Trayvon Martin

Will US return to Jim Crow era of Southern justice?

Author and media critic Amy Alexander has written a dissection of the Zimmerman verdict and its provocative title strikes to the heart of what some African-Americans fear greatly about the current era: a return to the Jim Crow era of Southern justice in which black people can receive no fairness.

Host Jamila Bey spoke with Alexander to discuss the verdict and what it means in terms of social intercourse and how black Americans exist in this country.

 

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From Emmett to Trayvon, cases of civil rights draw filmmaker’s attention

WASHINGTON (VOR) – For many, the trial of George Zimmerman, the Florida man facing second-degree murder charges after shooting unarmed teen Trayvon Martin last year, has raised a number of questions, including on the issue of race and civil rights. Zimmerman has maintained that he shot Martin, who is African American, in self-defense. The case has garnered considerable attention from Keith Beauchamp, filmmaker and host of Investigation Discovery’s show “The Injustice Files,” who says that the trial, for the better, has been dissimilar from earlier cold case files of civil rights era murders he has investigated. Host Jamila Bey spoke with Beauchamp to discuss the Zimmerman trial and more.

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Trayvon Martin Shooting Reaches One Year Anniversary

Today is the one-year anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin, but the incident is still fresh in many people’s minds.

Voice of Russia’s Carmen Russell-Sluchansky and Jamila Bey talk about the future trial:

 

A year after George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, shot Trayvon Martin, a black 17-year-old that was later found to be unarmed, the case has not yet gone to trial. The incident sparked a national debate about “stand your ground” laws and the racism that is still inherent in American culture.

A date has been set for later this year, however, and Bey believes that there is no jury that wouldn’t convict Zimmerman. “This case is too much of a lightning rod,” she says, and many people who will be on a jury will probably remember the rioting in LA after the Rodney King verdict to let him go without jail time.