Ben Jealous said it better than I can ever hope to.
We are outraged and heartbroken over today's verdict. We stand with Trayvon's family and we are called to act. We will pursue civil rights charges with the Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the removal of Stand Your Ground laws in every state, and we will not rest until racial profiling in all its forms is outlawed.
Hadn't seen this Diaried yet, so figured I should.
(Disclaimer and more info on the flip.)
I have the greatest respect for Ben Jealous. I have to make a disclaimer about that however, because I went to school with him. I was an 8th Grader, he was a senior, but we did attend the same high school, and even then he was a voice of calm reason and logic in a school that was fairly wealth stratified. (Still remember his yearbook signature... "Don't let these rich kids get to you.")
However, throughout this case his organization and he himself have been models of decorum.
They say judge people by their enemies. When Fox News, white supremacists, and general assholes are out to smear somebody, I think it's a pretty good sign that they're a good person.
Keep up the good fight, Ben. Just let me know how I can help.
9:29 AM PT: Here's a link to the petition: http://www.naacp.org/...
Keep in mind that due to HUGE traffic today, the site has currently crashed. Will update if I hear about it coming back up.
10:25 AM PT: Thanks for the Rec List, folks. Always a pleasure to be here, but today it's pretty bittersweet.
2:16 PM PT: There is also a White House Petition for civil prosecution up. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/...
Thanks to 88kathy for the link and head's up.