Let there be no doubt that Eric Holder fits perfectly in the same club of race-baiters so well represented by Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, as made clear by his address to NAACP leaders on Tuesday in which, as Michelle Malkin puts it, he mouthed the Obama administration's cringe-inducing non sequitur of the week on Tuesday. Nothing new for Holder, of course. This time Holder took it upon himself to stoke the fires of racial resentment over a Florida jury's acquittal of George Zimmerman.
All together now: Squirrel! "Separate and apart from the (Trayvon Martin) case that has drawn the nation's attention, it's time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods," Holder opined. He then baselessly claimed that such laws are creating "more violence than they prevent" and used his platform to promote citizens' "duty to retreat."
So, what exactly do Stand Your Ground laws have to do with Zimmerman and Martin? Absolutely nothing, of course. Outside your own home, common principles of self-defense dictate that unless you have reasonable fear of deadly force or harm, you must flee if possible rather than use deadly force. But a "duty to retreat" rests on the ability to retreat. And "duty to retreat" was irrelevant in Zimmerman's case because -- pinned to the ground with Martin on top of him, bashing his head on the concrete -- he was unable to retreat.
This didn't stop the NAACP crowd from cheering their heads off when Holder tossed out his red meat. Holder's racial-grievance-mongering agenda has also been bolstered by media propaganda outlets, who've been dutifully bashing Stand Your Ground regardless of the facts.
The New York Times, for example, falsely claimed in an editorial preceding Holder's speech that the jury "reached its verdict after having been asked to consider Mr. Zimmerman's actions in light of the now-notorious Stand Your Ground provision in Florida's self-defense law." Rolling Stone made a similarly inflammatory claim, calling Martin a "victim of Florida's Stand Your Ground law."
All nonsense. The jury received standard instructions. Zimmerman did not invoke the Stand Your Ground provision. Zimmerman later waived his right to a pretrial immunity hearing under the Stand Your Ground procedures.
And as National Review's Sterling Beard points out, "The only time Stand Your Ground came up during the trial proper was when a prosecution witness stated that he'd taught a class Zimmerman had attended that covered Stand Your Ground."
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