Monthly Archives: April 2012

Stand Your Ground?

Posted on by
1

Controversial law “Stand Your Ground” only works in your defense if you are NOT black. thegrio.com posted an article of the 10 most infamous stand your ground cases. The article (link below) could have been put together better, possibly linking longer more detailed articles about the cases. BUT what they did a good job at was showing pictures. I think this was important so that people reading the article can actually humanize the victims. And in this instance, the victim can also be the one sitting in jail. Take for example Marissa Alexander, she’s a woman and black – who after being attacked and threatened by her husband fired a WARNING SHOT (he was not hit) above his head faces 20 years behind bars. She claimed “Stand Your Ground” as defense and lost… A Spanish man, Greyston Garcia, claimed “Stand Your Ground” and won after stabbing a man to death for stealing his car stereo – he did not call 911 and sold all the stereos possessed by his victim (also Spanish). Garcia SHOULD be in jail. I mean the man is dead, after being stabbed to death. There should be a point when stabbing someone that you stop – before you’ve killed them.

Are the rulings in the Stand Your Ground cases racially driven? I am leading towards yes. Florida has a large Spanish presence, and from what I’ve heard and read,  light Spanish people in Miami run things. Garcia is from Miami. From the article it is unclear which part of Florida Alexander is from, but the key thing to remember is that she is black and DID NOT kill anyone. Yet she sits behind bars as Garcia walks free. I am not sure how a radio can equal a life. ALSO, when googling Garcia, he had a previous record. Alexander, as far as I could find, does not have a previous record. Although she was standing her ground, by trying to scare someone rather than kill them (which personally I would think is the better of the two, why does stand your ground mean you had to kill the person or you weren’t really scared enough? Maybe you were scared enough but you know you wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt of taking someone’s life – even if they may have “deserved” it).

Still, I am not 100% convinced it’s completely racially motived. I am leaning towards it, but I would need to research more of the cases before I could concretely say yes. With that said however, what is shocking to me is that there is no precedent set by the courts on what qualifies as Stand Your Ground. I mean, I am not sure how you can kill someone over a radio, but not be allowed to threaten with a warning shot someone who has beat you and threatened your life… It makes no sense. There is definitely some shadiness or bias going on here….

notjustmythoughts

article: http://www.thegrio.com/specials/trayvon-martin/10-most-infamous-stand-your-ground-cases.php

Restaurant Racism

Posted on by
3

“Dining While Black,” a recent article posted on the NY Daily News website, (link to article: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/tableside-racism-a-real-study-shows-waitstaff-give-african-americans-poorer-service-article-1.1067157) discusses “table side racism.” What is “table side racism?” Well, simply it’s being racially stereotyped and restaurant servers acting on those stereotypes by providing poorer service to African-Americans. While the study was done on a small-scale (200 servers interviewed in 18 N.Carolina restaurants) broader insights can be garnered.

Mainly, I believe the broader insight is that RACISM EXISTS (daily)! So many times I have had debates with people and they say to me, racism isn’t prevalent except in the most extreme cases. I continually argue, racism is most prevalent in everyday life and it is only in the most extreme cases that other people notice it too. I am not African-American, but I am a young Hispanic woman. I have noticed (outside of a predominately Hispanic area) I get treated differently, at restaurants, on the street by random people, and in many of the situations the racism is like “table side racism” (being ignored, having to wait longer than everyone else, getting over looked, etc). And this isn’t only in WHITE areas. Which says something too. Perhaps another post as I would digress too far, but a lot has to do with stereotypes. Another insight, which is touched upon by Sarah Rusche Ph.D is that most people aren’t truthful about their racist actions or those of others since racism’s existence is taboo in society. The stats from the study are high enough (over 1/3 of the sample) has acted on racist stereotypes and provided poorer service to black patrons – so I could only imagine if this was done on a larger scale.

I wanted to bring this article to your attention, but mostly to the attention of all the non-believers. Racism has not gone anywhere – just from time to time it wears a little disguise.

notjustmythoughts

Since I’ve Been Gone

Posted on by
Reply

Hello all. My apologies, it has been almost a month since my last post. Much of the reason is I’ve been trying to finish a book that I’d like to dedicate a post (or several) to. BUT I’ve been slacking on my reading.

Today, I’d like to briefly talk about the little girl who was handcuffed by the police. I bring this up because someone has asked me to talk about it. Truthfully, I don’t think there is a HUGE issue. The child was being reckless, destructive, hurtful, and unwilling to calm down or cease her antics. What should have been done to restrain her? Should a grown man cop yoke her up? Twisted her wrists and held them together forcefully with his own strength? Should she have been allowed to continue to destruct school property and injure students or other adults in the school? Now, I can DEFINITELY see why people are outraged by this. I can see why people think it was excessive since she was just a child, BUT what I pose to you is, what should have been done? For me, I see it as the lesser of the evils. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have my own issues with the police and do think a lot of their antics are racially driven and an abuse of their authority, but I can’t think of something better that could have been done. Sometimes I think that people are always looking to make the police the scapegoat in EVERY situation, and even though they deserve the blame in most situations – your hatred towards the police should not cloud your rationale. I mean, what SHOULD have been done? The school tried to calm her down, police tried to calm her down, and nothing worked. A child should not be allowed to continue on a spree of destruction (child or anyone else for that matter). If they allowed her to continue that’s almost like saying, it’s okay go on rage filled spree of destruction. If you learn that behavior is okay at 6, what about when you’re 12, 16, 26? Would you then be allowed to go on a rage filled spree, possibly gun wielding? No, you wouldn’t, so how should they have stopped her behavior more appropriately at 6?

As I said, I can definitely understand why some people are outraged since she is just a child, BUT I really can’t think of something else that could have been done. Children need to learn their behavior is wrong, not tolerated, and if you break the law – there are consequences. I myself have seen the back of a patrol car, felt cold handcuffs tight against my wrists, and sat in a piss scented holding cell AND you know what that led me to do? NOT GET IN TROUBLE AGAIN.

notjustmythoughts