11 Mar 2014 Boycott of Florida Businesses Over Stand Your Ground Criticized

Discussion threats of a possible boycott of Florida businesses as a means of forcing the repeal of the Sunshine State’s “stand your ground” law, Project 21 member Shelby Emmett warned that protestors need to be “careful” for both legal and economic reasons about the desire and means of their possible actions.

Shelby, a lawyer, pointed out on the 3/11/14 edition of “NewsOne Now” on the TVOne network that pressure to repeal the Florida self defense law — which garnered international attention after the death of black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012 — should be rooted in earnest desire for “real change and not [for] media attention” or as a means of seeking corporate financial support of black special interest.

She additionally pointed out that protesters “have to be careful here” and not let emotion dominate reason because “the law is still the law.”

Shelby further noted that an economic boycott — possibly targeting private businesses such as Tropicana and the Walt Disney Company as well as the convention/tourism industry as have been mentioned by activists — could hurt the same families the activists say they want to help.  This concern raised by Shelby was nonetheless disputed by host Roland Martin and fellow panelists Dru Ealons and George Curry — all of whom seemed in general agreement with the professed desires of the Florida protestors.

In the second segment, Martin dipped into an off-air conservation between himself and the panelists in which Shelby discussed one possible reason for differing priorities and differing methods of seeking change among younger black Americans such as herself and the current, older leadership of the civil rights lobby.

Shelby suggested that stand your ground law horror stories were not seen by her as much of a civil rights violation as they were “ridiculous people” doing ridiculous things — actions that would not be changed by the presence or absence of any laws such as “stand your ground.”

Irrational anti-gun laws, she brought up as an example, “are making it OK for the bad guy” to continue unabated at the expense of law-abiding Americans.  As far as what most equates to a civil rights issue nowadays to Shelby and the people she is speaking with in young, black social circles?  School choice.

After once again raising the ire of the rest of the studio, Shelby explained: “Just because my generation doesn’t want to do things the same way that previous generations did does not mean we don’t care as much.  It just means we look at it differently.”