That Feminist Dyke

socialismartnature:

Martin Richard, the 8-yr-old boy who was killed when two bombs detonated at the Boston Marathon, had recently made a sign in his class which expressed his feelings of sadness at the violence that took the life of Trayvon Martin.

Today, Trayvon Martin’s parents sent a message of support to Richard’s family, one grieving family to another.

While FOX News and GOP bigots spout their hatred against Muslims and immigrants in the wake of this tragedy (despite the fact that we do not yet know anything about who or what group was behind the bombing), here we see two families victimized by violence and hatred, reaching across racial and geographical space to express mutual solidarity, understanding, and compassion …

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Our hearts are broken over the tragedy in Boston yesterday. Our family sends our sincerest condolences to all of those who have been affected by this terrible situation.  We especially would like to send a message to the family of eight year old, Martin Richard.  We have come to understand that the peace sign that Martin is holding in a photo being circulated throughout the media, was created in response to a lesson by his teacher about the death of our son and the issue of violence. From our family to yours’, we are praying for you, thinking about you and will remember your son for the rest of our lives.

~Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin

grrlyman:

Last weekend, Melissa examined the case against Marissa Alexander, the Jacksonville mother of three who fired a single bullet into her kitchen ceiling two years ago to warn her husband, Rico Gray, against continuing his physical attack on her. Gray, who reacted in violent anger after discovering that Alexander texted pictures of their newborn child to her ex-husband,spoke out earlier this week in an interview with TheLoop21:

“Personally, I wish she would have taken the three years,” Gray said. “I don’t wish 20 years on no one.”

He’s referring to the plea deal that Alexander reportedly turned down, a deal that took into account Gray’s history of violence. Alexander presumably cast that deal aside because she genuinely believed that she was standing her ground — both figuratively, and legally. But Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” castle-doctrine law somehow didn’t apply to her, despite the fact that her case appears to fit the statute to a T.

She was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault in a matter of minutes — and today, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison, a sentence she will appeal…

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sinidentidades:

A person selling gun range targets modeled after slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin says that their “main motivation was to make money off the controversy.”

WKMG’s Mike DeForest reported on Friday that the unidentified seller told him that the targets “sold out in 2 days.”

“The response is overwhelming,” the seller said.

While the item appears to have been removed from GunBroker.com, a cached version of the page was still available at the time of publication.

Photos of the item, which was titled “10 Pack Trayvon Martin Targets,” showed crosshairs over a hoodie similar to the one Trayvon Martin was wearing when he was shot by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in February. The figure has a bag of Skittle in his pocket and is holding what appears to be a can of iced tea, similar to what Martin had purchased before being gunned down. The pack of 10 targets was being sold for $8.

“Everyone knows the story of Zimmerman and Martin,” a description on the targets reads. “Obviously we support Zimmerman and believe he is innocent and that he shot a thug. Each target is printed on thick, high quality poster paper with a matte finish! The dimensions are 12″x18″ ( The same as Darkotic Zombie Targets) This is a Ten Pack of Targets.”

The seller’s ID was listed as “hillerarmco” from Virginia Beach, Virginia. A website by the same name is registered to Hiller Armament Company in Virginia Beach, but the associated phone number had been disconnected.

Zimmerman attorney Mark O’Mara told WKMG that this type of “hatred” just makes his client’s defense even more problematic.