Let’s talk about Stand Your Ground.
Debate surrounding this controversial law didn’t die with George Zimmerman’s acquittal; it’s still as alive and volatile as ever. Let’s talk about how it not only is bad legislation, but also sets a bad precedent for behavior, telling Americans to shoot before they think, before they question, before they run. SYG is a puerile throwback to the Wild West, to cowboys; it’s a supposed homage to American individualism and freedom that is merely an excuse for vigilantism. Too often, it serves only to accommodate the murderous tendencies of unchecked tempers, and it must be stopped.
Stand Your Ground has been marketed as common-sense legislation from day one. It’s all in the name. SYG is essentially a ramped-up version of self-defense, in which a threatened party can retaliate violently against an attacker or potential attacker without any duty to retreat. SYG can be applied to situations outside of the home; so if someone feels threatened on a residential sidewalk, or at a gas station, for example, they can open fire. Traditional self-defense laws, on the other hand, require the threatened party attempt to leave the dangerous situation whenever possible, and to only resort to lethal violence when their own lives are truly threatened.
The thought behind SYG is: why shouldn’t I have the right to defend my life from those who threaten it, in places I legally occupy? It’s a good theory, I suppose, but terrible in practice.
Everybody has a different trigger: what makes one person feel threatened may not affect another the same way. For some, provocation is the approach of a mugger bearing a weapon. For others, it’s a teenage boy playing loud music and not wanting to turn it down when asked.
Whether or not the person was legitimately threatened is at issue once the case comes to trial, but cases usually only come to trial once someone is dead. The main purpose then is the pursuit of justice which, so often, our “justice system” does not dole out.
Though its wording does not explicitly mention race (few modern laws do), Stand Your Ground is a racist law. How it is enforced and how cases involving it play out in the courts shows how it upholds the systems that reinforce racist beliefs and behaviors in the United States.
Living in a racist society means that, for example, some Americans see black people as inherently “threatening,” even if the behavior of the supposedly threatening individual is not even remotely close to dangerous. Americans have, by and large, been trained to believe that black people, and black teenage boys especially, are naturally inclined towards mischief and, worse, violence. This stereotype has become the de facto excuse for so much modern racially-motivated violence.
“I felt threatened.”
It’s why George Zimmerman started to follow Trayvon Martin. It’s why Michael Dunn told Jordan Davis to turn down the loud music in his car before he unloaded his bullets. It’s why Renisha McBride was shot point-blank in the head with a shotgun after knocking on a Michigan man’s door, looking for assistance. It’s why a similar fate befell Jonathan Ferrell, who was shot by Charlotte police while looking for help following a car accident.
There are too many stories like this, in which the first inclination is to kill, instantly, no questions asked, especially when confronted with a “threatening” individual. And this way of thinking is why George Zimmerman was acquitted, why the jury couldn’t come to a decision in the murder of Jordan Davis, declaring a mistrial despite what appears to be some pretty strong evidence, though it did find Dunn guilty of other charges that will lead to a prison sentence.
This is also why Marissa Alexander, a black woman, was slammed with 20 years in jail for firing mere warning shots at her abusive ex-husband after he verbally threatened to kill her. Of all the cases, this seems to be the kind that SYG was made for. Thankfully Alexander has been granted a new trial, after spending more than a year in jail.
Even if Trayvon Martin punched George Zimmerman, or Jordan Davis said something to set off Michael Dunn – even if Renisha McBride knocked too aggressively or Jonathan Ferrell’s body language as he approached police was misread – what does it say about our society that we think that we should have the right to respond to these “provocations” with such disproportionate violence? The answer to a punch is not a bullet, the answer to suspicion not a point-blank shotgun blast. Stand Your Ground would have you believe otherwise.
This isn’t just a Florida problem. This is an American problem and a human one. Asking that gun owners not turn their weapons on others at the slightest provocation is not a call to hand in your weapons or a move to disarm Americans. It’s a call not to murder people for senseless reasons, for no reason. It’s a call to mercy and to sanity.
