Civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson visited on Tuesday, the Dream Defenders who have been occupying the Florida Capitol since Neighborhood Watch captain George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen.
Jackson, who labeled Florida’s political environment “toxic” and likening Gov. Rick Scott to the late segregationist George Wallace, plans to spend the night with the protesters, sun-sentinel.com reported.
While the ‘Stand Your Ground’ was not used by Zimmerman’s defense at trial, it was part of the jury’s instructions that played into his acquittal.
The Dream Defenders have called on Scott to hold a special session to review the law and to repeal or amend its controversial aspects. Since its passage in 2005, there has been an upsurge in justifiable homicides.
Jackson said the controversial law was part of a broader discriminatory system against minorities, including voter-disenfranchisement, the paper also reported.
“Stand your ground laws must end,” Jackson told reporters. “The manipulation of African-Americans here is disgraceful.”
