After the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the Congressional Black Caucus is preparing to push for a series of new federal crime-related laws. According to the Hill, they’re ”drafting proposals intended to rein in racial profiling; scrap state stand-your-ground laws; and promote better training for the nation’s neighborhood watch volunteers, among other anti-violence measures.”
A number of black leaders have voiced outrage at the result of the trial, arguing it represents a failure of the American justice system.
Representative Bobby Rush (D., Ill.), who wore a hoodie on the House floor last year to draw attention to Trayvon Martin’s death, declared, “Anyone who denies that racism isn’t alive today, particularly in the so-called justice system, is exceedingly delusional.”
Yesterday, Reverend Jesse Jackson described the acquittal as representative of the “retrogression” of justice for African Americans, while calling for “massive protests.”
And Representative Frederica Wilson, a Democrat who represents Trayvon Martin’s district, argued, “Until we pass meaningful laws against profiling, Americans will continue to be singled out and arrested for driving while black, shopping while black, walking while black, and just plain being black.”