" . . .” What the fuck are you talking about, Obama? “Widen the circle of compassion”? That’s the way we animal activists talk when we’re trying to get speciesist bigots to treat chickens and squirrels better. These non-humans don’t have their laws yet, unfortunately. Human beings do have laws on the books which are supposed to protect us. White racists don’t have to “widen the circle” of their “compassion” — they have to abide by laws and not take them into their cold death-dealing hands. And when they violate those laws they should have the book thrown at them the way Trayvon Martin most assuredly would have had he killed Zimmerman."

Randy Shields can be reached at music2hi4thehumanear@gmail.com.

His writings and art are collected at innagoddadadamdavegan.blogspot.com.

When are we going to have a ‘town hall on racism’ that addresses how a jury of women, predominantly white women (and mothers!), don’t identify with a black child? I need to know how that happened. I need to understand that. And I want white people to explain it to me. Before someone starts railing about the laws, understand that I read the law. I watched the trial EVERY DAY. EVERY DAY, beginning with jury selection, all of it. I decided I would bear witness for Trayvon no matter how I had to restructure my day. And I did it while reading the law.

"Where was this outrage in 2012, when then-31 year old Marissa Alexander was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for firing a warning shot in order to defend herself against her abusive husband? How many people had even heard of her until yesterday, when stories of her conviction went viral, causing many to think she had been convicted on the same weekend as Zimmerman was acquitted? Why is her case only considered in comparison to Trayvon Martin’s killing? Why is there still no petition on her behalf, still no midnight marches through Union Square in her name?"

You may be interested in hearing Marissa’s story in her own words. We interviewed her from jail hours following her sentencing LIVE in May, 2012
 A Matter of unJust OUR COMMON GROUND LIVE INTERVIEW with Marissa Alexander on the day of her sentencing. #NoJustice http://bit.ly/JjXtZn. 

"The black people commit more crime canard is a fallacy of both process and outcomes."

If Trayvon Martin had been wearing a suit and driving a BMW, Zimmerman would have resented him – envy refracted through an enduring sense of racial hierarchy. That is why so many wealthy African Americans in fancy cars find themselves being unduly pulled over by white police officers – just checking, I suppose, if the car has been stolen. But Martin, age 17, had on a hoodie, which does
not evoke resentment for the racist consciousness – only a strange mixture of fear and anger. 

“We need a new movement, new leadership,  to challenge the empire.  We need to set up freedom schools and a different kind of mechanism to re-educate the people who are under the whip, so they realize it’s not them selves beating each other up – it’s coming from up top.”

Kevin Alexander Gray, an OUR COMMON GROUND VOICE is the author or "Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics and "The Decline of Black Politics: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama"

"I’m glad you said you will never serve on another jury. Please don’t. There is enough injustice in this world."    – Dr. Goddess About SocialCourtTV

Dr. Kimberly Ellis, former Producer, OUR COMMON GROUND

Scholar. Artist. Activist. Trial Watcher and Analyst.

Trayvon was not killed by a police officer, but he was killed and his killer given a pass by a broader criminal justice system that sees young black men as suspicious, only able to be controlled through violence.

  The question is: Whose making the issues a top priority.  And that’s not all about skin tone, it’s also party.  Democrats typically lead oncriminal justice.  We’re about to find out exactly how far President Obama and Gen. Holder are willing to go for justice in the matter of Trayvon Martin. After five years, anyone who supported the President should ask themselves exactly what waiting in line for 14 hours was really worth.  The President has yet to endorse the End Racial Profiling Act in the Senate.