Missouri Lieutenant Governor: We Need ‘Anglo-American’ Justice in Ferguson

If one still has any wonders about what  is wrong with Missouri, Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder (R) - naturally, he's a Republican - pictured above, has shot off his mouth to make things even more clear.  He says that the state's governor needs to reinstate the curfew in Ferguson to allow the justice system — which he said was a product of “Anglo-American civilization” — to do its job.  By "justice," however, it's not clear whether he means justice for Michael Brown or his shooter.  The cynic in me suspects it's the latter and would involve acquittal of any charges.  The Raw Story looks at this douche bag and the continued unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.  Here are some story excerpts:

Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (R) on Tuesday called for Gov. Jay Nixon (D) to reinstate the curfew in Ferguson to allow the justice system — which he said was a product of “Anglo-American civilization” — to do its job. 

Following Monday night’s clashes with police in the wake of the death of slain teen Michael Brown, Kindler told MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow that Nixon had been wrong to end the curfew in Ferguson.

“I don’t understand an argument for not reinstating it,” he insisted. “I don’t understand that. I’m not trying to be overtly political. I am saying, the people of Ferguson, the people of the state of Missouri are crying out for leadership.”

Kinder said there was “no question” that race was playing a role in what was happening in Ferguson.

“We do not do justice in America in the streets though,” he argued. “We have legal processes that are set in motion, that are designed after centuries of Anglo-American jurisprudence tradition, they’re designed to protect the rights and liberties of everyone involved.”

“That includes the Brown family, for justice for them and for the community. It also includes the officer who has not yet been charged,” he added. “Our constitutional and our Bill of Rights protections have to be followed here, and we do not do justice in the streets.”

“That’s one of the great advances of Anglo-American civilization, is that that we do not have politicized trials. We let the justice system work it out.”

Obviously, Kinder lives in a fantasy world.  What happened to Trayvon Martin and others has proven  that justice often doesn't work out in our legal system.  Not if one is non-white.

Juror B29: George Zimmerman Got Away With Murder

After 36 years in the legal profession, my opinion of the American judicial system and its criminal justice system frankly sinks lower with almost every passing day.  Be it incompetent and/or shockingly biased police officers and judges, juries that seem comprised of the dumbest of the dumb,  selective prosecution that disproportionately targets minorities, and/or laws that aid the murderer, things are rotten and not trending for the better.  Now, after allowing George Zimmerman to get away with murder, another member of the jury apparently has a guilty conscience.  The Virginian Pilot looks at this case of too little remorse too late.  Here are excerpts:

The second juror to speak publicly told ABC News in an interview made available Thursday that she feels George Zimmerman got away with murder for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, but that there wasn't enough evidence at trial to convict him under Florida law.

Juror B29 told Robin Roberts that she favored convicting Zimmerman of second-degree murder when deliberations began by the six-member, all-women jury.  "I was the juror that was going to give them a hung jury," she said. "I fought to the end."

"George Zimmerman got away with murder, but you can't get away from God," she said. "And at the end of the day, he's going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with."

Juror B29 is the second panelist to go public with what went on during deliberations earlier this month. She allowed her face to be shown and used her first name, Maddy, unlike Juror B37, who was interviewed on CNN last week with her face obscured.

As noted in previous posts, "stand your ground" laws literally allow murderers to get away with killing people because of the way in which the burden of proof is shifted against the victim and the prosecution.

35 LGBT Groups Denounce Zimmerman Verdict

One of the ironies that drives me to distraction at times is the fact that far too many black pastors continue to allow themselves to be used as puppets and water carriers by white Christofascists organizations with either a history of racism or leadership lines that track back to vehement segregationists.   Here in Virginia, the white supremacists at the viciously anti-gay Family Foundation have black pastors jumping through their hoops like trained circus dogs when it comes to parroting anti-gay propaganda.  Meanwhile, the folks at The Family Foundation hate and despise blacks just as they hate gays.  Hopefully, black organizations and some of these dim witted pastors will take note that 35 LGBT organizations signed a joint letter calling for justice for Trayon Martin in the wake of the travesty of George Zimmerman's literally getting away with murder.  Here is the text of the letter via Towleroad:

Trayvon Deserves Justice

We cannot begin to imagine the continued pain and suffering endured by Trayvon Martin's family and friends. We stand in solidarity with them as they continue to fight for justice, civil rights and closure. And we thank everyone who has pushed and will continue to push for justice.

