The African American community has a boat load of reasons to seek a change in their representation at any level of government. Their reasons are unique to their racial status. I would expect from this year forward there is going to be more and more African American voters going to the polls with one primary thought in mind; "We want someone who values the lives of our children as much as we do."

I would expect more and more legislators will be paying attention to commercials whereby their name does not appear as one that supports the African American community in instituting laws that protect ALL Americans and not simply the Caucasian variety. I would guess the minority populations, including, Hispanic voters might see the qualifications for election differently as well.

I don't want to hear the two words "Race Card" again. If used it will clearly indicate a bigot stated it. There is NO race card, there is only laws that uphold the dignity of life for all Americans.

According to my standard, Chris Wallace now qualifies as a bigot.

End of discussion.

African Americans have the most danger in their lives by the simple fact their skin is dark.

Stand Your Ground laws and racial bias (click here)

June 5, 2013

By John Roman

There is actually no doubt. Stand Your Ground laws increase justified homicides.

Alabama: Code of Ala. § 13A-3-23(a)(3) (click here)
Arizona: A.R.S. § 13-411(A)
Florida: Fla. Stat §§ 776.031, 776.08
Georgia: O.C.G.A. § 16-3-23(3)
Kentucky: KRS § 503.080(2)(b)

In at least five of these states Stand Your Ground laws go beyond self-defense, it allows death for issues regarding property. This applies to personal property such as money, cell phones and cameras even if it has little to no value. Six states allow the use of deadly force if there is a burglary to a building even if it is not the shooter's building. As a matter of fact the shooter can use deadly force even if no one is in the building, the building is not his, he is not a lease holder of the building. There is absolutely no danger to anyone, but, because someone, anyone, maybe even the owner of the building was entering with suspicion the shooter is allowed to use deadly force.

Evidently, Cambridge, Massachusetts doesn't favor such laws.

An unarmed woman, scared for her life dies trying to save it. "Stand Your Ground."

November 7, 2013

By Joe Patrice

...Renisha McBride (click here) was a 19-year-old woman living in Michigan. On Saturday, she got into a car accident in Dearborn Heights at around 2:30 a.m. Unable to call for help, because her cell phone was dead, Renisha went to a nearby home to seek assistance. While “I was in an accident and need help, please let me in” is a clichéd horror movie trope, the reason it’s a stupid horror movie trope is the homeowner doesn’t ever need to open the door — just call 911 and let them take care of it! And if you feel the person seeking help needs more immediate aid, call 911 first, then go help them — and if they were planning to hurt you, he or she would have skedaddled off knowing that the police are en route and there’s little to no time to do whatever nefarious act he or she had planned.

In this case, the homeowner opted not to call the police. Instead, he opted to open the door and kill Renisha. At present, the story is that after shooting Renisha, the homeowner — whose name is withheld — did not immediately inform the authorities. I mean, he didn’t see the need to call the police before when she was asking for help, why call the police after he killed someone?...

Walking down a street is a very dangerous thing for young black men. Just walking. Just standing. Just talking. The cops stop because it looks suspicious.

Ford’s death occurred barely 48 hours after police in the small town of Ferguson, Missouri opened fire and killed Michael Brown, a black teenager who was reportedly unarmed at the time of the incident. 

August 15, 2014
By Thomas Johnson

...The Los Angeles Times (click here) reported that Dorene Henderson, a family friend, witnessed part of the incident and “saw no struggle between the officers and Ford.” Henderson said that neighbors began yelling at the officers: “He’s got mental problems.”

Ford’s parents said he was diagnosed with depression and later schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A man who identified himself as Ford’s cousin told Los Angeles news station KTLA: “They laid him out and for whatever reason, they shot him in the back, knowing mentally, he has complications. Every officer in this area, from the Newton Division, knows that — that this child has mental problems,” the man said. In addition: “The excessive force … there was no purpose for it. The multiple shootings in the back while he’s laying down? No. Then when the mom comes, they don’t try to console her … they pull the billy clubs out.”

KTLA reported that Ford’s mother, Tritobia Ford, said her son “was lying on the ground and complying with the officers’ commands when he was shot three times.”

“My heart is so heavy,” she told the station. “My son was a good kid. He didn’t deserve to die the way he did.”

Police took another view....

