Yesterday
morning, Multicultural Development had its monthly Cultural Conversation. These
conversations usually last about an hour and discuss relevant issues of today.
This month's conversation was titled, "Shoot First, Ask Questions
Later", and took a look at the Stand Your Ground Laws and the Trayvon
Martin Case. Dr. Antoinette "Toni"Clarke, an ONU Law Professor, began the conversation
with discussing what the Stand Your Ground Laws mean and how they related to
the case of Trayvon Martin with mention of a few less known cases.
After going over
the basics of what the laws meant and how they related to Martin's case the
floor was open to conversation. Once the conversation is opened those who come
are allowed to ask questions and/or make comments about how they feel about the
situation. One that stood to me was a comment of an older gentleman who
believed that the decision to acquit George Zimmerman, was more rooted in
the South's history of racism more so than the laws. He believed this to be so
because majority of the jury was white, the judge was white, and so was the
prosecuting attorney. Another thing that stood out to me is the reason Dr.
Clarke chose to be apart of this conversation.
Dr. Clarke chose
to lead the conversation yesterday because a friend of hers had mentioned to
her that she was worried for her young (black) sons to grow up in this country
after the case. She said because of that she wanted to educate the young people
she came in contact with on laws like these so that they know how to protect
themselves. However, that was not what stuck in mind through the whole
conversation.
The main thought
I had was about my cousin who was shot this summer and although it was a
different situation than Trayvon's, both were teenagers at the time of their
deaths. My cousin, Cameron (CJ), was shot and killed by someone he believed he
was his friend over a "He said, She said" conversation. He died two
days before his 19th birthday. CJ missed out on the birth of his daughter,
Cameryn, who was born in early September. In either case, they both did not get
to a chance to finish out their teenage years and a parent should never have to
bury their child.
This conversation sounds like it would have been an interesting one in which to participate. The Stand Your Ground laws have been controversial and probably for good reason, but in the Trayvon Martin case it's likely that Zimmerman didn't act within even that law. As you would know given the tragedy with your cousin, gun violence is a serious issue in the United States and unfortunately little seems to be done about it.
ReplyDeleteThe conversations are usually pretty decent and this one has gotten the most attendance of the times I've gone. However, as to whether or not the case actually fell underneath the law it doesn't change the fact that a child's life is gone. Now, I don't remember the exact numbers, but Dr. Clarke did say that the states with these laws had high rates of homicide and I feel like the government should take a serious look into those numbers and the laws.
DeleteAs for my cousin and the issue of gun violence, I couldn't agree more that it's an issue that our country as whole needs to consider. There seems to be to many stories of people losing their lives on the news and don't. It is sad because it seems like the younger generations are turning toward that as a way to solve problems. I'm not going to say that it is completely the government's fault because parents need to have enough sense to teach their kids how to handle issues in other ways and people in general just need to have more value/respect for life.