February is Black History Month, or, as the founder of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in Toronto Janaya Khan called it, Black Future Month, because black people “are still going to be black after February.”
“we have to be the disrupters of truth…we have to imagine differently, and then make it true."
UPDATES:
News One-Feb. 13, 2018
Once again, Black folks are sounding the alarm on Stand Your Ground laws, which are essentially legal protections for those who use excessive or deadly force against African-Americans. Why, you ask? Well, Utah's House approved a bill Monday by a 58-11 vote that further allows for folks to get away with ...
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A central Florida judge freed George Zimmerman on $9,000 bond on Tuesday and forbade him from possessing weapons or ammunition on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence during a dispute with his girlfriend. Nov. 19, 2013
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UPDATE: Zimmerman was acquitted this past week. 6/6/13
The ramifications of this trial will be deep and long.
For example:
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| Hayward City Blues Fest, CA |
Lester Chambers (
FB page), appearing at the
Hayward Russell City Blues Festival, was assaulted by a woman after dedicating a song, People Get Ready, to the deceased 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Dylan (Chambers) Here.... Lester was just assaulted on stage at The Russell City Hayward Blues Festival by a crazed woman after dad dedicated People Get Ready to Trayvon Martin. He is on the way to the hospital now
And more:
"At the courthouse, Nelson said she would allow the jurors to set their own working hours. The panel worked through lunch on Saturday, returning only at about 6 p.m. to ask for the clarification on the manslaughter charge."
Justice or Injustice? What really happens in a jury room: indictment of the US Justice System
With the current *Zimmerman trial in the US, and the recently finished #Hutt trial, this book was a timely one, sent from a PR agency, as with most of
my book reviews. This book tells of the authors time as juror on the case of
The State of SC vs. Kimberly Renee Poole. Simply written, the first of Hardee's books, it illustrates the process of jury selection and the trial.
A true story, the author: J.L. Hardee, was a juror. If you have never sat on a jury, you really need to read this book. Whilst the US and the Canadian systems are similar, they are not exactly alike. Canadian jurors are not permitted to discuss deliberations. This being a US author, he lays it all out. With respect to juries, they all must deliberate, and come to a decision. Sequestered jurors do not have a great time.
It is an easy read, with very little in the way of descriptions it lacks any portrait of the setting, people, and is a bit stark in its simplicity. Hardee isn't an experienced author, and it tells. I've read many memoirs, and they all seem similar in that little is given to time, place, characterization.
It is also a compelling read, in that one can understand how things go in the direction that they do with peer pressure. I don't want to give away the book. It is a true story, but the ending, horrific.
The author's blog posts:
Justice or Injustice,
by J. L. Hardee, ranked #38 in criminal law books, is being picked up by law schools across the US to show law students some insight into a jury’s verdict. The jury was hung 6-6 and how they came to a verdict will surprise you all.
Written by a young man with 15 years service, including work as a firefighter, paramedic, instructor and fire chief, it is an intriguing story of the process in which a US jury engages to determine guilt or innocence.
I was quite shocked to read some of
Mr. Hardee's writings regarding the Zimmerman trial, in which he states,
"I haven’t seen one shred of evidence that shows Zimmerman as a racist. He has a neighbor, which is black, that supports him and says he isn’t a racist. His instructor, a black male, was called by the prosecutor today, and he supports Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense."
It worries me that Mr. Hardee, with experience in listening to trial evidence, while a trial is ongoing, receiving TV coverage, has already pronounced Zimmerman innocent and that he will be freed. Not all of the evidence has been introduced in court.
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Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder for killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. Zimmerman told police that the teenager looked suspicious and that there had been several break-ins in the neighborhood. The two got into a physical altercation and Zimmerman said he was forced to draw his gun and kill Martin in self-defense.
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Hutt found guilty of first-degree murder - Ottawa - CBC News
An Ottawa man accused of scalding his wife with boiling water and then leaving her to die in 2009 has been found guilty of first-degree murder.
What differentiates Canada from the United States is this:
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These are older photos.
