What Florida Has Taught America

Florida is an interesting state. There are many lessons about the future of America that can be seen in how the Orange state handles business. For the astute Florida is a repository of America's past and a blue-print for it's future. The Florida courts are not as much about justice as they are about sending social messages out to the masses. Messages of white supremacy and Black people keeping in line.

Thirteen years ago we learned that an election can be rigged, and despite an active voting rights act, the state could still deny Black people the right to vote. This was proven by the fact that the class-action suit that was filed against the state, by the NAACP was settled out of court. Only the guilty settle out of court.

Within the last couple of years, we've learned that a Kangaroo court system  can find a man innocent of obvious murder, basically on the strength of people not wanting to interrupt gun laws; that lynching is something that people want to bring back; that the lack of justice around the murder of a teenager is a way for the rabid right to zing it to Obama; and that open hunting on Black males remains in effect. Trayvon Martin is a renewal of Emmit Till, just to let us know that the ritual hasn't changed a stroke even after the Civil Right Movement. What was at stake in this case was the present that it would set in making it illegal to kill Black male teens.

From the Marissa Alexander case we are learning that the right to defend yourself and bear arms is only a part of white privilege and does not apply to Black people. Also if the courts were to find in favor of Ms Alexander, it would send the message that it's okay for women to defend themselves against abusive spouses, even with a legally registered fire-arm. The Kangaroos want to send this young mother to jail and will tell us that this is the justice we craved for Trayvon Martin; when in reality it's the same message that they gave us by not finding Zimmerman guilty. In the state of Florida it is illegal for Black people to defend themselves, under any circumstance, at any time.

Message received, Florida...