Trayvon Martin deserves justice and his civil rights. We support the organizations and community leaders who are urging the federal government to explore every option to ensure that justice is served for Trayvon and that his civil rights are honored and respected. But our work does not end there: we will honor Trayvon Martin by strengthening our commitment to end bias, hatred, profiling and violence across our communities.

We represent organizations with diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender constituencies. Our community has been targets of bigotry, bias, profiling and violence. We have experienced the heart-breaking despair of young people targeted for who they are, who they are presumed to be, or who they love: Rashawn Brazell, Lawrence King, Ali Forney, Brandon Teena, Brandon White, Matthew Shepard, Marco McMillian, Angie Zapata, Sakia Gunn, Gwen Araujo and countless others.

Every person, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, must be able to walk the streets without fear for their safety.

Justice delayed is justice denied and in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "a right delayed is a right denied." We honor Trayvon by seeking justice for all people.

Here is a list of the signatories to the letter:

All Out
American Civil Liberties Union
Believe Out Loud
BiNet USA
Bisexual Resource Center
Center for Black Equity
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
Equality Federation
Family Equality Council
Freedom to Work
Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network
Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA Network)
GetEQUAL
GMHC
GLAD
GLAAD
Harvey Milk Foundation
Human Rights Campaign
Immigration Equality
Lambda Legal
Movement Advancement Project
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Minority AIDS Council
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
PFLAG National
The Trevor Project
Trans Advocacy Network
Transgender Law Center
Trans People of Color Coalition

Blacks in general and black pastors in particular need to realize that gays are their natural allies - the "godly Christian" white folk hate them as much as they hate us.  They need to stop allowing themselves to to be duped by Bible verses into to assisting their enemies.  

Quote of the Day - The Tragedy Of Trayvon

Yes, the picture is graphic, but this is what murder looks like

Among all of our friends that we socialized with today, not a one was pleased with the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial.  Many hoped that Zimmerman would be hit with a successful civil lawsuit and some expected that no one outside of Teabagistan would ever hire him and expose their business to adverse consequences.  But to me, the message is clear: the South has changed far less than many would like to believe, especially on issues of race.  Bigotry is rampant - here in Virginia, white Republicans are pushing for voter ID laws to disenfranchise blacks and other non-whites, and favor "stand your ground" laws.  Andrew Sullivan summed things up well:

I found the way in which many elements on the right brandished their relish at seeing Zimmerman vindicated was more repellent than the identity politics faction that politicized the case. A young black man was dead, after he was clearly racially profiled, followed and challenged. Those facts alone should, in my view, lead to nothing but sadness, not a gleeful turn on the racial merry-go-round.

I didn’t follow the trial that closely largely because of that. There’s no way any of us can know precisely what happened in that violent interaction, except that Zimmerman clearly made a decision that led directly to it. But when an all-white jury in America finds a “white” man innocent of killing an unarmed black man, the resonances are simply undeniable.

The “stand-your-ground” law – when it interacts with race – can come perilously close to a return to the right to lynch black men in America- for being be in the wrong place at the wrong time, for doing nothing wrong, except wearing a hoodie and carrying some Skittles. Perhaps the best way to react now is to raise awareness about these laws that all but sanction murder because in a one-on-one conflict, in which there are no reliable witnesses and in which one of the individuals is dead, reasonable doubt is a very hard hurdle to overcome. This verdict may give some racist vigilantes encouragement to single out and murder black men with a sense of impunity. That is simply unacceptable, to put it mildly. It is a terrifying reminder of how the past can become present again.

Today is not a day that I am proud to be an American or a Southerner.  Some say we need to respect the verdict of the jury.  I'm not one of them.  Having practiced law for over 35 years, miscarriages of justice are the norm in our legal system - especially if one is a minority of any form.

