Our own managing editor here at Crooks and Liars, Tina Dupuy, joined The Daily Caller's Caroline May and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, Dan Bongino, to discuss the shooting of Trayvon Martin on Thom Hartmann's "The Big Picture
March 24, 2012

Our own managing editor here at Crooks and Liars, Tina Dupuy, joined The Daily Caller's Caroline May and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, Dan Bongino, to discuss the shooting of Trayvon Martin on Thom Hartmann's "The Big Picture on Russia Today" on Friday.

Hartmann opened up the segment noting that ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), the NRA and Walmart, who were all behind the push for the “Stand Your Ground” law in Florida, haven't taken any responsibility for the content of the legislation, and talked about Geraldo Rivera's ridiculous remarks that lay blame at the feet of the victim for getting shot because of the clothes he was wearing.

May, of course, trotted out the standard line we're hearing from the right: that the "Stand Your Ground" law doesn't apply in this case because Zimmerman was pursuing Martin so discussion of that law should be "taken off the table," and that maybe everyone “just needs to take a deep breath” and wait for “justice to be served.” Hartmann responded by pointing out the obvious here, that it has not been served. The man's still walking free over a month after the shooting.

As Tina rightfully pointed out, one of the saddest things about this incident is that it's not isolated and pointed to the case of Oscar Grant, who was fatally shot by the police in Oakland back in 2009. And when you have a case like Martin's, which draws more public attention, it should open up a wider conversation about our gun laws and the reasons why Zimmerman is not off the street.

Hartmann asked Dan Boningo what he thought about groups like ALEC, the NRA and Walmart writing this legislation and sending it out to the states, asking him if he didn't think that was “a bizarre perversion of democracy right from the get go.”

Of course Boningo took the same line as May, and tried to claim that the law had nothing to do with Zimmerman killing Martin, which of course is ridiculous because it had everything to do with why Zimmerman thought it was all right to shoot Martin, as well as why the police didn't arrest Zimmerman immediately when he shot this young man to death.

They wrapped things up by discussing white privilege and the fact that most white Americans don't have to worry about this kind of thing happening to them, and naturally the two conservatives on the panel attempted to be completely dismissive of that, as well. I think Hartmann summed it up pretty well when he pointed out that the kid basically got killed for walking while black, and both Tina and Thom did a good job of explaining the issues that, sadly, most parents of teenage African American boys have had to deal with for ages: warning their children how to behave in public so they don't make themselves a target for this type of incident.

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