“Daddy, am I next?” were the first words heard by Nathan Scovens (Preacher at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church) from his twelve year old son after the not-guilty verdict of George Zimmerman was delivered to world (Scherer, et al). George Zimmerman a white adult male who shot and killed an unarmed black teen. Trayvon Martin (teen) was simply walking home from a convenience store, in a predominantly white neighborhood when Zimmerman approached him. Trayvon Martin fell at the hands of George Zimmerman, after an altercation. The laws that allowed George Zimmerman to walk as a free man after committing murder were the stand-your-ground laws, formerly known as Castle Doctrine laws. These laws protect people whom have enough reason to believe their …show more content…
As stated in the article “Castle Doctrine Laws Increase Homicides” by Cheng Cheng and Mark Hoekstra, a recent study done by the F.B.I. used state crime data to analyze the effect stand-your-ground laws have in the states this law has passed: “[T]he laws lead to more homicides--an eight percent increase across the states with such laws, which translates to six hundred additional deaths per year”. The most recent and controversial was the killing of a young teen in Ferguson, Missouri by a white cop. The officer’s defense was because Michael Brown (teen) was physically attacking him so he had to pull his gun. However, Michael Brown was on his way home and perhaps had fear himself of what the police officer could do which is why he reciprocated the way he did. This is only one of the six hundred killings caused by …show more content…
In the film “Crash” an off-duty white police officer shoots and kills a young black teen in his car. Due to the fact this Officer already had an existing fear towards the black community, he translated many of the victims’ body language as suspicious. This can be seen correlated with actual cases such as Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin. George and Officer Darren both already had ideas of the black community implemented and getting into altercations with the fallen teens only heightened their fear and gave them permission to kill. As said by Langston Hughes in his poem “Democracy” “Democracy will not come [t]oday, this [n]or ever [t]hrough compromise and fear.” Stand-your-ground laws are based on fear. When today’s society already lives with fear of one another caused by stereotypes, allowing this law to continue to exist is simply giving the right to kill to
The “Stand Your Ground” law was first adopted in the state of florida in 2005. This law did not gain national attention until the shooting death of unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, florida, where the shooter, George Zimmerman used the “Stand Your Ground” law as his basis for defending himself against Trayvon Martin to the Sanford Police Department. However, George Zimmerman’s legal defense team did not utilize the law to argue his innocence during his trial. But the damage had been done because soon after other cases in florida began to sprout up with “Stand Your Ground” as the driving force.
He turned his self in plead guilty of killing Trayvon and then he pleads not guilty. On April 20 he turns him self in and pleads guilty and the bail was at 150,00. Three days later he releases from bail at 12:05am, later enters a written that he’s not guilty. He keeps going back and forward on this case making the case worthless. On June 3 he was taken in custody. His wife was arrested and her charges were perjury. He pointed a gun to his wife and her father. I feel that this isn’t a normal act for someone to do. Zimmerman had to take anger management classes and had a restraining order. I detect this is a control theory. Control theory is someone is dealing with behavior of dynamical system with imputs. He behavior that he had with his wife, her dad, his girlfriend and Trayvon was pulling out his gun and one of them was killed. He had a lot of issues and still that wasn’t enough to charge him for a killing that I sense it wasn’t
Martin Luther King said “he had a dream that one day whites and black will go to the same school”. Martin Luther King was all about freedom for America. In the video American Dream it said “Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight”. A white man killed him because he wanted human right for everybody he wanted everybody to be equal. Back in the early 19th century blacks and whites were separated and not treated equal as whites. Black was not as free as white and Martin Luther King wanted all men to be Equal. “Oxygen” offers an un-ironic endorsement of the American dream, saluting unending possibility and upward mobility” (Farber). The meaning of this is America is not as free as it seems. Human rights are getting violated each and everyday. One thing that seems very unfair to human rights is the death penalty. Electrocution is not the solution it’s not right, the government should not take a person 's life based on what they have done.” At least 4.1% of all defendants sentenced to death in the US in the modern era are innocent” (HRV). Police brutality is getting worst, innocent people are dying everyday because of the harsh like thing police do, they feel like they can get away with it.”500 innocent Americans are murdered by police every year”(HRV). Police have also used tear gas against people without
Police brutality has been an apparent mark on the struggles, trials, and tribulations of people of minorities for years, primarily Black people. From the times of slavery to the present unlawful targeting and murders of black citizens with no justification, police brutality has been an enema in Black American culture for hundreds of years. Seen both in James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man” and in the current happenings of the United States. The hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter” has been a focal point in the current struggle for equality of the races. The current outpouring of support for black lives and
