There has been a gratifying deluge of shocked commentary on the killing of Trayvon Martin by the Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman. The picture that is emerging is getting scarier and scarier, and we don’t seem to be at the end of the stream of revelations and explanations.
Columnist Paul Krugman filled in some pieces of the puzzle in his March 26 opinion piece in the Washington Post. Florida’s Stand Your Ground law is not unique but is from templates of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Krugman explained. ALEC’s billionaire backers have the same familiar names that support right wing Republican causes and candidates. “ALEC isn’t so much about promoting free markets as it is about expanding crony capitalism.” ALEC doesn’t want small government but privatized government where taxpayers support, among other things, the outsourcing of criminal justice. Corporations such as the American Bail Coalition, for example, profit from a larger prison population.
The National Rifle Association works closely with ALEC. This is not surprising given NRA interests in keeping its millions in donations coming, even when, to the objective eye, all its extreme goals have not only been achieved but dangerously exceeded. Chris Tutko, Director of the Neighborhood Watch Programs in the National Sheriff’s Association, has been asked about the guidelines for Neighborhood Watch organizations and has responded that the guidelines prohibit the carrying of weapons. But what do the guidelines matter when a Neighborhood Watch volunteer has a legal permit to carry a concealed weapon? (Note: in Florida the body charged with overseeing the concealed weapons law is the Agriculture Commission!)
Connecting laws on concealed weapons and Stand Your Ground provisions, which require only that the individual taking action believes he is being threatened, creates a perfect storm. Under Stand Your Ground it would not be possible to prove that Trayvon Martin did not threaten George Zimmerman because there were no witnesses and one of the two protagonists is dead. One can make inferences from Zimmerman’s 911 call, when he was told not to follow the “suspicious” person, but enough to convict him? The conclusion is stark. Homicide is no longer prosecutable. States with Stand Your Ground laws have “legally” sanctioned lawlessness.
Rule of law is an essential element of democracy. How many individual states have to grind away the core of democracy before America succumbs.
March 29, 2012 at 11:13 am
Powerful–and the situation is even scarier than I realized. Somehow I missed Krugman’s column. Thanks for including his thoughts and information in your blog. When will we stop this crazy love affair with guns?
March 31, 2012 at 10:34 am
I AM DR. ROBERT KAMANSKY AND A MEMBER OF THE WNDC. I HAVE EXPRESSED MY CONCERNS ON THESE MATTERS ABOVE TO THE WNDC AND THE FAMILY OF MR. MARTIN IN THE LAST FEW DAYS. I WANT TO ALERT YOU ALL TO THE DEATH LAST WEEK BY POLICE OF ANOTHER YOUNG PERSON OF COLOR IN PASADENA CALIF.; ONLY 20 MILES FROM MY HOME OF THE OBAMA BUCKS DISGRACE IN 2008 ,UPLAND CALIF. THE POLICE OFFICERS JUST THIS MORNING WERE IDENTIFIED IN AN ARTICLE IN THE LA TIMES, richard.winton@latimes.com ENTITLED OFFICERS IN TEEN’S DEATH IDENTIFIED. THE UPLAND, CALIF. RACIAL MINDSET, OUR MAYOR JUST RESIGNED UNDER FBI CORRUPTION ARREST AND IS AWAITING TRIAL, HAS ALWAYS BEEN SHADOWED BY PASADENA, CALIF. ONE CAN READ THE ARTICLE AND CONCLUDE A HATE CRIME . I AM JEWISH AND AS I TOLD THE WNDC I AM LUCKY TO BE ALIVE HAVING LIVED IN THIS COMMUNITY OF UPLAND AND THE INLAND EMPIRE NAMED AFTER THE EMPIRE OF THE KKK FOR 66 FEARFUL YEARS. JUST A SHORT TIME AGO I SAW A NAZI TATOO ON A MINUTE MAN WHO WAS IN AN ALTERCATION WITH A LOCAL MINORITY BUSINESS I WAS AT IN UPLAND. THE MINUTE MEN HAVE A HQ IN UPLAND. THESE SPLIT SECOND DECISIONS LIFE OR DEATH OR INJURYIN BOTH THESE CASES WERE LITERALLY COLORED BY THESE CHILDREN OF COLOR. I HAVE HAD STARS OF DAVID BURNED AT MY HOME IN UPLAND AND WAS TOLD TO NEVER LIVE ABOVE 15TH STREET IN UPLAND OR ELSE. I WISELY BOUGHT A HOME AFTER MY 7 YEARS WARTIME SERVICE TO COUNTRY IN 1973 ON 15TH STREET. I WAS INTRODUCED AT A LOCAL SERVICE CLUB AS HAVING GRADUATED TWICE AND HAVE A DDS FROM JEW-C-L-A AS THE POLICE CHIEF AND MAYOR LAUGHED AT ME. I WAS TOLD AT A LOCAL COUNTRY CLUB THAT MY KIND WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SWIM IN THEIR POOL ALTHOUGH INVITED AS A GUEST AND A SIGN INFORMED ME I WAS BELOW A MONGREL DOG AS A JEW. THESE 2 EVENTS AS I SEE THEM WERE HATE CRIMES. AS A JEW I KNOW WHY THESE CHILDREN OF COLOR WERE MURDERED. THE SAME REASON A CHILD OF COLOR WAS KILLED FOR INNOCENTLY TALKING TO A WHITE GIRL ;BY THE KKK IN MY NEIGHBOR CITY OF FONTANA , CALIF. THE POLICE NEVER INVESTIGATED MY STAR OF DAVID BURNING OR THE DEATH OF THIS CHILD IN FONTANA; AS A CROSS BURNED ON BASELINE AVENUE TO TELL ALL- JEWS INCLUDED- THEY OWNED THE INLAND EMPIRE OF THE KKK IN 1956. THIS HATRED STILL EXISTS NOW BUT JUST UNDER THE SURFACE AS SOFT RACISM; AND REARS ITS UGLY HEAD IN THESE MOMENTS OF TRUTH- LIFE OR DEATH OR INJURY. NO NON CHILD OF COLOR HAS EVER BEEN KILLED BY POLICE UNDER THESE SIMILAR OR SAME CIRCUMSTANCES IN PASADENA, EVER. THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE ; AND I DEMAND AN INVESTIGATION BY COMMITTEE OF THE WNDC IN THESE MATTERS HATE CRIME. BEFORE THIS JEW WNDC MEMBER IS THE NEXT CASUALTY IN PASADENA , CALIF. CAPTAIN KAMANSKY