Zimmerman Acquitted on All Charges

Incredibly, George Zimmerman was acquitted on all charges, even the lesser manslaughter charge, confirming once again that minorities in this country all too often do not get justice.  Yes, the prosecution did a poor job with the case in my opinion, but Zimmerman's story line never, ever made sense, especially when he had been told by the authorities to get in his vehicle and leave.  The clear message to blacks, Hispanics and others (including gays based on my experience with homophobic judges) is that they/we are second class citizens and our lives are given less value that those of white heterosexuals.   Huffington Post looks at this travesty.  Here are highlights:

After deliberating for more than 16 hours, a jury of six women on Saturday evening found George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old in Sanford, Florida.

The prosecution argued that Zimmerman had profiled Martin, deeming him "suspicious," as indicated by Zimmerman's description of the teen to the non-emergency hotline he called for police assistance. The prosecution said that he then stalked Martin, initiating an unnecessary confrontation that led to his shooting the 17-year-old in the chest at point-blank range.

As Think Progress notes, ultimately Florida's ridiculous "Stand Your Ground Law" - a law championed by the NRA and far right gun owners - and the mentality behind it set the stage for allowing Zimmerman to literally get away with murder.  Is suspect that Trayvon Martin will not be the last person to be murdered and have his killer walk away free:

On the night of the killing, Zimmerman walked free thanks to a law called ‘Stand Your Ground,’ based on model legislation peddled around the country by the conservative legislation-crafting American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). While Zimmerman ultimately did not use that defense in court, it’s instructive to know that, in Florida, 70 percent of people who invoke ‘Stand Your Ground’ walk away without charges.

"Stand Your Ground Laws" Linked to Inreased Homicide Rates

In many ways the National Rifle Association ("NRA") seems determined to bring back the gun slinging days of the Old West.  We hear from the NRA and its political whores ad nausea that law abiding citizens should have the right to be armed for self protection - including with assault weapons.  Yet a new study at Texas A&M University suggests that rather increasing safety and reducing homicide rates increased gun ownership and so-called "stand your ground" laws that have increased the sphere where lethal force is permissible have increased homicide rates, not lowered them.  An NPR story looks at the findings of the study and the reality that the actions of the NRA and its adherents are making us all less safe.  In reading the article and this post, as previously stated on this blog here, the real financial backers of the NRA are gun manufacturers who are always seeking to increase gun sales, not your neighbor who may go hunting from time to time or who may have a basic hand gun.  Here are some highlights:

If a stranger attacks you inside your own home, the law has always permitted you to defend yourself. On the other hand, if an altercation breaks out in public, the law requires you to try to retreat. At least, that's what it used to do.

In 2005, Florida became the first of nearly two-dozen states to pass a "stand your ground" law that removed the requirement to retreat. If you felt at risk of harm in a park or on the street, you could use lethal force to defend yourself. The shooting of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., drew national attention to these laws.

Now, researchers who've studied the effect of the laws have found that states with a stand your ground law have more homicides than states without such laws.

Now, researchers who've studied the effect of the laws have found that states with a stand your ground law have more homicides than states without such laws.

Hoekstra obtained this result by comparing the homicide rate in states before and after they passed the laws. He also compared states with the laws to states without the laws.
 
"Our study finds that, that homicides go up by 7 to 9 percent in states that pass the laws, relative to states that didn't pass the laws over the same time period," he says.

As to whether the laws reduce crime — by creating a deterrence for criminals — he says, "we find no evidence of any deterrence effect over that same time period."

[B]ased on the available data, it appears that crafters of these laws sought to give good guys more latitude to defend themselves against bad guys. But what Hoekstra's data suggest is that in real-life conflicts, both sides think of the other guy as the bad guy. Both believe the law gives them the right to shoot.

In a separate analysis of death certificates before and after stand your ground laws were passed in different states, economists at Georgia State University also found that states that passed the laws ended up with a higher homicide rate.

That study also tracked the increased homicides by race. In contrast to the narrative established by the Trayvon Martin shooting — many people believe black men are more likely to be the victims of stand your ground laws — this analysis found the additional deaths caused by the laws were largely concentrated among white men.

Stanford law professor John Donohue, on the other hand, praised the study done by Texas A&M's Hoekstra. Donohue has been studying crime and violence for more than two decades and is working on his own independent analysis of stand your ground laws. So far, he says, he's getting the same results Hoekstra did.

In short, what the researchers are seeing is more death and mayhem compliments of the NRA and the gun manufacturers who fund it.