This is not an upcoming issue; this has been around for years since these laws have taken effect in the 24 states. Throughout the nation there are documented cases where stand-your-ground laws have caused controversy and suspects were acquitted of criminal charges. There are a few significant cases that represent the threat and repercussions posed by these SYG laws. One of these cases took place in Houston, Texas in November 2007. A 61- year old man named Joe Horn made a 911 call stating that there were two burglars in the home next door. Despite Horn being instructed to stay in his home by the 911 dispatcher, he still remained absorbed in taking matters into his own hands. On the 911 call Horn stated “The laws have been changed…since September the first and I have a right to protect myself,” Horn said. “I ain’t gonna let them get away with this shit. I’m sorry, this ain’t right, buddy … They got a bag of loot … Here it goes buddy, you hear the shotgun clicking and I’m going.” (Lee, 2012) While the dispatcher was still on the phone, Horn fired three gun shots and the two Colombian men were both hit in the back. After, he returned to the line justifying to the dispatcher why he killed the two men. When officers arrived at the scene Horn was not arrested and nor was he indicted by the grand jury. This particular case portrays how the
“I have a dream that one day right here in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” –Martin Luther King Jr. (Atkinson). Racism is believed to be a part of the past. In many circumstances it is, such as the desegregation of the army and schools. In light of this fact, tensions between whites and blacks have been increasingly seen in the recent shootings of unarmed black boys. This is determined in many different scenarios such as: George Zimmerman shooting unarmed Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old playing with a toy gun being shot by a city police officer, and one of the most recent and controversial, Michael Brown being shot down by a
In America, police brutality affects and victimizes people of color mentally and socially. Social injustice has become a major issue, which involved the principle of white supremacy vs minorities. The current police brutality that has been occurring is culturally disconnecting ethnicities from one another. According to Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, “…the cultural disconnect is very real; you have the weight of generations of abuse on African Americans,” (Flatow, 2016). For example, over the past four years, there have been countless acts of police brutality. The three key deaths of Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling have become the face of police brutality in the year 2016. People knew that it was unequal treatment of black people by police in the United States and they made it known by creating #BlackLivesMatter.
(Roman, 2013) In the case ofTrayvon Martin many believed the Stand Your Ground laws gave George Zimmerman a free pass to kill anAfrican-American boy. However, not every case is the same and a law cannot be repealed due to one failed case. Stand Your Ground laws value the life of the victim over the life of the criminal, which means that even if a criminal enters your home without the intent to kill or cause physical harm, they are still entering with a criminal intent. Proof that the victims life was in danger is no longer necessary because the presumption that the criminal intended to commit a crime speaks for itself. Many don’t agree with taking the life of a criminal if they didn’t intend to do physical harm to a victim, but it is impossible to know what an aggressor is planning on doing. It’s better to be safe than to have a dead victim with their back against a wall. Another issue that many find with Stand Your Ground laws is the propensity of racial bias within the court room. In a recent study done by the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, it was found that the courts seemed to value the lives of white victims more than those of black victims. (Ackerman, Goodman, Gilbert, Arroyo-Johnson, and Pagano, 2015) However, this study did not discuss the amount of black on white crimes compared to
The stand your ground law states that it is a form of self-defense that gives people the ability to use deadly force to defend themselves. This is not the main issue with people who disregard the stand your ground law. Peoples distaste for the law stems from how the stand your ground law is used. What I mean by this is that some states have different meanings and interpretations of how the stand your ground law can/is used. The rulings that have rooted the stand your ground law in the United States currently allows forty six states in America to use this as a reasonable defense. (Shapiro,2013) So, where did this all start from? Over a hundred years ago in Indiana Runyon vs State took place. It stated that the way that the American people think does not allow for them to follow a rule which tells them to retreat, but the person being assaulted or threatened cannot be at fault if they are in the right spot at the right time. Thus, allowing him to defend himself using force which in turn lets him exercise his right to self-defense. The reason that the laws of retreat were enacted dates back to the old British law when the deadly weapons used were swords, this was because swords would allow the defense to retreat lessening the amount of blood spilled during the altercation. British law reflects a “deference to the constabulary,” by which the King owed a duty of protection to his subjects. That’s obviously not part of our tradition.(Shapiro, 2013) Despite what gun prohibitionists claim, the no-retreat rule has deep roots in American law. At the Supreme Court, SYG dates to the unanimous 1895 case of Beard v. United States, in which Justice John Harlan affirmed the right to armed self-defense. (Weaver,2008) It is hard to talk about...
