Dream Defenders stage 60's style sit-in!
By Thom Hartmann A...
Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott had a few visitors yesterday. More than 100 protesters from the group Dream Defenders arrived at his office, and said they weren't leaving until Governor Scott asks lawmakers to repeal the Stand Your Ground law in that state. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, one of the Dream Defenders said, “If the courts aren't going to deal with these issues, we have to call upon our elected officials to make changes.”
After the death of Trayvon Martin, Governor Scott called a Special Task Force to review the law, however they recommended that it stay in place. Protesters say they are not accepting that recommendation. The group vowed to stay in the Governor's office overnight, and may stay longer if Rick Scott refuses to address their concerns. Governor Scott was out of town during the protest, but his office issued a statement about George Zimmerman's acquittal, saying, that the Martin family accepted the jury's verdict and “the Governor appreciates the service of the six women on the jury who did their duty as part of our country's judicial process.”
Regarding the Stand Your Ground law, the Governor's office said, “The Task Force listened to Floridians across the state and heard their viewpoints and expert opinion on this law. The task force recommended that the law should not be overturned, and Governor Scott agrees.” Florida's Dream Defenders and other Stand Your Ground opponents disagree, and they're not giving up on the fight to repeal this unjust law in their state.
Comments
#2
Only thing this shows is that the MSM and lib talkers are so invested in the story that they can not let it go. They all got it so wrong the first time around and now they expect a different result, so stupid. Besides didn't you hear that TM attacked and beat up Zimmerman because he thought he was a gay man following him. Sounds like he may have been a homophobe. At least that is what the prosecutions star witness and TM's girlfriend Rachel Jeantel had to say. Is Thom covering for a gay basher?
#3
Rumors hardly cut it. These are not facts.
The fact is that Zimmerman was following Trayvon and that he had a gun. The dispatcher told him to quit following the boy, and he refused. All I need to know at that point is that Zimmerman was the agggressor, had the gun, and shot Trayvon.
He had a duty to not follow, at the very least, to back up, to retreat, to go home. That's it.
#4
Take the NRA to the Supreme Court and overturn all these fascist "Stand Your Ground" laws. ALEC has coerced 33 States to enact "Stand Your Ground" laws Let's overturn them and ban ALEC from meddling in our State legislatures. ALEC is fully funded by the Cock brothers and the 1% who hate our guts. Zimmerman is a coward with a yellow streak a mile long on his back. These laws are an affront to the American people.
#5
Since when do you need a law that gives you permission to defend your self?
#6
Oh no! Here we go again! Just when I was expecting something more relevant like a story on sequester, the latest hearings about the Affordable Care Act, info on what's going on in Syria, or an update in Edward Snowden and NSA spying. Why all the stupid attention to a stupid fight, that happened for stupid reasons? Such altercations happen every day, in every city across the country--in bars, on school campuses, in traffic, at family gatherings, in people's homes, and in poor neighborhoods. Were lucky if one of these casualties or court cases ever even gets mentioned in the media or on the news. If you ask me there is so much more important things going on in the country that it is just plain and simple stupidity to dwell this much attention on a simple street fight between two idiots.
The only reason for dwelling on this is a sinister one. One of the fighters was black and one was white. We dwell on it to sow discord between black people and white people. Face it my friends, there is nothing else to gained. Our entire media is a part of this hate frenzy and we are all gullible victims of it.
Repealing the "Stand Your Ground Law?" Are you kidding me? Just how is that going to prevent this tragedy from happening again or make the world safer for minorities? That law was put on the books to protect people trying to defend themselves, their homes, and their families. The only thing repealing it would do is give criminals an advantage after the fact in defending themselves in court. Can someone offer a better reason or attempt to explain any rationality in this?
Who is running this "Dream Defenders" gang of young idiots? Are you trying to tell me this is the best they can do to improve society for minorities or youth. Defending criminals and trying to make the world safer for people who threaten other people. This group deserve to be investigated by the IRS, the CIA, the FBI, and the DHS! They are being played a fool and falling right into the plan of the elitist to divide and conquer. Obviously, so is Thom Hartmann and anyone else who takes this nonsense seriously.
#7
I'm sorry, but allowing Floriduh's Gov. Rick Madoff to have a say in anything related to law and justice is well beyond my comprehension.
