"Justice for Trayvon" National Day of Action Vigils in 100 Cities @ Federal Court Buildings, Saturday July 20th – 12 Noon
Posted 11 years ago on July 19, 2013, 12:55 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags:
justice,
racism,
trayvon,
day of action
via interoccupy.net:
MILLION HOODIES UNITES WITH THE NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION IN 100 CITIES!
“Justice for Trayvon” National Day of Action Vigils in 100 Cities outside of Federal Court Buildings Saturday, July 20th – 12 Noon
Sabryna Fulton and her son, Jaharvis will join Reverend Al Sharpton in New York, Saturday 7/20 at 1 Police Plaza at 12pm.
The vigils, taking place in 100 cities, will be a call to action pushing for federal charges against George Zimmerman leading up to the Saturday, August 24 March on Washington.
Join our celly: text @TMAlerts to 23559.
Here are some jpegs you can share on Facebook and Twitter:
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ACTIONS IN YOUR CITY PLEASE VISIT:
http://www.mhoodies.org/national_day_of_action_in_100_cities
I'm sick of this post want to know why...it is hypocritical... Justice for Channon and Christopher ...an out and out hate crime was ignored by the press and where was the outcry for these two innocent young people tortured to death slowly by five people who hated them because of their skin color...gang crimes thug violence is glorified and promoted while we are all supposed to pass those emulating it as though they are safe and not supposed to judge or wonder if they are pretending to be thugs or if they actually are????.. Just reading about the horrors of this murder made me want to vomit...their whole lives ahead of them and channon was a sociology major a field that helps less fortunate and pays not much for a lot of emotional drain. She died suffocating in a garbage bag choking on bleach injured from being gang raped and her boyfriend was sodomized and set on fire...hey occupy was this not a hate crime? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Channon_Christian_and_Christopher_Newsom
Fuck gang wanna be's fuck hustling fuck hoodies....fuck violence fuck your excuses for behaving like shithead man children ...fuck thieving and robbing and lying to get ahead. If Channon or Christopher had guns they would be alive and I wish they had taken these hood wearing animal thugs out without a second thought better safe than sorry...should have shot them dead.
When ceo's behave a certain way over and over again...we call them on it and judge them as a group...when street thugs do we say their mommy's didn't breastfeed them enough?
If Trayvon was "packing" and Stood His Ground against an aggressive neighborhood watch yahoo who failed to heed police dispatcher orders not to engage, and who failed to identify himself to Trayvon, would Trayvon have been guilty of anything if he feared for his life and "stood his ground?"
Or do we have a double standard in Florida?
Stand your ground works both ways. And it is a dangerous law to have on the books.
Sadly more unarmed minorities have died since Trayvons murder.
The approach of police that ALL minorities are violent criminals has created a system of stauking, arrest, imprisonment, & criminalization for a broken window.
As such:
http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/opinion/5199-neoconservative-roots-broken-windows-policing-theory-nypd-bratton-vitale
So there you have it. Damned Neo conservatives!
I knew long before I had children that I would check the “African-American” box on the race question, not because I am ashamed or want to suppress their “white” half but because that is how society will view them. I have a responsibility to prepare my children for the world I have brought them into. The hard truth is that a mother raising white children and a mother raising black child have a much different weight to bear.
My children need to know that the world they live in might view them as a potential threat when they reach a certain age, or when they wear certain clothes or listen to certain music. They have to know that they are 3 times more likely to be searched, handcuffed and arrested by the police and that a jury of their “peers” in no way insures them that their lives will be determined by anyone who might empathize with them in anyway.
I have heard far too many times from people that “they don’t see color” and that “Everyone is the same in their eyes” but I’m here say it’s not enough. It’s time we educate ourselves on what is really going on in this country on a DAILY basis. Start with having a conversation with your black friends, co-workers or church members about what is going on in black communities. Ask them to educate you on a day in their life. Stop allowing yourself to be blinded by the progression of a few and think that somehow it means that the playing field is level for all.
