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BC: Yeah. And those are some very, very profound questions, brother Rickey. The first question you asked is the six member panel. The United States Supreme Court allowed some 40 years ago that if it was a non-capital felony, that is a felony that you can be given the death penalty, then did not have to have twelve members. You could reduce it down to six, and about half the states in the country allow six member panels on non-felony murders, uh, felonies.

RS: Wow.

BC: Now the bigger issue is about a jury of your peers. And I think it’s very tough in small rural counties where it’s a majority Caucasian population for African-Americans to get equal justice. And we were clearly trying to answer that question with Trayvon because we felt there was so much overwhelming evidence, I mean just overwhelming evidence, where you really think about Trayvon was running away and then this neighborhood watch got out of his car with a gun and a few minutes later he has a bullet lodged in his heart. So the question then becomes how do we get equal justice if we can’t get African-Americans on the jury. I think a big part of it is we now, as a community, have to register to vote, and we have to not try to get out of jury duty. And that is a systematic problem that we have as a community where African-Americans don’t want, we come up with any excuse in the world not to serve on a jury.

RS: Yep.

BC: We got to change that. Maybe Trayvon in a lot of ways can change that system. The other last thing on that, Rick, and I think we do have to ask, answer these tough, legal questions. In bigger cities where their jury pool is more diverse, we have a much greater chance of getting equal justice. But when we are out in rural suburbia America it is very tough. And I tell you I tried cases all over the country, and if Trayvon can’t get justice with all this evidence in this case then how can black people get justice in America? That’s something we have to talk to the Justice Department about, and go to the Board of Registration because this midterm election we are trying to create the Trayvon voter, especially since President Obama isn’t going to be on the ballot. We got to have everybody come out to change these Stand Your Ground laws. It’s not just in Florida, it’s in 28 states around America.

RS: That’s right.

BC: Tracy and Sybrina are going to be going around the country trying to get these laws changed. We need your help, Rickey. We cannot do it without you all.

RS: Well, that’s what I said on the radio before. I know you all was, I think y’all was doing a TV show, when we had you on the show, we talked about it, and talking about people not voting during the midterm election. And that’s when you’re voting for judges and legislators that do all the redistricting. See, people don’t understand this. And I just want everybody to do really do some research and look at how they, you know, they do redistricting and redrawing the district lines, and stuff like that that is so important: county elections, mayoral elections, city council elections. All those people that had that, that changed some of the laws that has a direct effect on you and stuff like this. And it’s so important. And when they ask you to serve on jury, and you don’t know what kind of case you’re going to get or what kind of trial you’re going to be sitting on, please serve on jury duty. And please vote during the midterm election. You know, because here you got, if I’m not mistaken, 37 – I might be wrong – 37 governors. You got 37 governors that sit in governor houses and most of the Congress and State senators are Republicans and Democrats are having a hard time fighting and stuff like that. So you get these kinds of laws and stuff and these Republicans with these crazy rather, and shut up don’t tweet me talking about shut up and tell jokes. I’m more than just a comedian. I’m well educated when it comes to politics or whatever, because if I’m going to be doing standup comedy I’d probably be somewhere playing in Oregon in somebody’s church, or probably be uh, running for political office somewhere. You know, I was doing this before I started doing comedy. So I ain’t got to shut up and make you laugh because I’m not a joke. Comedy is what I do. But this is where my heart is when it comes to civil rights, ever since Bonita Carter was shot in the back by a police officer, George Sands, right there on Tenth Avenue. I’ve been a member of the NAACP, the SCLC since. And everybody needs to join some of these organizations. They protect you. It take money. It take money to take people to court and to fight these laws and stuff like this. You can’t do it broke. George Zimmerman had over a quarter of a million dollars for his defense fund.

BC: Half a million.

Trayvon Martin’s Parents: How They Would Have Felt About A Hung Jury Verdict [EXCLUSIVE]  was originally published on rickeysmileymorningshow.com

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