Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin

In 1955, fourteen year old Emmett Till whistled at a white woman in Mississippi and was brutally murdered for it. Less than a month after his murder, an all-white jury acquitted the two white defendants in 67 minutes (it would have taken less time one juror said, but they stopped for a soda break). Emmett's mother bravely allowed the casket to be open and photos of his mutilated face and body stunned the nation. I remember reading once that people who were motivated to work in the south for racial justice all had one thing in common- they had  all seen Emmett's picture.

Now we have seventeen year old Trayvon Martin shot in cold blood while walking unarmed in his father's neighborhood, but this time, we do not even have an arrest. I won't go into all the details- I'm sure most of you are following this, but what you might not know is how all these irresponsible, shoot first, ask questions later (or more accurately- there will be no questions) laws came into being.

Once again we see the ugly tentacles of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, reaching into legislatures to pass laws that provide profits to corporations- often at the expense of public safety, individual rights and the environment. At ALEC, NRA lobbyists work with big retailers, who profit from gun sales, to write the model legislation. Then political stooges, mostly Republicans, bring the legislation home to their states- not because the people have called for it, but because ALEC and its moneyed corporate members want it. States earn extra credit on ALEC's "legislative scorecards" for passing laws like Stand Your Ground. Twenty three states have some form of this law.

A similar law, called the Castle Doctrine was passed in Wisconsin (Gov Walker and the heads of the Assembly and Senate are all ALEC members) and on March 3 another young, black man was shot in the chest and died. Bo Morrison, 20, was at an underage drinking party. When cops showed up many ran to hide. Bo hid on the front porch of a neighbor's house and when the home owner found him there he shot him, although he was aware there were police in the neighborhood.

Chris Taylor, a Wisconsin state representative said, "It is heartbreaking that the legislators allowed this reckless law to go forward and now a young man is dead."

There is no doubt that these laws encourage vigilantism and deadly force. The number of "justifiable homicides" has tripled in Florida since Jeb Bush signed the Stand Your Ground law into being. Critics at the time said it would lead to racially motivated killings and promote deadly escalations in arguments.

Time to take our country back from the NRA, ALEC and politicians who only serve their corporate masters and not the people.

Heartfelt sympathies to the family of Trayvon. May he- another sacrificial lamb- similarly motivate many to get involved to fight the scourge of racism and demand justice!