In 2005 Florida was the first to undergo passing the self-defense legislation thus calling it the Stand Your Ground law. This was because of a case against an old couple (Workman) who was encountered by an intruder (Cox) inside their RV. The old man encountered the intruder previously that day, but later on, the intruder invaded the couple’s camper. After being out-side and confronting Cox, Workman shot and killed Cox, after Cox invading the Workman’s camper. A few months after the incident, in the newspaper, the Workmans read that the State Attorney's Office had ruled the shooting justified, that Workman "was confronted with circumstances and conditions beyond his control that resulted in the unfortunate death of Mr. Cox." Weeks later the Stand Your Ground law was introduced to the Legislature. Even though this could appear as Stand Your Ground, Workman had the opportunity while confronting Cox outside to persuade him or call the cops upon his encounter that night. http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/floridas-stand-your-ground-law-was-born-of-2004-case-but-story-has-been/1225164
Imagine that your daughter is walking home from the store. A man in a black car starts following her. He gets out and begins to follow her by foot. You daughter begins to run in fear. The suspicious character begins running after her. She stops and decides to face her fear. She knees him and pepper sprays him. Seconds later, shots were fired leaving your daughter dead. She is the aggressor and he is justified for shooting her in “self-defense” under the stand your ground law. The stand-your-ground law is a law that states that an individual has the lawful right to use any level of forces, including lethal force, if they are faced in any situation where they feel harmed. The first “stand your ground” law was passed in April of 2005 in Florida.WHile the “Stand Your Ground” law can be used as self defense, it puts the lives of African American youth in danger by allowing people to take unfair advantage of the law: therefore, O.C.G.A 16-3-23.1 should be prohibited.
Black Lives Matter is an international activist movement, originating in the African American community. It campaigns against violence toward black people and has become a uniting call for an innovative chapter in the black freedom fight. The clearance of Trayvon Martin’s killer in 2013 and the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 stimulated this movement. Black Lives Matter isn’t just about the loss of Black lives; but mainly about the lack of consequences when African American lives are taken by Caucasian officers. The question is; do black lives truly matter to those that claim to protect it? The answer is no they do not because the movement’s alleged “peaceful” protests continuously
Subsequently, the death of Trayvon Martin is seen as the motive to construct a response to anti-black racism, similarly known as The Black Lives Matter movement. To clarify, Shaun King author of ‘Black Lives Matter opposes police brutality, not police’ states, “I believe that brutal police officers should be held to the highest ethical standards and find it deplorable that abusive officer after abusive officer in America is far too often set free without punishment” (King). The author uses powerful diction such as
The Stand Your Ground Law is a highly debated, as well as controversial topic. The Stand Your Ground Law is law that admits an individual to stand their ground instead of retreating if they reasonably believe doing so is necessary to “prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” (Sullivan 2013) Many people agree with the law because they feel they have the right to be able to protect themselves. On the other hand, many people feel the Stand Your Ground Law is only a way to kill and get away with it. Do you know which side you are on when it comes to this particular issue? In this essay, I will address and discuss both pros and cons on the Stand Your Ground Law topic. These pros and cons will lead to the conclusion that no matter what side you are on about these laws, they need advised.
The movement BlackLivesMatter have outed hundreds unlawful officers and victims that never got the justice needed. The same characteristics (color and style) that emulates strong, noble people can backfire. Black people in this country who actively resist dehumanization makes a call to action and a response to anti-Black racism in our current society. (Cullors, 2015) The growth of the movement has moved country-wide, first starting in the south; the south had always had history of racism and anti-black impulses. This movement is continuing to carry up north and west, and is projected that any officer can be the next one to unlawfully kill another black individual. These immoral police officers are no different from the rest of the police force, their uniforms are no different color or style they do not have different titles, there is no distinction between the these two types of officers. African Americans are persuaded to be more cautious and angry towards police officers; anyone with a cop uniform can be considered a threat to their life. Innocent cops were murdered in retaliation to the unfair judicial systems that are not punishing these cops. Once a police-like uniform is worn it not only once symbolizes honor and power, but t too many communities