By: Jackie Hardy, NDG Contributing Writer
The outrage from the Trayvon Martin death has sparked not only national attention, but a national discussion over the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law; which constitutes anyone acting in self-defense is immune from any criminal charges or civil suits.
The life of Martin, a 17 year-old African-American teen and Florida resident, was shortened after facing off with Zimmerman, the alleged gunman, on February 26 while walking unarmed through a gated community in the suburbs of Orlando.
Zimmerman who volunteered as a neighborhood watchmen contacted 911 to report suspicion of Martin in the neighborhood and according to the 911 report Zimmerman claimed Martin “was acting strangely and could have been on drugs.” Zimmerman told Sanford Police that he felt threatened and was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed the African-American teen.
Driving while Black/Brown and Walking while Black/Brown are some of the terms used within the minority community to describe when a person of color has been stopped, searched and/or presumed suspicious by an individual (i.e. police officer, store clerk) with no probable cause. Many individuals in the minority community believe this is what led to the death of Trayvon Martin.
Although the State Attorney for Sanford feels this case requires further assessment of the facts to conclude if Zimmerman was acting in self-defense or committed a crime; one overwhelming fact that needs no further assessment in this tragic story—racism and racial profiling still exists in America.
In 2007, the Castle Law Doctrine was enacted in Texas (SB 378). This law has caused prominent leaders like Texas State Senator Royce West of the 23rd District (D) to rethink the serious, if not deadly ramifications this law could potentially cause for those within the minority community who statistically are at greater risk of being racially profiled when there is a possible threat and/or suspicion of a crime.
In a CBS11 local news report Senator West addressed a crowd gathered at Paul Quinn University to honor the slain teen by stating, “I am going to ask the Lieutenant Governor and the Criminal Justice Committee of the Senate to study the Castle Doctrine in light of the Trayvon Martin assassination…”
On the ACLU website it defines racial profiling as the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Based on a 2004 report prepared by the Steward Research Group on behalf of the Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, the ACLU of Texas, NAACP of Texas, and Texas LULAC it found African Americans living in Texas were likely to be stopped and searched 1.6 times more than their white-Anglo counterpart and Latinos were likely to be stopped and searched 1.4 times as much.
In 2001, the Texas State Senate passed SB 1074 requiring law enforcement agencies to annually report detailed statistics on the race of individuals who are stopped and searched in their respective jurisdictions.
Wikipedia.com reported that during a 2007 National District Attorneys Association symposium, numerous concerns were voiced that the Castle Law could increase crime. This increase of crime included criminals using the law as a defense for their criminal act, more people carrying guns, and that people would not feel safe if they felt that anyone could use deadly force in a conflict. The report also noticed that the misinterpretation of clues could result in use of deadly force when there was, in fact, no danger. The report specifically notes as a result of the law that racial and ethnic minorities would be at greater risk due to negative stereotypes.
According to the ACLU website, it reported a series of University of California and University of Chicago studies were conducted in the effort to recreate the experience of a police officer confronted with a potentially dangerous suspect in where the results denoted the following: participants fired on an armed target more quickly when the target was African American than when Caucasian, and decided not to shoot an unarmed target more quickly when the target was Caucasian than when African American; participants failed to shoot an armed target more often when that target was Caucasian than when the target was African American. The results also found if the target was unarmed, participants mistakenly shot the target more often when African American than when Caucasian; shooting bias was greater among participants who held a strong cultural stereotype of African Americans as aggressive, violent and dangerous, and among participants who reported more contact with African Americans.
For more information on ACLU reports on this subject got to: www.aclu.org/racial-justice/racial-profiling-definition.