There is a time and a place for lethal violence committed in self defense in response to a legitimate attack on one’s life. When a mugger brandishes his knife, or a home invader his gun, you do what you have to do to survive. But we as a society can, and absolutely need to, set the bar much higher than Stand Your Ground sets it, far above the racist murk it sits in now.
Hannah Sparks is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].
Genghis Khan • Mar 7, 2014 at 8:06 am
And speaking of subculture. What’s an “Oreo”? A “coconut”? A non-white person who is, respectively, black, Hispanic… but who acts white. The names minority communities fire at people who strive to be educated, speak proper, formal English, and be successful; kudos to you for being at a university..
The derision placed on minorities who DARE to be Conservative is venomous. If I, as a white man – admittedly – were to say “Well, all blacks think X” I would b rightfully excoriated as a racist holding a stereotype. Yet the Left demands exactly that – 100% fealty to the worldview that whitey is out to get them, that abortion is good, that “uncle sugar” exists as a teat. (See Star Parker’s book “Uncle Sam’s Plantation.” )
I WANT blacks, and Hispanics, and everyone else to succeed. So do other Conservatives. It is the road to Hell, paved by the “good intentions” of the Left, that has destroyed the black family, destroyed initiative, tainted how minorities are viewed BECAUSE OF the allowances made for minorities through affirmative action. It is the tolerance and allowances given to criminals, blaming “society” instead of the actions of individuals and holding them responsible for their actions, that have turned many minority communities into hell-holes of crime and filth.
My wife is an Asian, an immigrant. She and I are raising two children while she attends school to get her Masters. She has seen, first-hand, the racism of the country she used to call home. Her aunt who has visited regularly has expressed amazement at how little bigotry there is here in America. Is there racism here? Yes, sadly. But it is NOTHING LIKE racism almost everywhere else in the world. America is not uniquely evil in this respect; we’re actually better than most other places on this planet.
Slavery was not a unique American horror – it was worldwide, for all of human history. It was the Anglosphere that went to war with the slavers to stop it. America had a civil war in large part to end it. As Thomas Sowell – a black Conservative whose work I’d strongly recommend – wrote, more WHITE EUROPEANS were taken as slaves by Arab slavers than Aftricans were taken to America… and it was not whites who went into the jungle to capture slaves, BTW. They bought slaves from other blacks; remember that – whites did not create the slave trade, they took advantage of a system of slavery THAT ALREADY EXISTED IN AFRICA.
You have been taught FROM BIRTH that “whitey” is out to get you. You have been taught FROM BIRTH that the system is rigged against you. You have been marinated FROM BIRTH in a subculture that derides education. The shackles imposed on your mind are your own worst enemy. So ask yourself – who imposed those shackles? What interests are served by creating a permanent underclass who vote one way as a block?
Throw of your shackles. Rise above the limitations you’ve had imposed on you. But you will never succeed so long as you hold onto the belief that you can’t. Be better than you were, and raise others up too.
Genghis Khan • Mar 6, 2014 at 7:23 pm
@N: I didn’t realize there was a defined way to make “lean”. But somehow I trust Bill Whittle’s research more than your assurances.
And as to the effects of lean, that’s a clever shift. I said nothing about the high it gives; I was talking about the long-term effects on one’s psyche. I would expect someone attending college to be able to discern that. I guess I misjudged you.
As to racism? Sure, it exists. People who believe Elvis is still alive also exist. You will never get rid of every single moron in the country. So here’s a question… what are Asians called? Gooks, chinks, slant eyes, and more. What are Asian Indians called? Punjabs and heaven knows what else.
Yet there are businesses aplenty run by both, and patronized by whites – software companies, restaurants, stores, etc. Black immigrants from, for example, the West Indies are enormously successful. Why? Because they don’t have it hammered into them FROM BIRTH that “whitey” has stacked the deck against them.
