Trayvon

“If George Zimmerman was not engaged in any unlawful activity and was attacked anyplace where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force.” (Judge Debra Nelson’s Instruction to the Jury in the Zimmerman Trial).

In the end this case was ALL about George Zimmerman’s rights and Trayvon Martin nearly disappeared. Martin was a victim of a legislative code that has now institutionalized behavior that could bring back the kind of behavior associated with the era of Jim Crow. A message must be sent that Trayvon’s death is a warning and it will be prophetic if we do not alter the course we are on as a people. It is time to take the case back from George Zimmerman and make it about all of the Trayvon Martins whose lives have been more perilous by the actions of the Florida legislature, and the actions in this court.

As of Tuesday morning, one million people had signed the NAACP petition asking the Department of Justice to pursue federal and civil rights charges against George Zimmerman after he was found “not guilty” in the murder of Trayvon Martin. Many are clear that verdict does not mean he is innocent.

The reaction has been one of outrage, anger, heartbreak, anxiety and fear. But we cannot let these emotions rule us. We are called to act. The laws that made this verdict possible need to change. The political pressure from the right, especially the NRA, that I believe affected the quality of the prosecution needs to met with more pressure to serve all of the people. And this new outrage must be put into context with all of the other outrages that have come our way from shootings in Newtown, to the gutting of the VRA, to the hijacking of women’s health concerns in NC and TX, to…..well, there is a long list.

In this we need to begin with the pursuit of justice for Trayvon Martin, and it continues with a comprehensive campaign to fight the underlying problems factors that led to his death.

The first step is clear: we must make sure that George Zimmerman is held accountable for his actions. The jury’s decision must be respected and the rule of law upheld, but that does not mean the investigation should be considered complete. The trial judge’s decision to discount debate about race or racial profiling in the courtroom and to insert (with the approval of both the prosecution and the defense) language into the jury instructions tried to set aside the open questions about Zimmerman’s motivation and intent.

We have a chance to challenge racial profiling in all its forms.  We can send a message that we will not accept this as the status quo.

We have a choice. We can be felled by our sorrows over the jury’s decision. Or we can turn our frustration into action. We can demand the Department of Justice address the travesties of this tragedy.

Sign the NAACP’s petition at www.naacp.org.

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FerraKnows
Member
FerraKnows

Hi Murph,

Like CL, I also signed this on Monday. Thank you for all your efforts!

choicelady
Member

As of about 2 pm this afternoon, our US Attorney’s office forwarded a message to those of us on the local civil rights hate crimes task force from the DOJ affirming that the Martin case is OPEN for investigation under civil rights and hate crimes laws. They have set up a specific email that allows anyone with more information to report it directly, no intermediaries. That’s fantastic since some people may be wary about going to the US Attorney or FBI and being seen there.

Murph – I got lucky and got into the NAACP site just as it first came online. I understand from emails from Benjamin Jealous that they already have over one MILLION signatures!!!

This is an issue that is NOT going away. Thanks for your advocacy for the cause! Keep trying everyone. The more who sign, the more it helps. GREAT to have this post, Murph. Thank you very much!

SueInCa
Member

Murph I signed it on Monday, also signed a Credo petition that was similar. Also signed a petition for Marissa Alexander..

When I first got the petition, I tried for several hours to get in to sign it and the site timed out over and over. I hope that means they were deluged with good people trying to sign it.

choicelady
Member

Hi Sue – I am not familiar with the case. Can you elaborate?

SueInCa
Member

CL here is a link to a story about it. Same prosecutor as Zimmerman, black woman gets 20 years for not killing anyone, Zimmerman walks.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/07/18/marissa-alexander-20-year-sentence-george-zimmerman-prosecutor-angela-corey

AdLib
Admin

Sue, yes, this story is getting a lot of attention now as it should. It’s like a fish hook in my brain now, that juror claiming that race had nothing to do with their decision.

The FL legal system (it’s all around the US but in FL it seems so extreme) is all about race! These two cases prove it and prove that the SYG law is all about race too!

This has gone too far to be allowed to continue. “Enough!”, indeed!

choicelady
Member

I saw a LTE in the Sacramento Bee this morning that was identical to posts on a couple of blogs – word for word, idea for idea – that screams BOILERPLATE from some group. It disavows the idea that there is any guilt for anything, no gun issue, no race. Cannot tell for sure who put it out, but there is a large machine on the Right that cranks out such letters and gets shills to post or print them.

This is the new meme: just poor judgement by both Zimmerman and Martin. That’s all. So sad.

Pernicious in the extreme since there are horrific injustices that must be addressed, and this gives comfort to the indifferent who don’t wish to be engaged.

My organization is putting out a ‘mini study guide’ on what needs to be revived in our congregations on this issue. Several clergy – mostly white – preached in hoodies again this week. We will NOT back down.

SueInCa
Member

TeaBillies are handed their talking points almost every day. I see it all the time on FB, blog comments et al.

AdLib
Admin

CL, yep, it is part of the RW machine to manufacture “thoughts” for their drones to have and propagate. Of course they want to campaign on the murder of Trayvon as a good or at least, not-bad thing, racism is now a core value of the GOP.

However, they’re not changing any minds, just reinforcing self-justifications for their base to keep being openly racist.

Love the preachers in hoodies, what a smart and strong way to get the point across.

