Monday, July 22, 2013

The End of the "American Dream"?


Memphis tops the worst cities for upward class mobility according to this new study...

5 Worst Cities in America for Class Mobility | Alternet

The Deep South: Where the American Dream Goes to Die

The data shows that conservative economic policies are to blame for poverty and the lack of upward mobility across the south.




Saturday, July 20, 2013

What About Justice for Trayvon Martin?




Some, mostly conservatives, are arguing that the Florida "Stand Your Ground' law played no role in the Zimmerman trial or verdict they are wrong.

The Instructions read to the Jury used the new Florida "Stand Your Ground" law's guidelines (that the defendant only had to show they feared they would be killed, not the older self-defense guidelines, that the defendant had to show that they did everything they could to avoid the confrontation or events that lead to killing someone to defend themselves.

Furthermore, Treyvon Martin and George Zimmerman were tried on two different grounds.  Treyvon Martin was tried and convicted of his own murder based on the pre-stand your ground laws that required a person to try to avoid or flee a situation that could lead to violence or death, whereas Zimmerman was acquitted based on the newer Stand Your Ground law which does not require a person to avoid a conflict, but only requires that they show they had a reasonable fear of bodily harm or death.  Two different laws, two different measures of "justice."  Why wasn't Treyvon Martin allowed the right to stand his ground?  What if Trevon Martin had killed Zimmerman in self-defense?

Why Were Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman Held to Two Different Standards of Justice?

The Evil New "Stand Your Ground" Law Made the Killing of Trayvon Martin Permissible

Why Stand Your Ground Is Central to George Zimmerman's Case

Zimmerman Juror Says Panel Considered Stand Your Ground in Deliberations

Stand Your Ground and The Zimmerman Defense (Media Matters)

White People Who Kill Black People in "Stand Your Ground" States 354% More Likely to Be Cleared of Murder

Justice for Trayvon? Repeal ALEC's 'Stand Your Ground' 

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Justice for Trayvon Denied: Renewing the Fight Against Racism - Democratic Socialists of America



Justice for Trayvon Denied: Renewing the Fight Against Racism - Democratic Socialists of America

Justice for Trayvon Denied: Renewing the Fight Against Racism


Democratic Socialists of America joins the broad civil rights and progressive community in expressing its outrage at the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the murder of Trayvon Martin. Only an insane, ALEC-inspired “stand your ground law” combined with the racist assumption that African Americans automatically pose a threat to anyone’s person and property enabled George Zimmerman to be acquitted.  
In the law of most other societies, the armed party would have been responsible for “standing down” and avoiding an altercation with an unarmed party. But in the United States, an unarmed black teenager, walking in his father’s neighborhood, is viewed by all too many as a threat to an armed vigilante who not only initiated the deadly encounter, but stalked the victim.
If the “stand your ground” law and a lax prosecution enabled George Zimmerman to get off, this is clearly one in a long series of cases in the United States where racist laws and true justice fail to coincide. George Zimmerman’s words to the police dispatcher –who urged him to stand down—ironically summarized what many of us see to be the outcome of the trial: “Fucking punks; these assholes always get away.” Indeed, George Zimmerman got away.
DSA urges its members to join protests against the verdict and “stand your ground laws” and to redouble our efforts to fight against racism, including the outrageous “New Jim Crow” prison-pipeline laws that subject hundreds of thousands of prisoners of color to absurdly long sentences for minor, non-violent drug law violations. We also join the NAACP in urging the United States Justice Department to indict George Zimmerman for violating the civil rights of Trayvon Martin. “Walking while Black” should not be a cause for armed citizens to harass and confront – and then murder – unarmed persons of color.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

What We Can Learn From America's First Tea Party About Countering Corporate Power



What We Can Learn From America's First Tea Party About Countering Corporate Power

Before there was Citizens United, a modern Tea Party movement, or national momentum to ban corporate personhood, Thom Hartmann shows that resistance to corporate power is just as patriotic as Boston’s original Tea Party.