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Showing Original Post only (View all)Jesse Jackson: Post-Trayvon Martin environment in Florida is 'toxic' [View all]
Source: Orlando Sentinel
Civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson dropped in on the Trayvon Martin-inspired protesters occupying the Florida Capitol Tuesday, labeling Florida's political environment "toxic" and likening Gov. Rick Scott to the late segregationist George Wallace.
Jackson planned to spend the night with the protesters who are in the midst of their third week of sitting in Scott's office, demanding that he call a special session to repeal Florida's 'Stand Your Ground" law. Though initially cited by supporters of Neighborhood Watch captain George Zimmerman, the law wasn't an element in the trial earlier this month that saw Zimmerman acquitted of shooting and killing Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, in a Sanford gated community.
Jackson said the controversial law was part of a broader discriminatory system against minorities, including voter-disenfranchisement.
"Stand your ground laws must end," Jackson told reporters. "The manipulation of African-Americans here is disgraceful."
Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/blogs/political-pulse/os-jackson-posttrayvon-martin-environment-in-florida-is-toxic-20130730,0,1020184.post