My father calls it a bleeding heart, I call it empathy and I think it’s my greatest quality and severely lacking in this world.
Changes have to take place because this trial was bigger than one man being let off for a crime he committed. It’s our society and our judicial system telling our black youth AGAIN that their worth, potential and life is not equal. How can we expect greatness when we drill in insignificance!
If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem! I will leave those who are choosing pray as their only weapon with this.....
Our world has a history of enacting change only when forced to do so. Engage in peaceful protest for you follow the in the steps of Socrates, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Siddhartha Gautama and Jesus Christ.
Ecclesiastes 4:10-12 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
The Court refuses to instruct jurors that F.S. 776.012(b) would “justify the use of deadly force” as a result of 776.013(1)’s “presumption of fear.” Instead, jurors are only told that the “presumption of fear” gives “no duty to retreat,” but not a word about a legal right to use force in self-defense. As far as jurors are instructed by the court, you have a right to be afraid, without having to retreat to be afraid – but no right to use self-defense force as a result of that “presumption of fear.” It is F.S. 776.012(b) that adds the legal right to use deadly force in self-defense as a result of F.S. 776.013(1)’s “presumption of fear,” yet the Florida Supreme Court failed to include the provisions F.S. 776.012(b) in the standard jury instructions on self-defense. (In Re Standard Jury Instructions, 930 So. 2d 612 (Fla. 2006); for “Justifiable Use of Deadly Force” [3.6(f)], and “Justifiable Use of Non-Deadly Force [3.6(g)].)
Even with all of the rocket scientists working for the space program, Florida seems to be dimmer than the fruit-fly about certain things that would be obvious to an eight-year old. Trayvan deserves a new trial.
Let's suppose Trayvon was defending himself (had to) without a gun. The all-woman jury should have been given instructions on what the definition of self-defense is in Florida by the judge. If they weren’t then the prosecution should have requested it. Self-Defense Law in Florida is ambiguous, vague and contradictory. This is probably why the judge and prosecution team would have avoided the issue. (Or the prosecution botched another opportunity to convict Zimmerman, again.)
[It is impossible for any defendant, black or white, man or woman, to get a fair trial in a self-defense case in Florida. While the Florida Legislature amended the self-defense laws in 2005, Florida Statutes 776.013, 776.012 (adopting the “Stand Your Ground” law written by the N.R.A., and since 2005, adopted by 30-odd other states), the Florida Supreme Court has so horribly written the standard self-defense jury instructions (SD-JI) as to deprive all defendants of a fair trial. While the law may have been intended to prevent a self-defense claim if the act of self-defense occurred in, say, robbing a bank; the law and jury instruction itself fails to define the limits of “is not engaged in an unlawful activity,” fails to add words such as “other than the crime charged.” And even with such a qualification, or definition, another problem would occur. A hypothetical example:
“Grandma took the mini-van to the church day-care center to pick up the twins, when an escaped lunatic with an axe broke into the mini-van. Grandma hesitated in reaching for her legal revolver, and so died, because she knew that under the circumstances, of being double-parked in a loading zone, that she was “engaged in an unlawful activity,” and so had no legal right to defend herself, under Florida law.”
But if Grandma had not hesitated in reaching for her legal revolver, to attempt to puzzle out exactly what “not engaged in an unlawful activity” really meant (because, after all, she knew that it was “unlawful” to double-park, especially in a loading zone, a place she “had no right to be” (the other qualifying phrase in F.S. 776.13(3)) and had grabbed her gun in time to fire a warning shot out of the window of the mini-van (she wouldn’t want to hurt anyone if she didn’t have to do so), Grandma would have gone to prison in Florida for 20 years, for violating Florida’s “10-20-Life” law, F.S. 775.087; which requires a 20 year mandatory minimum prison sentence for any “discharge” of a firearm during the commission of an “aggravated assault.” Here, Grandma’s use of her legal gun to fire a warning shot was in fact an “aggravated assault,” a “threat with a deadly weapon.” And if Grandma had not fired a warning shot in self-defense, but had just displayed her gun, or pointed it at the lunatic with an axe breaking into her mini-van, she still would have gone to prison for violating the “10-20-Life” law, for “using” a firearm during her “aggravated assault,” threatening the person attacking her.
