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Intense global interest and media hoopla notwithstanding, the defense team executed a simple two-pronged approach, cleverly designed to manacle prosecutorial maneuverings for guilty verdicts: (1) Say that their clients acted lawfully, (2) Relate for the record that said clients complied with instructions issued by legally constituted governmental authorities.
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As troubling as it may be, the defense was right. The law was indeed on their side. But the International Tribunal at Nuremberg handed down an unprecedented ruling that resonates down to this day: The Nazi war criminals on trial should have adhered to a "higher natural law of justice." Fascinating concept. In other words, they should have (1) disregarded the immoral edicts on German law books, and (2) defied their Nazi superiors.
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The Tribunal also concluded: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state." Would this apply to "the individual state" of Florida?
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Jaded Jury?: George Zimmerman, a 29-year defendant with a German surname meaning "carpenter," was recently on trial in criminal court in the U.S. state of Florida for stalking, confronting, engaging, and finally shooting to death Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American male. In following both Florida law and jury instructions from the state's duly constituted judge, jurors found Zimmerman "not guilty."
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Curiously, the jury of six women (five of them mothers) reflected his own bi-racial makeup: five Whites and one Latina. No Blacks. No males. And especially no Black males. That race is a factor pitting White Cubans against African Americans in the Jim Crow South is explored more in depth in Part 2.
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It should not be assumed, however, that this jury was incapable of rendering a just verdict, complete with moral, ethical, and legal implications.
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In an unprecedented move, jurors could have (1) disobeyed the immoral edicts on Florida's law books and (2) nullified unethical jury instructions. If ever there was a 21st-century courtroom event that called for enacting a "higher natural law of justice" the Zimmerman trial was it. This is especially so given Florida's history of racist, discriminatory, and segregationist laws.
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Illegal Laws?: Florida is among a swath of Southern states collectively called the Bible Belt. Many feel that according to the conservative "Christian" values these states allegedly embrace, a good old Southern rope or belt should have been tied around Zimmerman's neck, after which he should have been marched to the nearest tree and hung. Why? For, as noted above, the unprovoked stalking and murder of an unarmed Martin, who had taken evasive stratagems when a determined and aggressive Zimmerman shot him dead. Executing Zimmerman, say Martin supporters, would have been Biblical justice.
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The Bible does factor into the discussion given that it provides the infrastructure for the Judeo-Christian ethic under which the U.S. Constitution rests upon.
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As many disinterested third parties see it, justice for Martin in a Southern "Christian" courtroom was inherently a travesty. In fact, over 50 years ago the White editor of a popular "conservative" religious magazine lamented: "Organized religion generally supports the caste status quo, and in the United States the tyranny of caste is most pronounced in what is known as the ‘Bible Belt.'"
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Tyrannical criminal, civil, and voting elements fabricated to victimize Blacks still exist in Florida on a municipal, county, and state level whether de jure ("in law") orde facto ("in practice").
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Not too long ago Bible Belt states targeted African Americans by instituting miscegenation laws; laws against learning to read; the "separate but equal" law; and a plethora of others similar laws, all of which sprang from a xenophobic heart. Biased White men--intoxicated with power--simply codified entrenched irrational feelings of racial superiority and, in the process, legitimized their cold, degraded souls.
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There are those who believe supporters of the Zimmerman verdict hoist the sum total of immoral laws upon their shoulders and gleefully declare that the spirit and letter of the law have been properly administered.
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How ironic that the very same Bible that Bible Belt states embrace lambastes framers of Florida laws aimed at Blacks: "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed." (Isaiah 10:1, 2, New International Version) Indeed, the Good Book speaks of "leaders whose decrees permit injustice." (Psalm 94:20, New Living Translation) These "unjust laws" and "oppressive decrees" that leaders permit should be abolished, just as were laws upholding the institution of slavery.
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That slavery was legally abolished indicates that morality can trump legality. As a result, that which is legal becomes illegal, with ethics and morality being the force behind the turnabout. It all boils down to legal theory ("Divine command theory") versus nomocracy ("rule of law"). Or are these ideological concepts in sum a false philosophical dilemma?
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Part 2 follows.
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