The bottom line here is three ugly dots, the Koch brothers, ALEC, and the NRA. Connect them and you have our current thoroughly undemocratic democracy where legislation to the highest bidder creates feces like the Stand Your Ground Law. A million of us need to stand our ground outside the Koch's habitats.
#8
TM and Zimmerman both had a right to be where they were at the time. TM did not have a right to punch a person asking what he was up to. What do you think gated communities are all about.
Stand your ground has been used by more blacks in Fl. than whites.
#9
A Statistic That Will Help People Think About The True Relavance Of The Zimmerman Case:Quote The Bureau Of Justice Statistics:A 2007 special report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, reveals that approximately 8,000 — and, in certain years, as many as 9,000 African Americans are murdered annually in the United States. This chilling figure is accompanied by another equally sobering fact, that 93% of these murders are in fact perpetrated by other blacks. The analysis, supported by FBI records, finds that in 2005 alone, for example, African Americans accounted for 49% of all homicide victims in the US — again, almost exclusively at the hands of other African Americans.
The moral to this story? If you want to save the lives of innocent black homicide victims you are barking up the wrong tree by scrutinizing the Zimmerman Trial/Crime.
Full Article: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/04/09/race-wars-part-1-the-shocking-data-on-black-on-black-crime/
(In the quote above is a link to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report--an official report from The US Department of Justice--if you want to read it yourself.)
To say that the over sensationalization of the Zimmerman/Martin case is pure BS on steroids is the understatement of the year! From all this media hype, one might think that Trayvon Martin was the only innocent black person murdered in this country this year. Are we all really that ignorant of reality?
#10
Ahhhh Global...Your arrogant "life is cheap" ideology is a threat to society....BANG!!!
I'm just standing my ground. :)
#11
Society in general DANNEMARC, (which includes you and me), is ignorant. That being said I don't see peoples reaction to the Zimmerman/Martin case as not being intouch, more so I think many people from all walks of life are fed up with shit like this and our courts failing to convict those who truely have commited violent crimes. We seem to be able to convicted people of simple possesion of a controled substance at a very high rate. I read Judge James P. Grays book Americas Failed Drug Laws, and in it he sites that upwards of 90+ percent of all drug charges end in conviction and are sentenced to 3 or more years incarceration. Yet there are more people today that like to get high, then before our Government declaired a War on Drugs and implimented a Zero Tolerance Policy...Theres a somthin funny a happenen here!!!
Our prison population is over 2%(2.8% to be exact) of our gross national population, and of those doing prison time more than 30% are drug charges. Further more, more than 2/3 of those doing time are convicted for non violent crimes and non sex related crimes. I am not saying that we should not hold people whoes actions disrupt and breech the law. But allowing a person to walk away from murder while we hard nose those who commit nonviolent crime...Something just ain't right!
And you are right DANNEMARC, issues such as our Government breeching our Civil Liberties, i.e. the 1st & 4th Ammendment should take presidence...But, and this is a HUGE BUT, the only thing Americans are good at is sitting on their fat lazy asses blogging about all the injustices in the world. At least those who feel passionate about the Zimmerman Martin case are physically protesting & petitioning the government to change an arbitrary law. The petition I signed was requesting that the "Stand Your Grown Law" not be abolished, insted it calls for more clear definition limiting what constitutes a threat of ones life. I personally feel, and agree with you, that both Zimmermann and Martin are both at fault for assuming and overreacting, but I also feel that Zimmerman was the one who first escalated the situation by overstepping the definition of a Neighborhood Watchman, which is only to Observe and Report, not persue, confront, detain, and/or apprehend. Zimmerman is the one who without rational reason put his life and Treyvons life indanger the minute he took matters into his own hands by stepping out of his vehicle and persuing Treyvon. He should have been convicted of manslaughter...CASE CLOSED.
As for your FBI refrences...FUCK the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! Those bureaucracies are nothing more than a waste of tax payers money.
#12
The only person defending a criminal in this scenario is you. You bend over backwards to try to turn Trayvon into a villain and Zimmerman into the thug.
Black people are not being treated with equal dignity in this country. We are killed by police and civilians and our deaths are less likely to be punished by the criminal (in)justice system.
We are more likely to be targeted by police, more likely to be arrested rather than let go, more likely to be charged if arrested, more likely to be convicted if charged, and are sentenced to longer terms if convicted. And then these statistics are used as an excuse to mistreat the entire community based on skewed statistics. If you look primarily on one community for criminals you're more likely to find criminals from that community.