The primary two things holding back blacks and other minorities in this country is their subculture, and their attitude.
So, are you mad enough to go “polar bear hunting” now? A round or two of the “knock out game” to let your anger out?
Genghis Khan • Mar 6, 2014 at 6:39 pm
@Allan: But… but… but that would mean the grievance gravy train would be over. Je$$e Jack$son and Al $harpton wouldn’t like that.
It would mean blacks have to accept responsibility for themselves, rather than blaming whitey for every ill. Can’t have that either.
Ray • Mar 6, 2014 at 10:42 am
As is tradition, the media has no intention of discussing how or why stand your ground laws came about, and the defense of Zimmerman had exactly zero to do with stand your ground.
Stand your ground laws came about because people were being victimized and if they chose to fight back, even inside their own homes, they would have to go to court and prove that they had no way to retreat (aka guilty until proven innocent). So, after being victimized once by the criminal, they have to go to court and defend themselves a second time because any prosecutor can come up a hundred hypotheticals for what you could have done.
On top of all that, if the criminal was injured or killed in the process of victimizing you, s/he and/or his/her family will sue you for civil liabilities.
Stand your ground laws do nothing more than switch the burden of proof to the state to prove that your actions were not self defense (aka innocent until proven guilty) and shield the victim from civil liability, if not guilty of a criminal offense. You are NOT protected under syg laws if you are the aggressor.
Allan • Mar 5, 2014 at 9:53 am
” Americans have, by and large, been trained to believe that black people, and black teenage boys especially, are naturally inclined towards mischief and, worse, violence. This stereotype has become the de facto excuse for so much modern racially-motivated violence.”
Yes, we have been trained by the very people you are defending.
@N.
Why is it always someone else that is to be blamed for the actions of individuals? There is no one alive that owned any slaves and there is no one alive that was a slave, the past has not evaporated because certain people won’t let it go.
doctoralstudent • Mar 5, 2014 at 9:44 am
Another article with:
* SYG catchphrase in the title
* Saying SYG should be repealed
* Attempts to cite supporting information that has nothing to do with SYG
“Stand your ground” came into law in Florida through 2005’s SB 436.
SYG has nothing to do with the Zimmerman case.
SYG has nothing to do with the Dunn case.
SYG has nothing to do with “feeling threatened” or “fearing for one’s life”
SYG is not a “ramped-up version of self defense”
SYG is not a decision to shoot.
It never was any of those things.
Ms Sparks article contains a very large number of falsehoods and logical fallacies. As such, her article and claims are unsupported.
freddy ramone • Mar 5, 2014 at 9:43 am
Gee. It must be nice to live a fantasy world. Because your post has nothing to do with reality. Stand Your Ground laws were created because the laws were against defending your self if you were attacked. In many states if you were attacked, even inside your house, you had a duty to retreat instead of Standing your ground and defending yourself. Those were stupid laws. Why couldn’t you defend yourself? Many people were shot or killed while attempting to retreat. If you did defend yourself, it was up to the local district attorney to guess if you could have retreated. You could shoot a attacker inside your house and go to jail if you were second guessed by the liberal district attorney. Stand your ground laws mirror a basic human right to be able to defend yourself.
The stand your ground laws have nothing to do with the cases you mentioned. I am not sure if you have problems reading or you just get your talking points from your liberal masters and you just blindly repeat your master’s orders.
College is not real life. Real Life is Hard. Real life requires work. There are circumstances where one might have to defend one’s self in real life. Good luck in the real world. The world that you no nothing about. Because it is a lot hardly than the fantasy world that you live n.