And I suppose that Grandma would have no legal “presumption of fear” at all, until the lunatic with an axe had finished, completed, breaking into the mini-van; because jurors are only instructed on half, the lesser half, of F.S. 776.013(1), that her “presumption of fear” would not apply if someone “was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering,” but only after someone “had unlawfully and forcibly entered,” the past-tense, a successful break-in into the mini-van.]
Florida Definition of Self Defense
http://selfdefenseflorida.com/ [right click]
Did Zimmerman still have a presumption of fear after he pulled the gun on an unarmed "child" in self-defense? Did Zimmerman discharge a firearm during an aggravated assault?
Has the nation gotten a lot dumber?
Police dispatcher told George Zimmerman to stop following Trayvon Martin. Was Zimmerman's continuing to follow Martin anyway lawful or unlawful at the time he asserted his self-defense rights and shot Trayvon in the chest? Grandma may risk going to jail, but Zimmerman was acquitted.
Self-defense or private defense (see spelling differences) is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property, or the well-being of another from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many jurisdictions, but the interpretation varies widely.
Self Defense
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-defense [right click]
''Zimmerman’s Acquittal and the Call for a New Civil Rights Movement'',
by Mark Vorpahl.
George Zimmerman has been found innocent of both second-degree murder and manslaughter for the killing of Trayvon Martin. In spite of Zimmerman’s history as a neighborhood watchman employing racial profiling; in spite of the fact that he was armed with a gun and Trayvon was not; in spite of the fact that he stalked Trayvon in a way that anyone would find threatening; in spite of his recorded menacing comments about “f…king punks,” that “these assholes always get away”; and in spite of his defiance of a 911 operator who told him he did not need to follow Trayvon, Zimmerman is free.
On the other hand, Trayvon has been found guilty. In dropping all charges against Zimmerman, the jury concluded that Trayvon had thrown the first punch in response to Zimmerman’s threatening behavior, and therefore Zimmerman was justified in shooting him in self-defense.
If only it could be said that a more perverse and twisted miscarriage of justice by our legal system was hard to find. Agonizingly, it is not. For millions of people this tragic affair was never simply about a confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin. It was the United States justice system that was on trial under charges of institutional racism — and it has proven itself guilty.
To begin to appreciate the significance of this, some context is necessary. A study by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, entitled “Operation Ghetto Storm” revealed:
“In July 2012, in the tradition of ‘On Lynching’ by Ida B. Wells-Burnet and ‘We Charge Genocide’ by William L. Patterson, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement released a critical report that exposed the fact that in the first six months of the year a Black man, woman, or child was summarily executed by the police, and a smaller number of security guards and self-appointed vigilantes, Every 36 Hours! But the July 2012 report did not tell the whole story. Further investigation revealed a more accurate and gruesome number of extrajudicial killings during the first six months of the year. And true to form, the assault on Black life stayed consistent for the last six months of the year, resulting in the extrajudicial killing of at least 313 Black people in 2012, or one every 28 Hours!”
These killings, without pretext or legal consequences, demonstrate that the stormy reactions following Trayvon’s murder and Zimmerman’s initial release without charges weren’t the result of an outrageous break from how the U.S. justice system operates. Rather, it was because the tragedy was yet another example of this system’s outrageous racist norm.
