The racism evident in Florida's Stand Your Ground law seems obvious to some of us; "homicides involving white shooters and black victims are 11 times more likely to be deemed "justifiable" than those where the scenario is reversed."
Yet for others, discussion of overt, unconscious, and institutional racism seems to evoke reflexive defensiveness. No matter where the conversation starts it degenerates quickly toward "How dare you?! You just called me/him/us racist!" People back off, walk on eggshells, and avoid direct reference to the elephant in the room.
I'm sure some of you are very familiar with this issue, and I'm just as sure (sadly) that some of you think that discussions of unconscious and institutional racism are just personal smears and "playing the race card."
Holly Hughes, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, cuts through the empty rhetoric surrounding Florida's Stand Your Ground law with a simple question. (h/t JaxDem)
The transcript:
from DemoNews by: Omar Rivero posted on February 19, 2014
Let’s just keep it really real. Us lawyers use this term, “assuming arguendo,” meaning “how about if it was like this,” let’s flip this, Don.
Let’s say that in the state of Florida, black men were murdering teenage white boys, and then when they went to trial, they got acquitted using “stand your ground.” Do you really think that if that was happening, that they wouldn’t repeal the law or change it? […]
Why is it ok?
Can we just ask the question!”
Follow Holly Hughes @AttorneyHHughes
This question and Omar Romero's post needs to be spread far and wide. The full transcript is available at the link above.
Stand Your Ground laws began in Florida and were pushed through by the NRA and GOP Governor Jeb Bush. Don't be mislead, the euphemistically named "Castle Doctrine" model laws passed since 2005 are not your grandfather's castle doctrine. They were pushed across the country by the American Legislative Exchange Council, aka ALEC- controlled state legislatures. More information about ALEC is available at the American Legislative Transparency Project, a Daily Kos group.
In this diary I hope we can talk about the question, and about how hard it is to talk about this subject, without ending up in a fight. Please save righteous rants for another day.
The floor is yours.
If unarmed teenage white boys were being shot with impunity
by adult African-American men, would anyone say, "It's working"?
Edit: The paragraph on ALEC was added after publication.
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We have adopted Wee Mama's and akadjian's guidance on communicating. But most important, be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle.
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Mon Feb 24, 2014 at 2:52 PM PT: Thank you, everyone who dropped by. Given the problems with access to the site yesterday, I'll be keeping an eye on this diary and will respond to any late arrivals.