N. • Mar 4, 2014 at 11:02 pm
GZ, wouldn’t you say harassing someone because they ‘look like they’re in the wrong neighborhood’ counts as excessively paranoid, aggressive behavior? Skittles are not an ingredient in lean or any other drug. Lean is codeine and promethazine, and it doesn’t make you aggressive, it makes you sleepy. You might want to do some googling yourself. Your implication that people of color don’t understand their own daily social reality, but rely on the Left to feed them perceptions of it, would be insulting if it wasn’t just so ridiculous. People like you (right-wing white people, I’m guessing?) like to think that racism is over just because it’s in many ways in decline now. But the mass dispossession, exploitation and abuse of the past has not disappeared or evaporated, it is evident in the conditions of poverty and social dislocation which people of color as a whole are still largely subject to in this country (yes, even though a few more of them get to be rich and powerful now). This is the context of the ‘thug culture’ you would rather blame on the moral failure of people of color.
N. • Mar 3, 2014 at 7:52 pm
The problem is not SYG, although it is often touted as such by liberal gun-control advocates. The problem is systemic racism and a society with no hope for its children, especially those with darker skin. Florida’s SYG has become an alibi for certain people in certain situations, but not Marissa Alexander, who fired a warning shot at her abusive husband, or Airman Michael Giles, who shot a man who attacked him outside of a bar. Both Giles and Alexander are black. Both received sentences of 20 years or more. Liberals love gun control laws which are just as effective at sanctioning racist violence as SYG. They are yet another pretext for feeding (disproportionately non-white) bodies into the out-of-control, for-profit prison apparatus, which feeds off of and perpetuates existing social inequalities.
.
Moreover, the only option to allowing people to act in self-defense is to require them to run away and call the police. I might be wrong but I’m pretty sure this is what the law in MA more or less requires. It should be obvious this is not always going to be a good option in practice. Mostly, my point is that the letter of the law is less the issue than the context and the nature of the society that writes and enforces it since there is ample opportunity for abuse and racism to infuse the process all the way along the line.
Genghis Khan • Mar 3, 2014 at 12:48 pm
First, this is yet another fold, spindle, mutilate of the whole fear of people with concealed carry permits. In very state, when CCW has been proposed, up goes the hue and cry that it will be “blood in the streets”. Except it hasn’t been. People with a sense of shame would acknowledge they were wrong; anti-gunners have no shame, so they don’t.
Second, the Zimmerman case would have been a regrettable blip had it not been for the fact that “white latino” Zimmerman had a white-sounding last name. Had he had a more ethnically-appropriate name, like Sanchez, it would have been a non-story. But Saint Skittles of the Holy Hoodie did not “punch” Zimmerman; Martin was straddling Zimmerman, punching him MMA-style in a “ground and pound” tactic, slamming Zimmerman’s head against the concrete. This was not “stand your ground”, this was “some thug is going to kill me if I don’t shoot”.
Point of fact: Martin had bought skittles and a drink “Arizona Fruit Juice Cocktail” – two of the three components of “lean”, a street drug whose missing ingredient – cough syrup – Martin had tried to buy earlier. His autopsy showed liver damage consistent with the use of this drug. Use of this drug, apparently, leads to aggressive behavior and paranoid fears.
You might learn something here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebu6Yvzs4Ls
The effect of SYG laws on the minority community is also not as clearcut as the author seemingly contends. Google “minorities benefit from stand your ground” and you will find a mix of articles pro and con. Hardly the one-sided case portrayed.
The whole point of the attention to STG laws is for the Left to manipulate, once again, the perception of the minority community to believe that “whitey” is coming for them, and that the only people who can protect them are the all-knowing, all-beneficent Left.
In the months leading up to the Zimmerman trial, how many blacks have been killed by other blacks, Ms. Sparks? In a country where 90% of the black homicide victims are killed by other blacks, where is your outrage directed? Better to tell the black community to put their own house in order – through a war on fatherless children, through a war on the drug dealers that infest public housing, through a war on the thug subculture that thrives… and a key question that thinking people in the black community – and they are there – should be asking themselves:
“We’ve given our votes to the Democrats for decades. What has that gotten us? Our schools are still crappy, our streets are still dirty and dangerous.”