During the initial wave of mass protests against Trayvon Martin’s murder in 2012, many chanted and carried signs saying, “I am Trayvon Martin.” For black participants this was more than an expression of solidarity. It was an acknowledgement of the racist reality that they too could easily meet a similar fate to Trayvon’s — that is, becoming a victim of state sanctioned murder.
Authorities initially expected Zimmerman’s murder of Trayvon to disappear from the radar as he walked free. That is the normal script for how such incidents play out. However, the recording of Zimmerman’s 911 call was too dramatic for the press to let slip away.
The tape and Zimmerman’s release without charge sparked a national wave of protests that included the peaceful shutdown of the Sanford Police Department for five hours. And the impact of the public’s reaction brought results. Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee was forced to resign. The Federal Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division opened an investigation to the killing.
If it were not for the mass reaction, Zimmerman never would have been put on trial. With 313 black people killed by police, some security guards, and self-appointed vigilantes in 2012 without legal consequence, the wave of protest following Trayvon’s killing is the main factor explaining why events here took a different turn.
Those in power were forced to change their tactics in order to contain popular revolt. The importance of this cannot be overestimated despite the trial’s outcome. What the trial revealed is that the system of racial oppression in this country is not all-powerful. It can be challenged and ultimately overturned. It also revealed that what is required to move this process forward is a campaign of mass organizing — with a political perspective that demonstrates a clear path for judicial change if the grassroots can be mobilized to confront our oppressors.
We need an ongoing mass civil rights movement with the power to pull out racism from the political and economic foundations of the U.S. by its roots. That power can only be built by unifying the vast majority against an economic elite which controls the political system and profits from blacks’ oppression. The mass protests that will erupt in response to Zimmerman’s acquittal can act as a springboard for such a movement, as long as participants understand the need to commit themselves to the long-haul struggle.
The NAACP is urging Attorney General Eric Holder to open up a civil rights case against Zimmerman. By itself, this is an impotent plea. However, combined with a sustained campaign of mass actions — not only for justice for Trayvon, but as a challenge to the racist norm of the U.S. legal system — this approach may bear fruit.
The only certainty is that we cannot sit at home and let the courts work through their process. We must mobilize and organize to assert popular power independent of the courts and corporate Democrat and Republican parties if we are to create a world where Trayvon, and the millions he has come to represent, can thrive without fear.
~
e tenebris, lux et veritas vos liberabit ...
~
[Article copied verbatim under 'Fair Use' from : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35557.htm and please use this link to access all corroborating links] Also see :
''Trayvon Martin 911 Tapes'' : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnItpb-NQ64&feature=related
"Why Were Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman Held to Two Different Standards of Justice ?'', by Thom Hartmann : http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17637-why-were-trayvon-martin-and-george-zimmerman-held-to-two-different-standards-of-justice ;
"Six Million Trayvons : How The George Zimmerman Mindset Has Rigged The Justice System Against Young Black Men'', by Judd Legum : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35548.htm ;
"A Rough Guide to Life in the United States of Zimmermanm, the US of Z'', by William Boardman : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35570.htm ;
"Open Season On Black Boys After A Verdict Like This'', by Gary Younge : http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/14/open-season-black-boys-verdict ;
''Strange Fruit", by Nina Simone : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktsU01lfzLU &
'Obama finally finds his voice' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHBdZWbncXI .
Solidarity with all @ ''Justice for Trayvon" National Day of Action Vigils in 100 Cities @ Federal Court Buildings, Saturday July 20th – 12 Noon'' !!!
fiat lux et fiat justitia ...
This may be a cause for a civil rights movement but the Florida Court may have erred on how it instructed the jurors on the definition of self-defense in Florida. It may be a cause for a new trial for Trayvon.
