I had a deep emotional reaction to this film. It was shocking, heartbreaking and seemingly unreal all at the same time. I had a lot of difficulty reminding myself that this is not a movie but that shootings like this have happened and continue to happen often. The fact that even after the blatantly obvious wrong that occurred, the decision from the jury and the feelings of viewers was not unanimous scares me. I kept thinking, How could anybody see this man as innocent? How could his actions be justifiable? But then again, as we have learned all year, 21st century America is still filled with racism, hate and inequality. The most shocking part of the film to me, besides the actual occurrence of the crime, was the lawyer 's statement
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I know that it’s his job, but I think it says something huge about our society that people would rather make money than do the righteous thing. That being said, he was very talented, and came up with very well thought out, meticulous arguments That was all the more scary. His point that, even though we may not like the law (in reference to the “stand your ground” law) we must uphold it, is very ironic because such laws are the target of removal for many protestors and civil rights activists. When I saw such laws I mean laws that inadvertently affect minorities at a much rate than whites. Even though the law was not written to target minorities, the fact that it is used much more often to justify killings of minorities shows that it is unjust. In our study of incarceration rates and the criminal justice system we learned that this law is not alone in its disproportionate effects on minorities and people of low economic status. Other examples of this are: “war on drugs,” and “the three strikes rule.” One part of the movie that gave me hope was the honesty from Michael Dunn’s fiancė. Although she was on his side for most of the movie and clearly in shock at his actions, she decided to tell the jury that Michael Dunn did not in fact mention anything about the teenage boys having a gun, even though Dunn told the judge that he had told her. This small taste of honesty reminded me about the good that is in the world, even though the rest of the movie makes that good seem difficult to
I know that it’s his job, but I think it says something huge about our society that people would rather make money than do the righteous thing. That being said, he was very talented, and came up with very well thought out, meticulous arguments That was all the more scary. His point that, even though we may not like the law (in reference to the “stand your ground” law) we must uphold it, is very ironic because such laws are the target of removal for many protestors and civil rights activists. When I saw such laws I mean laws that inadvertently affect minorities at a much rate than whites. Even though the law was not written to target minorities, the fact that it is used much more often to justify killings of minorities shows that it is unjust. In our study of incarceration rates and the criminal justice system we learned that this law is not alone in its disproportionate effects on minorities and people of low economic status. Other examples of this are: “war on drugs,” and “the three strikes rule.” One part of the movie that gave me hope was the honesty from Michael Dunn’s fiancė. Although she was on his side for most of the movie and clearly in shock at his actions, she decided to tell the jury that Michael Dunn did not in fact mention anything about the teenage boys having a gun, even though Dunn told the judge that he had told her. This small taste of honesty reminded me about the good that is in the world, even though the rest of the movie makes that good seem difficult to