Racism Is the Problem Here

By Kenneth Nunn, New York Times

The Stand Your Ground law does not permit the use of deadly force against an initial aggressor unless “the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger.” Ordinarily, one would expect that a reasonable force requirement would provide ample protection against idiosyncratic or morally suspect behavior. But this is not the case when victims happen to be black.

As several legal scholars have pointed out, the connection between reasonableness and race is problematic. African-Americans, black males in particular, have been constructed in popular culture as violence-prone and dangerous.

Sociologists tell us this attitude toward black males is widely shared, sometimes unconsciously, as the Harvard implicit racism test discloses. In the minds of Americans who hold these views, fear of black males, and consequently the use of deadly force against them, is “reasonable.”

Nunn explains why this is dangerous when it comes to stand-your-ground laws.

Read about the strange ways these laws have been invoked.