GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
This release is online at http://www.gp.org/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/details/4/632.html
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
The Green Party protests the Zimmerman acquittal and a justice system 'stacked against people of color and the poor'
• Greens support NAACP's call for civil rights charges against Zimmerman
• Green Party's 2013 Annual National Meeting in Iowa City, July 25-28: http://www.gp.org/meetings/Iowa2013
Media Credentialing: http://www.gp.org/committees/media/press.php
University of Iowa map: http://www.uiowa.edu/~maps/i/imu1.htm
Schedule of events for media at the meeting: http://gp.org/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/details/4/631.html
• Green Shadow Cabinet: http://greenshadowcabinet.us
WASHINGTON,
DC -- Green Party leaders called the acquittal of George Zimmerman in
the killing of Trayvon Martin a miscarriage of justice and part of a
pattern of evidence that the U.S. justice system is stacked against
people of color and the poor.
"Underlying the acquittal and many of the arguments
defending it is a racist assumption: that George Zimmerman had a right
to defend his own life, but Trayvon Martin did not. We support the
NAACP's call for the Justice Department to file civil rights charges
against Zimmerman, based on his violation of Trayvon Martin's most
fundamental right -- the right to life," said Darryl! L.C. Moch,
co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. (NAACP petition: https://donate.naacp.org/page/s/doj-civil-rights-petition / ColorOfChange.org letter: http://act.colorofchange.org/signup/zimmerman_acquittal)
"There are uncertainties about what happened that
night, but we know that George Zimmerman stalked Trayvon Martin and
provoked a confrontation, ignoring a dispatcher's warning to stay in his
car. We know that Zimmerman was an armed adult with a long history of
assaults and menacing behavior. We know that Martin was an unarmed
17-year-old who stepped outside to buy snacks. We know that police
declined to hold Zimmerman and investigate the case for several weeks,
which surely damaged the collection of evidence. Somehow, this scenario
got turned around in the courtroom so that it was made to look like
Zimmerman who was acting in self-defense," added Mr. Moch.
Greens expressed strong support for the rallies taking place across the U.S. in protest of the case's outcome.
"For
too many white Americans, a black teenager in a hoodie can never be
considered innocent and black children are never considered 'our
children' -- an attitude that infects the administration of justice in
the U.S. The Zimmerman acquittal is a signal to black parents that their
children have no guarantee of safety and that the promise of life and
liberty still doesn't apply to them," said Thomas Muhammad, co-chair of
the Green Party Black Caucus (http://gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php).
Greens noted that self-defense and "Stand Your
Ground" statutes haven't been held valid in cases involving black
defendants, as in the 20-year sentence for Marissa Alexander for firing a
warning shot when threatened by an abusive husband (http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/stand_your_ground_law_helps_white_defendants_a_lot_more_than_black_ones/ / Petition for Ms. Alexander: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/503/600/056/dont-imprison-marissa-alexander-for-standing-her-ground/).
"The outcome of this trial sets a dangerous
precedent: a black teenager can be a victim of a hate crime, racially
profiled, hunted down, stalked, killed and created into the perpetrator
and criminal by the justice system. And the murderer and perpetrator can
be declared innocent and even be handed back the murder weapon by the
courts and walk away with no accountability. This is the systemic form
of justice in this state and continues the open hunting season on black
men and boys in the state of Florida," said Anita Stewart, co-chair of
the Green Party of Florida (http://www.gpfl.org).
The Green Party has repeatedly protested the U.S.
criminal justice system and prison-industrial complex and has called for
far-reaching reforms. Greens said that the Zimmerman acquittal is part
of the same systematic pattern that sends young black, brown, and poor
Americans to prison en masse and that refuses to punish police for the
extra-judicial killing of black, brown, and poor people.
The pattern includes mandatory sentencing, zero
tolerance, abuses of the plea-bargain system, locking up minors in adult
prisons, militarized civilian police forces, the War on Drugs, racial
profiling, and wide racial disparities in sentencing that result in
harsh punishment of people of color and poor on violations for which
whites are not charged, acquitted, assigned community service, or given
light sentences. The pattern is especially evident in drug cases, which
send hundreds of thousands of young black, brown, and poor Americans to
prison for nonviolent offenses.
The Green Party has called for dismantling the
for-profit prison system, which has established a financial incentive to
fill up more cells with more inmates. The prison-industrial complex is
supported by both Democratic and Republican politicians and has grown
exponentially regardless of which party occupies the White House or
dominates Congress, thanks to the influence of lobbies from private
prison firms and contractors.
"The U.S. now has the world's highest per-capita
incarceration rate, with a growing prison-labor industry that replicates
slavery and the worst aspects of Jim Crow. The continuing destruction
of lives and communities deserves as much public outrage and demand for
action as the Zimmerman acquittal. Until we address this national
crisis, Attorney General Holder's promise of 'understanding, compassion,
and truth' from the Obama Administration in response to the acquittal
will ring hollow," said Sanda Everette, co-coordinator of the Green
Party of California (http://www.cagreens.org).
See also:
"Shameful, heartbreaking Trayvon Martin verdict calls for action"
By Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, 2012 Green national nominees, Green Shadow Cabinet, July 13, 2013
"Fruitvale, Trayvon Martin and the value of human life in America"
By Shamako Noble, Secretary of Culture, Green Shadow Cabinet, July 13, 2013
"Florida Guilty"
West Coast Greens (Florida), July 14, 2013
"Freedom Rider: If George Zimmerman Goes Free"
By Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report, July 10, 2013
"1 Black Man Is Killed Every 28 Hours by Police or
Vigilantes: America Is Perpetually at War with Its Own People. From the
war on drugs to the war on terror, law enforcement's battle against
minorities serves as pacification."
By Adam Hudson, AlterNet, May 28, 2013
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1 comment:
This is fantastic!
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