The Court refuses to instruct jurors that F.S. 776.012(b) would “justify the use of deadly force” as a result of 776.013(1)’s “presumption of fear.” Instead, jurors are only told that the “presumption of fear” gives “no duty to retreat,” but not a word about a legal right to use force in self-defense. As far as jurors are instructed by the court, you have a right to be afraid, without having to retreat to be afraid – but no right to use self-defense force as a result of that “presumption of fear.” It is F.S. 776.012(b) that adds the legal right to use deadly force in self-defense as a result of F.S. 776.013(1)’s “presumption of fear,” yet the Florida Supreme Court failed to include the provisions F.S. 776.012(b) in the standard jury instructions on self-defense. (In Re Standard Jury Instructions, 930 So. 2d 612 (Fla. 2006); for “Justifiable Use of Deadly Force” [3.6(f)], and “Justifiable Use of Non-Deadly Force [3.6(g)].)
Next, the Florida courts refuse to instruct jurors that F.S. 776.012 [2005] now includes the vital words, “and does not have a duty to retreat,” before an imminent threat; either to prevent imminent death (or great bodily harm), or the imminent commission of a forcible felony. The new self-defense statute, F.S. 776.013(3), does not apply to “imminent” threats. The Florida Legislature amended F.S. 776.012 [2005] to add “and does not have a duty to retreat” before “imminent” threats, yet the jury never hears this part of the law, the jurors not entrusted with seeing the law, the statutes, themselves.
Florida Definition of Self Defense
http://selfdefenseflorida.com/ [right click]
''Trayvon Martin was not engaged in an unlawful activity (he was walking home from the store), and he was approached at night by a strange man in a place where he had every right to be. Based upon these facts, Trayvon had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force. If Zimmerman had followed the age-old adage, "Don't start nothin'; won't be nothin' " Trayvon Martin would be alive today. The only reason Zimmerman felt "empowered" to engage Trayvon was because Zimmerman knew he possessed the "equalizer" - he was armed.'' from :
"The Zimmerman Verdict ; America Is Still America to Me'', by Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III : http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17564-the-zimmerman-verdict-america-is-still-america-to-me +see
"Zimmerman Verdict ; The Slave Patrol Is Alive and Well in Florida'', by Thom Hartmann : http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17573-zimmerman-verdict-the-slave-patrol-is-alive-and-well-in-florida &
"The killing of Trayvon Martin is the continuation of business as usual'' - Patricia Williams : http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/19/killing-trayvon-martin-business-as-usual
You seem to be legally trained so thanx for the very interesting comment further to which I also append :
respice, adspice, prospice ...
the protest that was " sparked" was set up, aided and abetted by the current adminstration.
Really ?! Any evidence for that ?!! Btw, you seem like an appropriate person to ask ...
ad iudicium ...
How the System Worked: The US v. Trayvon Martin
Sunday, 21 July 2013 09:34 By Robin D. G. Kelley, Counterpunch | Op-Ed
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17688-how-the-system-worked-the-us-v-trayvon-martin
ALEC and the NRA Have Blood on Their Hands
Sunday, 21 July 2013 10:44 By Terrance Heath, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17693-alec-and-the-nra-have-blood-on-their-hands
''Neither NRA officials nor the pro-gun wing of the Republican Party argued that had Trayvon Martin been armed, he would be alive today. The basic facts are indisputable : Martin was on his way home when Zimmerman began to follow him - first in his SUV and then on foot. Zimmerman told the police he had been following this “suspicious-looking” young man.
''Where was the NRA on Trayvon Martin’s right to stand his ground ? What happened to their principled position ? Let’s be clear : the Trayvon Martin’s of the world never had that right because the “ground” was never considered theirs to stand on. Unless black people could magically produce some official documentation proving that they are not burglars, rapists, drug dealers, pimps or prostitutes, intruders, they are assumed to be “up to no good.” From your excellent first link & from the second :
''How many people have died because ALEC and the NRA have made it easier for more people to get guns, legal for more people to carry concealed weapons in more places, and easier to “shoot first and ask question later” ? Will ALEC and the NRA ever be held accountable ?''