It is not the race card, it is however a resolve to vote for candidates that will actually stand their ground on what is right and wrong.

Police officers keep watch while demonstrators (not pictured) protest the death of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri August 12, 2014 (Reuters / Mario Anzuoni)

Michael Brown, Jr. was gunned down at the age of 18 years old for absolutely no reason. He was gunned down by a police officer that used his gun for control because he was a piss poor officer. Will he be charged? No. See, being a piss poor officer doesn't mean you are guilty of murder, it simply means you are a piss, poor officer that needs his gun to collect his paycheck. Killing isn' this problem, it is control of 'the street' that is his problem and every black man anywhere near the officer was going to know he doesn't mess around and this could be you, too.

August 12, 2014
By David L. Lieb

“Big Mike,” (click here) as some of his friends called Michael Brown Jr., wasn’t the type to fight, family and neighbors said, though he lived in a restless neighborhood where police were on frequent patrol. His parents and neighbors described him as a good-hearted kid with an easy smile who certainly wouldn’t have condoned the violence and looting that spread though his north St. Louis suburb following his death. “He was funny, silly, he would make you laugh,” his father said, and when there was “any problem going on, any situation, there wasn’t nothing that he couldn’t solve. He could bring people back together.”...

"Dad, do you think I might be a good ball player in college, enough to make people notice?" I imagine he had many hopes, but, that doesn't matter so long as the shooting was a good shooting.

This is just Florida. There is no race card here, there is murder.

The Trayvon Martin case was only one case in many.

Those who stood, those who fell: fatal cases (click here)

Critics say "stand your ground" turned Florida into the Wild West. Supporters say it has helped keep innocents out of jail. The truth of how the law has been used over the past six years was unknown until now.

What follows is the most comprehensive list of "stand your ground" cases ever created. Browse by victim or defendant, by fatal or nonfatal cases. Hover over a photo to explore the basics of each case or click it for a more detailed case file. Use the buttons at right to filter by race, sex and location....

...The youngest was nine-year-old Sherdavia Jenkins, who was killed in the crossfire of a dispute in which the defendant unsuccessfully raised the Stand Your Ground defense....

When my sons were home and growing up we were best friends.

We breathed the same spiritual air. We loved the life we lived. We loved the values we head dear. We loved the happiness we found with each other. We were soul mates long before they found their soul mate for the rest of their lives in young women that fascinated them. 

I know the love these mothers have for their sons. What I never realized was that when a young black man dies due to gun violence the community unites to tell the tale and remind each other it will happen again. It will happen again. "This could be your son..."

When Michael Dunn (click here) was on trial for killing a 17-year-old in Jacksonville, most didn’t know much more about the victim other than that he was shot over a dispute over “loud music.” But before Jordan Davis became another symbol of Florida’s deeply divisive “stand your ground” policy, he was just a kid. This is his story, told by the friends and family who knew him best....

...Jordan’s mom, Lucy McBath, piled the kids from Jordan’s homeschool co-op group into her SUV and drove them to rink. She liked to skate too. “It would be funny because I would deliberately be passing him and be like, ‘Hey, Jordan,’” Lucy said during a recent interview with BuzzFeed. “I would be needling him as I was skating past: Jordan, I love you!”

“Mom, you’re embarrassing me!” Jordan would respond....

For absolutely no damn good reason a young black man died. What has to happen so the media stops creating 'a race card' excuse?

Updated: Dec.. 1, 2011 (click here)

In the early morning hours of Nov. 25, 2006, Sean Bell, a 23-year-old New York City man due to be married later that day, walked out of a Queens strip club, climbed into a gray Nissan Altima with two friends who had been celebrating with him — and died in a hail of 50 bullets fired by a group of five police officers.

The shooting shocked the city and brought back memories of the deaths in other high-profile police shootings — in particular, the death of Amadou Diallo, an African peddler killed after police fired 41 shots at him in 1999. Both men were black and both were unarmed, although in both cases the officers appeared to have believed the suspect had a gun....

...After hearing evidence in the case, Deputy Commissioner Martin G. Karopkin, acting as the trial judge, ruled that the Detective Isnora acted improperly. He recommended that Detective Isnora be fired for his actions during the shooting and for stepping outside his role as an undercover officer, thereby endangering himself and others, the official said.