Not surprised your org is diving right into the middle of all of this, you and they rock!

SueInCa
Member

Enough indeed. I agree and when I read Murph’s comments about his area’s reaction, it simply validated it all. “Open season on Co(ns”? Cannot say it any plainer than that. I told Murph that I feel kind of isolated here in CA because that ideology is not prevalent.

AdLib
Admin

Sue, while there is a degree of racism here in CA (as I mentioned in my comment to Assumed), that kind of open racism is foreign to me too.

Those people are just as nasty as Islamic terrorists IMO, they are unAmerican and jihadists as well.

Americans look at the ME, at Egypt and Syria and shake their heads like we’re superior and yet we have racial insurgents scattered around our country, committing murders of innocent people.

SueInCa
Member

Yes that is what puzzles me about these people actually thinking Americans are exceptional. Perhaps it is the same blindness that makes them hold on to their prejudices…..and when people of a foreign country point it out, they are the bad guys. SMH

AdLib
Admin

Agreed Sue, these desperately insecure white people NEED to feel that they and America are superior so they NEED to ignore or hate anyone or anything that dares to pop their bubble.

It is the concept they need as a security blanket, they have little interest in truth and what is just, they’re just shivering cowards who are capable of nasty things if they get scared enough.

SueInCa
Member

You always know the mark of a coward. A coward hides behind freedom. A brave person stands in front of freedom and defends it for others
Henry Rollins

AdLib
Admin

Wow, well said by Rollins, so true and impressive!

choicelady
Member

Thanks – knew the story, not the woman’s name.

Stand your ground is for white males only.

Kalima
Admin

Hi Murph, just wanted you to know that after six times, I had to give up because it wouldn’t accept my postal code over here.

Know that I feel just as strongly about this as all of you here do.

I did however sign this so if anyone else would like to do so, please do.

Justice for Trayvon Martin: No More Stand Your Ground

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/563/278/407/

Cheers!

KillgoreTrout
Member

Done. Thanks for the link Murph.

SueInCa
Member

Hey KT now I know why you named yourself Kilgore Trout.

Nirek
Member

Thanks for the link, Murph.

Sabreen60
Member
Sabreen60

Done! Thank you Murph.

kesmarn
Admin

Done, Murph! And thank you for supplying the link.

PatsyT
Member

Hi Murph, That link did not work for me. Maybe hackers again?
I did sign this Moveon petition a few hours after it came out. . http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/open-a-civil-rights-case?source=mo&id=71225-9173405-biNRNpx
Is this the one?

Then I got this notice about the moveon site today.

Dear MoveOn member,

Anonymous attackers just tried to shut down MoveOn’s site.

Over the weekend, someone unleashed millions of artificial requests at our servers, preventing legitimate traffic from getting through, and temporarily shutting down our website. It’s what’s called a Denial of Service Attack, and this was the largest one we’ve ever faced. Over 15 years, through wars and heated elections, we’ve never seen anything like this.

It was the equivalent of someone firing a shot-gun through our window—clearly aimed to intimidate us and interrupt our work. Tens of of thousands of MoveOn members and other visitors were unable to organize on our site—sign petitions, plan events, run campaigns—for hours as our ace tech team raced to fight the attack and get the site back up.

We’re back up and running with new defense measure in place, but while this was the biggest attack we’ve faced, it won’t be the last. We must quickly beef up our defenses so MoveOn members can keep running campaigns that speak truth to power without fear.

Will you chip in $5 today to help make sure MoveOn is on and strong enough to withstand the next attack when it comes?

Yes, I’ll chip in to defend against anonymous attackers trying to shut MoveOn down.

While we were under attack, MoveOn staff couldn’t access some of our most essential tech tools. Over 45,000 MoveOn members were unable to reach their petition signers and campaign data. Over 300 groups met this weekend to kick off a massive anti-fracking campaign—and all those groups were briefly locked out of our systems.

Paralyzing MoveOn for a few hours was a big blow. Taking us out for a day would be a disaster. Our 8 million members are everywhere, fighting bravely to change this country, working on timely campaigns—they can’t wait for the tools and back-up we provide. We need to be ready for the next attack—and we will be.

AdLib
Admin

Hey Patsy, my bad, the link is fixed now and takes you directly to the petition!

PatsyT
Member

Thanks AdLib!
Super cool, got it!
I think that is different from the Moveon petition.
I am happy to sign all the petitions and send them around.

cyrano1
Member
cyrano1

DONE!!!

My comment: “A nation of laws can’t survive regionally supported vigilantism – which in this case proves Florida officially legalizes stalking, racial targeting, and excuses those who kill when making unsubstantiated claims of “self defense”. Please do your part to help move us towards providing equal justice for all of us.”

AdLib
Admin

Well said, Cyrano1!

BourneID
Member

Good morning MTS,

You are proud to be an Independent Progressive, and i am proud to be your friend. You appeal to our better instincts with the same care and genuine concern that inspire us to move outside of our own safe places and do what is right. We must speak with one voice to bring our country back to its full greatness.

This is not our Last Hurrah. If we are to presume that there was some purpose in Trayvon Martin’s death, then we must make certain the short life of this young man and all of the thousands of others we lose to gunfire every day become more than a footnote in this chapter of our history.

Thank you, as always, for mapping the right direction for us to follow.