Florida Courier - March 1, 2013

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Part 4: The life and death of Jimmy Jackson

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VOLUME 21 NO. 9

Page B1

www.flcourier.com

MARCH 1 - MARCH 7, 2013

STILL WAITING FOR JUSTICE Trayvon Martin’s violent death set off protests nationwide.

Editor’s note: See a related story on Florida’s “stand your ground” law on Page A3. COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Tuesday, Feb. 26, marked one year since then-17year-old Trayvon Martin was gunned down on a rainy night by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch coordinator in a gated community of Sanford. Martin was visiting his father and was walking back from the store when, despite requests by local police not to do so, Zimmerman began following Martin because he appeared “suspicious.” The two ended up in a physical confrontation and the un-

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Race takes center stage

It’s been a year since Trayvon Martin was shot to death. Here are some notable events that happened around the state in the wake of his violent death. armed Martin was shot in the chest and killed. Now, a year later, it is a time for waiting. Martin’s mother and father are waiting to see if their son’s killer will be convicted of a crime. Zimmerman is living in hiding, waiting for what his lawyers predict will be his exoneration. Sanford residents are wait-

ing to see if their police department, which faced withering criticism and the ouster of its chief, will stabilize under a new leader and win the confidence of the Black community. And the nation is waiting too.

A year of activity Protests, town hall meetings, demands for the kill-

er’s arrest, a no-confidence vote in the local police chief, and calls for review of Florida’s “stand your ground’’ law marked some of the frenzied activity as the facts about Martin’s killing went national after first emerging in Black newspapers and Black-focused websites and social media. The Rev. Al Sharpton was the main speaker at a rally organized by Central Florida ministers that attracted more than 30,000 people to Sanford, many of them from around the state. Other marches and protests took place around the nation. The purpose: to pressure law enforcement See TRAYVON, Page A2

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Rosa Parks: Making history again

Is the Voting Rights Act in trouble? BY MARIA RECIO MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS (MCT)

WASHINGTON – The politically charged issue of race was before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in a case that could determine how the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act applies to the South. The nine justices engaged in a lively and at times contentious 70-minute exchange, with several possibly signaling their positions in what may mean a new chapter in the nation’s divided racial history. The repercussions of their eventual decision could be felt throughout the country. The case arose out of Shelby County, Ala., which is challenging sections of the pivotal 1965 law that prohibited discriminatory voting rules. The county brought the suit against the sections of the law that require nine mostly Southern states and portions of seven others – including Florida – to receive prior approval from the U.S. Department of Justice on voting procedures or anything that affects a minority group’s ability to cast ballots.

Ongoing discrimination Shelby County argued that applying Section 5 of the law to only certain states violates the Constitution, which is based on laws being applied equally. Its attorney said that the formula to determine which jurisdictions fall under Section 5 is outdated, based on long-since discontinued literacy tests and voting registration dependent on mid-1960s data. At the center of the case is whether the courts or Congress, which in 2006 reauthorized the Voting Rights Act for 25 years, should decide whether the prior approval requirement in Section 5 – considered by supporters to be a deterrent to discrimination – stays in place. U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli pointed out that Congress had looked at the record and approved the law by large margins. But Justice Antonin Scalia said, “I think it is attributable to a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement.”

What’s the difference? At least five members of the court seemed to agree that it is constitutionally impermissible, in the words of Justice Anthony Kennedy, to treat some states as “independent sovereign(s)” and others as “under the trusteeship of the United States government” without actual, current evidence in a distinction between these states. Kennedy is seen as the swing vote in many closely divided cases.

ALSO INSIDE

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner applaud during the unveiling of a statue of Rosa Parks at the United States Capitol on Wednesday. The bronze statue and its black granite pedestal are nearly 9 feet tall and weigh about 2,700 pounds, and is the first full-size statue of an African-American in the Capitol collection of more than 180 statues.

Bondi: Florida shouldn’t ‘surrender’ on Obamacare

three years. The state in later years would pick up part of the tab, eventually paying 10 percent of the costs. “I’ve seen how issues like this explode in cost once they become an accepted part of policy,” Putnam said. “And it’s just simply not realistic to think you would enroll over 1 million new people into a program that you would then end in three years.”

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

National news

A chorus of opposition is starting to take hold in the Florida Cabinet to Gov. Rick Scott’s support for expanding Medicaid to comply with “Obamacare,” with Attorney General Pam Bondi saying she objects to the idea. “I am opposed to this dramatic expansion of Medicaid, because of the ultimate cost to Florida’s taxpayers and because I don’t think our state should surrender even more control over health care to the federal government,” Bondi said in an email Tuesday. Pam Bondi, who helped lead a legal Bondi challenge to the constitutionality of the federal Affordable Care Act, known popularly as Obamacare, has joined Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in forming a potentially persuasive bloc as the Medicaid expansion issue moves before lawmakers. Under Obamacare, the federal government says it would fully pay the expansion costs during the first

Scott drew national headlines last week when he announced support for expanding Medicaid eligibility. The governor, who has been a longtime critic of Obamacare, said he would support the expansion for three years and then require that it be revisited. Bondi backed Putnam’s contention that once Medicaid is expanded to include residents up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, the state would be unable to back away from that position after three years. Opponents worry that the expansion could eventually create a massive fiscal burden to Florida. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, who is the other member of the Cabinet, was unavailable to comment on Tuesday. Estimates of the state’s costs have varied. But the Urban Institute and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation have estimated that adding 1.3 million people to the Medicaid program could cost Florida $5.4 billion over the next decade, while the state would gain $66.1 billion in federal health care payments over the same time.

COMMENTARY: BRUCE DIXON: THE LESSON OF JESSE JACKSON, JR. | A4 COMMENTARY: BEN JEALOUS: BAYARD RUSTIN: A BLACK GAY UNSUNG HERO | A5

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

No major ‘stand your ground’ law changes

HEALTH | B4

Controversial address vaults renowned surgeon into political arena

FINEST | B5

Meet Quintiara


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