Electing a black man into the White House hadn't changed any of that.
And now you have the nerve to think we're not supposed to protest? What are people supposed to do to get their grievances addressed? Go home sit back and hope the people who put the system into place that disadvantages and disrespects us will change it?
There's a phrase I use for people who make such idiotic comments from their position of privilege without irony. How very white of you.
#13
No D'marc, those examples illustrates the reasons exactly why T. Martin case should not be trival in your eyes or anyone elses.
To the point of Toms blog; welcome to the wild west folks, the most extreme have taken control. Learn/relearn your quick draw from childhood, and don't leave your side arm at home no matter here you're going, be it school, shopping, the court house or the capital building. That's your only chance.
When did America become so scare of shadows on the wall? Fools, you're just another act in this theater of the obsurd called Corparate America.
#14
Still blameing it on the colour of your skin huh? "Poor black man can't get a fair break" BULLSHIT!
No one, regardless of the colour of their race (cracker, nigger, spick, chinc, kike, etc. to be real and politically incorrect), gets a break if they are uneducated, lazy, sag their pants and can't speak in a manner that is understandable. I am a 41 year old cracker and I work along side both blacks,(excuse me "African Americans") and Mexicans...(3 blacks and 5 Mexicans), all of them are educated, clean, hardworking and can communicate on a level of educated clearity, and not a one of them share in your racist self hatred. Yes all of us agree that Zimmerman got away with murder, but we also agree that Treyvon is somewhat responsable for his own demise. He wasn't traped, or backed into a corner, he had options, either surender and allow the situation to difuse itself, or run like hell. Instead he decided to confront his aggressor.
Don't get me wrong what happend to Trevon is infact a tragidy and I am all for demanding that the Stand Your Ground Law be reformend so that it more clearly defines what is considered to be threatining, aand establishes limits when a person is within their legal right to protect themselves and/or their property. Not that any such reform is going to stop "criminals" from breaking the law, but it would certainly help resolve the abuse of a law that in its current state pretty much allows anyone to shot someone for no good reason other than being scared, annoyed, incompetant etc.
As Gandhi often said; "An eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind".
#15
Oh no! Don't fool yourselves. There is a game of genocide occurring in the black community but it isn't by the hands of average white people; but, it is by the influence of powerful white people. Ask yourself why the demonstrations by move to amend were not covered on TV and this nonsense is? Because this is more important? Don't be a fool. If anything is covered by the commercial media to death that should send up a flag that it is merely corporate puppetry. There is nothing demonstrated in the streets that benefit you or I that gets covered anymore. Simple fact! If you see it, chances are it's a trick. These Dream Defenders are nothing more than the minority version of the tea party.
Today, in my home town, two black men and one 8 year old girl were gunned down in the streets for no reason. In addition two black women were rushed to the hospital with gunshot wounds. There is no motive and no suspects; however, chances are the gunmen were black. From this point on there will be no more media coverage. Case closed. Every day where I live it is the same tired old song as usual. Routinely we hear the gunshots in the middle of the night. We hear the sirens and the helicopters circling and we silently pray no one got hurt, this time. This is where the genocide is happening. This is where the outrage needs to be focused on. If you keep falling for the media side shows you miss the real news and the real tragedy. Marching in the streets for Trayvon Martin? Who is going to march for that little 8 year old girl? The morning news didn't even release the names of these victims. Just more faceless, nameless black statistics. How can it be possible that Trayvon Martin could be more innocent than that 8 year old girl?
93% of 9,000 is 8,370 victims of black on black crime a year. The media fixates for almost a year on 1 out of the 630 other cases--like blacks are only killed by whites for racist reasons. There are no other social reasons for black homicides other than racist white people racially profiling innocent black people. Really! I suppose that is just fine. Lets seek justice for the other 629 victims as well; and, to hell with the other 8,370, right? It's just fine if black people kill black people. That's the way it's supposed to be. It's just fine if they call each other 'Nigah' too, right? None of my business. "Just don't let no Cracker have a piece of our action! We kill each other just fine without your help!" And the real holocaust goes on, unaddressed. Keep following your media masters and see where it gets you. If you haven't noticed, the media is not your friend, my friend.