Thanx for these important links Leo, in support of which, I append :
http://occupywallst.org/forum/smart-alec-lobbyists-guns-and-money-by-paul-krugma/ and also :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/19/killing-trayvon-martin-business-as-usual .
fiat justitia ruat caelum ..
go look for it at the gateway pundit, story was posted July 10th.
Is Karma starting to slap the murderer ? Will it start slapping the judicial system?
What now for the Zimmerman fan club? by Vyan
The media continues to harp on this case but not the numerous incidents involving government and police force. This is all to turn the people against each other. We need to not judge each other on the views of this case but come together against the corruption of the media and government.
It's time to revolt and get true justice.
the msm has pushed their agenda,.....................truth has nothing to do with it since it does not serve the aganda
What ''agenda'' ?! Who owns the MSM ?!! Are you one of those people who believes in ...
It's Only ''Liberal Bias'' to rabid, rancid, reactionary, right-wingers for whom Faux sNewzzz is the 'norm' !!
nosce te ipsum ...
the msm is nothing more than the p.r. arm of the current dem adminstration. you know it, but will never admit it.
You're in deep denial, lol ! Your failure / refusal to answer the simplest question reveals your party bias !!
Grasp This Fact : The Right Wing, 0.01% Parasite Class Owned Corporations own the MSM !!! However
''you know it, but will never admit it.''
http://vimeo.com/33442989 .
For the record - I ain't no Dem, lol.
temet nosce ...
No dear, I know the truth. . "the corporations own the media". No kidding,..........BUT that doesnt stop them from taking dictation from the obama administration.
Tail wags dog, you mean ?! Or t'other way around ?!! What's chicken & what's egg here ?!!! + Consider :
gnothi seauton ...
martin fit the left's agenda , so the msm ( taking dictation from the obama administration) pushed its biased story. a unit of the doj , the comunity relations service (crs) was deployed to sanford following the martin shooting to help organize and manage allies and protests against zimmerman.
"America is a Tinderbox" ('Real News' Video) :
''Chris Hedges says The Democratic Party used to watch out for the interests of labor and even for the poor. But that all changed under Bill Clinton. Although Clinton, like Obama, continues to speak in that feel-your-pain language of traditional liberalism, they've completely betrayed the very people that they purport to represent and defend.'' AND dare you consider :
I have no idea about what you're talking about or what your prejudicial and unsubstantiated Faux sNewzzz talking points mean but I'm more than happy to bat your soft balls out of the ball park !
ad iudicium ...
''In a country divided down the middle about race – in a country where a young black man dies at the hands of police or security guards nearly every day of the year – we have decided that if we were to just stop talking about it so much, racial division would melt away. According to this logic, we don't have any problem that the dismantling of civil rights laws won't cure.
''The civil rights movement of the 60s and 70s brought about some of the most effective structural transformations in race relations in US history. Since then the backlash has slowly swelled and regrouped. With the election of Barack Obama, there were those who insisted that the country had been "cured" of racism, and that we had achieved our long-hoped-for, colour-blind, "post-racial" apotheosis. If only.'' - Excerpted from :
Given your comment, I humbly and sincerely encourage you to read this article above and though no one can change our opinions other than ourselves, perhaps we can open our minds and soften our hearts sufficiently to see and feel some light.
e tenebris, lux ...
[Removed]
Dream Defenders - http://dreamdefenders.org/ "Protesters who set up camp in the state Capitol building earlier this week finally got to meet with Gov. Rick Scott late Thursday, and they urged him to push for the repeal of Florida's "stand your ground" law and to take steps to combat racial profiling.
In a conference room near his office suite, Scott met for nearly an hour with seven leaders of the protest, which began Tuesday. They described their frustration about last weekend's acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin and their own experiences of being racially profiled." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57594497/fla-governor-refuses-to-revisit-stand-your-ground-law/
[Removed]
The President could have been Trayvon
but instead he is Zimmerman.
Stand your ground on National Security