As for a second officer, Michael Carey, Mr. Karopkin recommended that he be found not guilty of improperly firing his weapon and that he be allowed to stay on the force, said the official, who insisted on anonymity because the matter was continuing....

The night Oscar Grant was murdered no one asked for his rap sheet.

...Grant had been arrested (click here) five times between the ages of 18 and the time of his death, and spent around two years total in jail. On one occasion, he gave a sworn statement to police that he was selling ecstasy to a few regular customers. His family has said that prior to his death Grant was beginning to think seriously about changing his life for the better; his girlfriend, Sophina Mesa (Melonie Diaz), with whom he had a four-year-old daughter, said that two days before his death they talked about getting their own place together and moving away from their hometown. Grant was apparently planning to attend barber school, having learned how to cut his fellow inmates’ hair....

The media seems to like to victimize the victim and justify the unjustifiable violence of police officers by the fact a young black man was previously arrested. Huh? Oscar Grant was unarmed. He was among a group of young black men that were sitting on a concrete floor without any recourse to their safety. Their safety was at the mercy of the BART cops. 

I don't know how a young black man doesn't have a rap sheet in the year 2014 or previous. I recall our President and Attorney General stating they had incidents in their lives whereby their conduct was called into question for absolutely not other reason except their skin color.

Previous records do not justify the death of anyone, including young black men that are unarmed and innocent of wrong doing at the time of their death. No copy can simply assign him or herself into being judge and jury and KILL. 

Free country. Free for who?

There are some personalities in the news industry that are believed to be most trustworthy above others. 

Today, on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace in an interview with a senior Democrat stated, "Are they playing the race card?" 

Really?

Chris Wallace has been around long enough to know when laws have gone astray in the USA. I find it hard to believe he doesn't understand that a young, black man was gunned down in Florida for absolutely no reason at all except he was someone's idea of 'his duty' to stop burglary in a gated communities neighborhood.

This isn't playing any card. This is reminding people within a state how dangerous life has become for young, black men. It is to remind people about the laws responsible for Trayvon Martin's death. 

George Zimmerman was empowered to act on his own because of laws called, "Stand Your Ground" and "The Castle Doctrine." If those two laws were not ever passed by Florida State legislatures Trayvon Martin would be alive today.

I don't call this progress.

My imagination never took that path. I think the imagination of what can happen to a human body has gone in a direction that needs to have a separate rating called "C" for censurable. It is unfortunate there are now zombies and the living dead that have taken over the imagination of people. 

This form of graphic expression as well as most of the crazy concepts that litter the human imagination these days started during the Bush White House. It can be traced back to those beginnings. These 'ideas' were never in the American landscape before. The place where terrorists took precedent over sanity and anything could happen. I still don't understand zombie pictures or programs, nor do I want to. I think it is the weirdest garbage out there.

It's Sunday Night

"Dangerous" by Big Data (click here for official website)

How could you know, how could you know?
That those were my eyes
Peepin' through the floor, it's like they know
It's like they know I'm looking from the outside
And creeping to the door, it's like they know

And now they coming, yeah, now they coming
Out from the shadows
To take me to the club because they know
That I shut this down, 'cause they been watching all my windows
They gathered up the wall and listening
You understand, they got a plan for us
I bet you didn't know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn't know someone could love you this much

How could they know, how could they know
What I've been thinking?
But they're right inside my head because they know
Because they know, what I've been hidin'
They're right under my bed, they're in control

Here they come, yeah here they come
Out of the shadows
To take me to the club because they know
That I shut this down, 'cause they been watching all my windows
They gathered up the wall and 'cause they
I've gotta get out of here
Sink down, into the dark
Keep on running
And I've gotta get out of here (keep on running)
Sink down, into the dark

You understand, they got a plan for us
I bet you didn't know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn't know someone could love you this much

Nobody's listening when we're alone
Nobody's listening, there's nobody listening,
No one can hear us when we're alone
No one can hear us, no, no one can hear us

And I've gotta get out of here
Sink down, into the dark
Keep on running
I've gotta get out of here (Keep on running)
Sink down, into the dark
You understand, they got a plan for us
I bet you didn't know that I was dangerous
It must be fate, I found a place for us
I bet you didn't know someone could love you this much