#16
Quote DAnneMarc's quote:
Quote:
A Statistic That Will Help People Think About The True Relavance Of The Zimmerman Case:
The Bureau Of Justice Statistics wrote:
A 2007 special report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, reveals that approximately 8,000 — and, in certain years, as many as 9,000 African Americans are murdered annually in the United States. This chilling figure is accompanied by another equally sobering fact, that 93% of these murders are in fact perpetrated by other blacks. The analysis, supported by FBI records, finds that in 2005 alone, for example, African Americans accounted for 49% of all homicide victims in the US — again, almost exclusively at the hands of other African Americans.
So, is it any wonder why a lot of people feel threatened and feel the need to carry weapons in order to defend themselves? If a certain group of people wants to be respected, trusted, and not feared, then they need to work on cracking down on their own people instead of expecting someone else to buy into some kind of "can't we all just get along" mentality. And it should all start with the parents of the children who develop hatreds and criminal mentalities. Those parents need to crack down on their children if they ever hope to see them live to be a grandfather...or even just a parent themselves.
But, I believe that Zimmerman was way out of line when he went looking for trouble with a loaded gun. Zimmerman should have been found guilty! He wasn't "standing his ground"...Trayvon Martin was...and Trayvon Martin had, according to Florida law, every right to "stand his ground" against Zimmerman.
And I agree with DAnneMarc that this was getting way too much attention...that there are many things that need to be at the forefront of our concerns right now. I believe that now, since the Martin family has petitioned President Obama, that it will just be used as a political football excuse to detract from what we should all have...the right to "stand our ground" against anyone who attacks us (just like Trayvon Martin should have had the right to stand his ground against his attacker, Zimmerman). We should all have the right to self defense and not be bullied. With no "stand your ground" the bullies, muggers, rapists, robbers, murderers will have a field day because they will have no fear that their victims may try to defend themselves. The only thing the verdict in Florida showed us is that "stand your ground" only applies to whites and not to blacks.
#17
Palindromedary ~ I agree! Trayvon was the person exercising the 'Stand Your Ground Law' far more than Zimmerman. Little good it did him. That particular law had nothing to do with the outcome of this event. The media attention this event is getting is the biggest travesty associated with this story.
Parents hurt their children when they teach hatred. When they train them to properly react to confrontation and emergencies they educate them and save their lives.
I can't help but believe that if Zimmerman were black we never would know the name Trayvon Martin. In fact, If Zimmerman were black, there is a possibility that Martin would have survived. Martin would have never waited for a black man stalking him to get near. The moment he realized what was happening he would have ran to his parents house out of fear and possiby been safe. However, considering the way homicide occurs in the black community, depending on how fast he could run, he may have died and his parents along with him. Nevertheless, if Zimmerman was black we never would have been subjected to this trial--even if there was one.
#18
By focusing on just statics though your missing the forest because of the trees. Let's just suppose you are right, T.Martin is a minor player in the larger scheme of things. But if it can lead to a closer introspection of the society as a whole and what has to change, how can that be a bad thing? So what if the media wants to move on, the longer the parade can be held together then maybe, just maybe, something good will be gained.
Now using your statics, what is the black suppose to do? Stay in 'their communities' and get shot down, or leave and get shot down. Not much of a choice if you ask me.
And you're right the parade has gone on for about two blocks now and the toy store and ice cream parlor is just around the corner, it's getting close to the time the parade will break up . Sad, that alone says mountains about the American ethos.
Because the T. Martin case has brought the larger issues into better focus for more people, perhaps not as wide spread as you or I or many others would like, but still more people have been exposed and are thinking about these larger issues. That's why the T.Martin case was/is important. Not only has a young man wrongly lost his life, but it also wraps up the smelly ugly mess that this American dream has become into one tidy neat smelly package. No matter what favorite hobby horse you want to ride the parade needs to keep on making noise and growing or nothing will never change.
T.Martin was never unimportant.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann is a creative thinker and committed small-d democrat. He has dealt with a wide range of topics throughout his life, and this book provides an excellent cross section. The Thom Hartmann Reader will make people both angry and motivated to act."
From Screwed:
"Thom Hartmann’s book explains in simple language and with concrete research the details of the Neo-con’s war against the American middle class. It proves what many have intuited and serves to remind us that without a healthy, employed, and vital middle class, America is no more than the richest Third World country on the planet."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann channels the best of the American Founders with voice and pen. His deep attachment to a democratic civil society is just the medicine America needs."
The ABC news video of George Zimmerman at the police station that Thom mentioned on today's show...
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/zimmerman-police-station-surveillance-ni...