Turn Up the Music for Jordan Davis!
Don't Allow the System to Let Another Racist Murderer Walk!
February 10, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From readers:
Opening statements in the trial of Michael Dunn started on Thursday, February 6, in Jacksonville, Florida. Michael Dunn is the racist vigilante who killed Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old Black youth, in cold blood on November 23, 2012. Dunn is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder.
Jordan Davis, along with three of his friends, was having a fun day at the mall on Black Friday. They stopped off at a gas station convenience store to buy some cigarettes and gum. As the driver went into the store, Davis and his two friends chilled in the car listening to their music pretty loudly. Soon Michael Dunn, a 45-year-old white man, and his girlfriend pulled up next to them. As his girlfriend went into the store, Dunn rolled down his window and told the youth to turn down their music. A loud vocal exchange between Dunn and Jordan followed. Then Dunn reached in his glove compartment for his 9 mm handgun and unloaded four bullets into Jordan Davis's side of the car. The driver, who had returned before the first round of gunshots, put the car in reverse to get out of the line of fire. Dunn got out of his car and hit the car again with five more shots. Jordan was shot three times and died on the lap of his friend in the back seat.
If this isn't outrageous enough, when Dunn's girlfriend came out of the store, Dunn told her to get into the car and they left the scene, driving 40 miles to a hotel. There, they ordered pizza and watched a movie, never calling the police. The next morning, they got up and drove another hour and a half home like nothing had happened. The only way Dunn was identified as the killer was because a homeless man who was a witness at the gas station had taken down Dunn's license plate number and gave it to the police.
Right after the murder, Dunn's attorney cited Florida's Stand Your Ground law as justification for Dunn killing Jordan Davis. Going into the trial, however, they did not request a Stand Your Ground hearing to drop the charges. Instead, Dunn is claiming "justifiable use of deadly force," because he says he saw a shotgun or a pipe in Jordan's car and he felt "threatened." There were no guns or pipes or any other kind of weapon found in the car.
In a case that echoes George Zimmerman's murder of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida two years ago on February 26, 2012, Michael Dunn racially profiled, confronted, and killed Jordan Davis. While on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, Zimmerman had referred to Trayvon as a "punk," "a fucking asshole… they always get away." Recently, some letters Michael Dunn wrote to family members and friends from jail were released. Here's an excerpt of the letter he sent to his grandmother: "I'm not really prejudiced against race, but I have no use for certain cultures. This gangster-rap, ghetto talking thug 'culture' that certain segments of society flock to is intolerable." An excerpt from Dunn's letter to his daughter: "This may sound a bit radical, but if more people would arm themselves and kill these (expletive) idiots when they're threatening you, eventually they may take the hint and change their behavior." And from a letter to his girlfriend: "I just got off the phone with you and we were talking about how racist the blacks are up here. The more time I am exposed to these people, the more prejudiced against them I become."
America has taught the Zimmermans and the Dunns of the world that Black people are less than human beings and a menace to society to be eliminated. It is not certain what the verdict will be in this case. However, we do know that time and again, like with the Zimmerman verdict, the weight of this white supremacist system allows these vigilantes as well as cops to cut down Black youth and get away with it.
Time's up for this putrid capitalist-imperialist system that declares open season on Black youth for wearing a hoodie or playing loud music.
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