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Analyst for avo.com and author of suspicion nation: the inside story of the trayvon martin injustice and why we continue to repeat it. thank you. thank you for having me. representative williams, what have you done in response to the dunn mistrial? well, i will tell you today we had a groundbreaking development in what we believe will hopefully change the moment here in the state of florida. today the vice-chairman of the task force that governor scott commissioned about a year and a half ago when the lieutenant governor was also named the chairman, the vice-chairman of that committee, reverend r.b. holmes here in tallahassee has called for a repeal of the law. before that task force came out that. talked about some recommendations that the governor had provided no leadership on, even in past ....
Session. so today reverend holmes, along with attorney benjamin crump, we stood together in front of the governor s office calling on the governor for him to provide leadership. if this bill cannot be repaired, if this law cannot be repealed, we need to repair it. you know, we cannot wait to go to the ballot box to change the law, because we got too many folks that are being placed in casket boxes here in florida. so it s up to the governor to provide leadership. you know, a few years ago when the casey anthony trial was on display in front of the world, less than a year later we had caylee s law. and the legislature and the governor asked. so we re asking for the governor to do the same thing now. he can use his bully pulpit to make sure. and that s a major development, because reverend holmes was on the committee that they had looking for this. i know him very well, have worked with him, and work with him. and for him who had been part of ....
That his only option was to use a fatal force. charging at him with a knife? with a box cutter. john, given your own experience, do you feel as if self-defense laws have protected people fairly, regardless of race? no, i do not. because if it had, i would have never went to prison in the first place. and also, looking at what had took place you would have thought if there was the law and it was on the books, it should apply to every american, not just one side american or one culture. let me ask you this, john, before we run out of time. your wife showed great culture. never gave up, fought all the way to the end. tell us in america something about the courage of this woman. well, you re looking at a ....
That task force to come out, should at least be something the governor cannot ignore. well, you know, last year they put a bill out, senator simmons, who is the state senator for where the tragedy took place in sanford. he put the bill out. our governor provided no leadership. never called a speaker, never called the senate president to say move this bill forward. he did that for a number of other bills, but he didn t do it for the bill for the task force that he commissioned. and so, you know, we re just fed up here in florida. we re tired of politics as usual. we know that young men are don t even make it to their 18th birthday, reverend al. so we re trying to make sure that these young men there is a voice for them. and that s what we re doing every day here in the legislature. i will say there is some movement in the florida house, and there is some movement in the florida senate to at least repair the law. my colleagues, senator chris smith, along with representative ....
Just satisfy our macho impulses and have the feeling that we can walk around with a gun and shoot back if we feel somebody is aggressive towards us? because that s what stand your ground allows. and even lawyers and judges are questioning this law. state representative alan williams, and lisa bloom, i m going to have to leave there it. thank you both for your time tonight. thank you. thank you for having me, reverend al. we re going keep fighting to make sure this law gets changed. yes, sir. still ahead, i ll talk to man freed after more than six years in prison for shooting a man who attacked him with a knife. why didn t a jury accept his claim of self-defense? where is the justice in our criminal justice system? also, big developments in the chris christie bridge scandal. two former christie allies are refusing to cooperate. we ll talk to the lawmaker leading the investigation, live. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] ....