April 30
GUEST: Jasmine Rand, civil rights activist and attorney for the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice, talks about using the law to overcome racism in the criminal justice system.
Jasmine didn't speak like a lawyer, but like a grieving parent. I thought we would be talking about how to combat racism using the laws we have, including the right of families to sue for damages. We did cover that to some extent, of course. But most of our discussion was about racism. Why are Black families always left to themselves to achieve justice after a loved one is shot by police? What is money compared to having to live in a country that makes you and your family a potential victim based on skin color?
Why is my country such a killer? Why are some psychopaths armed to the teeth and allowed to roam our streets or protest inside our state capitals? Why do we send young men abroad to do the same in some Third World country? Is it our structure of government, a sort of decayed democracy run by the very rich, and plagued with a white underclass driven to racial hatred?
And will the biological plague that is upon us lead to more racial targeting? Will Americans end up hating the entire rest of the world, like the Romans trying to hold onto their crumbling empire? How did a country that was a beacon of liberty 200 years ago become the world's Death Star of oppression?
