness I feel when I i think about Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin mourning the loss of their child, and being joined in that sorrow by the parents of Jordan Davis and Jonathan Ferrell.

The struggle continues.
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